Wandering rear end

Different car same problem. On my E36 328 (now a bit leggy at 137k miles) I had the sway bar bushes replaced and it got much more planted.

Also have had different results with adjusting tyre pressures on various flavours of tyres. Oddly sometimes slightly over inflating works better (Avon) and under (Pirelli) but obviously recommended tyre pressures would be the safest option. With Continental didn't matter what I did, always stable but they did wear quickly !

Good luck

Ed

I have this in mine (323i e36), albeit not as extreme as you seem to be experiencing.

I also had it in my 318is.

I had alignment done that made no difference, ball joints and steering rack.

No joy. This was on my 318is though, haven't tried anything on the 323 as it hasn't been as bad.

let us know if you find a possible solution.


Edited by quarryman

 I see where your coming from on that one but some how i do not think it will sort your problems with the the rear end, unless they are being caused by the tyres/wheels which I doubt.......... may even make the wandering worse.

Buckled wheels should show up on wheel balancing.

Did you get the 4 wheel alignment done? If so did it reveal anything?

Edited by Sporty1

just to throw my bit in, i have no personal experience of this but could it be possible considering the fact you've already ticked alot of boxed that the alloys one or more might be buckled and regardless of tyres it will cause the same problem?

i would think as dougster suggested if you could borrow a set of wheels and see if it makes a difference.

P.S - Only realised it was originally posted May '07...was searching and came across the topic, did you get it sorted?

Edited by Barry_Mc

I had a broken rear spring on my E36 and it only showed up when pusing through a bend with 'spirit' as coasting put it. It manifested itself as a juddering vibration.

BMW's own KDS 4 wheel alignment system is supposed to be very
sophisticated, that's one reason why it costs more. I believe that they also
have to load the car with weights in a very specific manner to do it properly.
Takes a bit of time.

DSK328i wrote: The alignment is a major factor but its uselless getting the kwik-fit type tracking done, you got to get the proper 4 wheel computerised/infra red setup done, where they actually adjust the rear end as well as the cambers etc.  This costs about £50.

I agree. Just getting a simple tracking done will not sort it.

Sounds to me like the alignment is the problem.

dougster wrote: Sometimes tyres can cause unusual senations as they wear as the sidewalls can flex. If you can borrow a pair of wheels and tyres from someone it might be worth a try.

Or simply try rotating the tyres, front > rear, rear > front and see if that makes any difference.