FInd a Hunter 9700 tire balance machine (m) (archive)

Did you balance with the modern tire machine that detects out of round ? If you are balancing the conventional way, there is no way you are going to determine whether it's NOT the tires. The new Hunter 9700 machine (and I could be wrong with the model no.) has an arm that rides over the outer circumference of the tire. With this apparatus, there's not a chance for human error.

FYI: I spent the last 6 months isolating a wheel shimmy on my recently purchased '83 E21 323i. The car came with brand new YOKO's. Yet after balancing them twice, and both times came up with a clean prognosis by operators at a tire shop, I went ahead and replaced control arm bushings, control arms, then equipped them w/ Bilstein shocks, then installed an anti-shimmy kit. Despite having an almost new front end, none of these things cured the shimmy. I then found a shop with this new machine and they reported and showed me out on the machine the two out of round tires, and two slightly bent wheels. WIth that arm tracking the circumference of the tire, the wobble can be seen much better. The machine even showed the location of the wobble. Needless to say, my E21 no longer shimmy.

I remember paying something like $16 for balancing 4 tires.

OK I know that this topic has been covered and I have searched the archives fairly diligently, however I find the same answer again and again... Balance the wheels. Well Ive done that. It's still there! I'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas other than wheel balancing. I have a 97 528i It has brand new continentals on it. I noticed the shimmy at around 53 - 60 mph at around 2000 to 2300 rpm. What else could it be PLEASE HELP!!!!!

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