Re: Dreaded 320i shimmy (archive)

The anti shimmy kit is available from BMP and Bavarian Autosort as well as others. BMP is in Tyler Texas and Bavarian is up north New Hampshire I think.

The anti shimmy kit is a waste of money in my humble opinion. It successfully moves the vibration around. It replaces adds two thick bushings between the large washer on the sway bar and the control arm.

The Shimmy is usually worse on Early cars (77-79) and sometimes on lower cars. Wide tires and Aftermarket rims exaggerate it.

Starting points are:
Rebuild the front and rear suspensions with very high quality parts (OEM/Urethane)
Use new shocks.

Check your ride heights, Equal?

Wheels:

OEM or proper offset.

Tires:
Good shape? balanced?

Find a tire shop with a hunter DSP9000 balancer and have them oem match the tire wheel combo. this will eliminate tire wheel as the problem if you do it with OEM wheels/Tire size.

E-21 are quite sensitive to offset and wheel/tire issues. Practically you will probably not be able to completely eliminate it at all speeds. But you can minimize it and try to concentrate it at a speed you infrequently travel at.

Also try the Archives and webring

Good Luck
Robert

: This is what I have... In a recent posting I found that this may be a well known issue. Is this true and I'm not the only one? I've balanced the tires, rotated etc. But at 40-50 mph the steering wheel just "shimmies" back and forth. What do I need to do to fix this?

: Another posting mentions a shimmy kit from BMP? Who is BMP?
: I've got a 1982 320i.

: Thanks,
: Martin

Robert's 323i / E-21 ring

Follow Ups:

[ Follow Ups ] [ 3-series (E21) Message Board ] [ Msg. Board FAQ ]

Questions, comments, or problems, please visit the Roadfly help desk.