Thoughts that might help... (longish) (archive)

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I don't disagree with anything that's been said by any of the others here, but would like to add some thoughts that might help a bit (I hope) for getting what the root cause is sorted out for yourself...

OK, first thought was regarding your new tires. Is there anything else that has happened since you had them fitted that could have DEGRADED any other existing components? I agree that checking the last thing changed can be a good point to start from, but Murphy's law can also be that a new component can force an older one to fail... hence, any "spirited" driving that could have stressed things? If so, what?

From this I'd suggest a sanity check on the condition of the following:
- shocks
- bushings
- ball joints
- brake pads & rotors
- brake fluid
- tire rotation directions

I'm also personally not comfortable with your needing NYLON wheel-hub spacers. Those rotors can get damn hot and a plastic (a) insulates the rotor so they cannot use the wheel as a heatsink and so will overheat faster, possibly causing warping and (b) if there is a heat situation the nylon will be heated & compressed at once (you have torqued the wheels up, remember) and that may cause it to distort... Again, for 1/2ton (more under braking) do you trust this nylon? All others I've heard of are metal... who specified you need these?

Also, in line with the effect of brakes grabbing, I'd definitely suggest replacing the fluid anyway... I recently had a fully siezed wheel which was fully solved by flushing the caliper & then bleeding the lines through. By flushing I mean removing the caliper, then bleeding the caliper WITHOUT PRESSING THE PEDAL by using a C-clamp to force out all the old fluid behind the piston out...

I say this because rememebr the fluid will get water in it, and the pads have no way to return (pull) themselves off the rotors, so some heat will build up. If there's water, then the fluid will start pressurising itself (boiling) at 100C not > 270C (for a DOT3 fluid).

Don't know if this will help, but I have found with any BMW problems assuming nothing and considering everything is a good point to start; you can always think it through and then eliminate it, but sometimes in that thinking through I find other considerations or links that end up being the real problem.

Please guys, tell me anything about this...
I bought 4 BRAND NEW rims, and 4 brand new tires 225/50/16
installed, balanced, everything all right . in a couple of weeks later the car started shaking a little bit... each day more and more, so last week i was going nuts. there are like 3 months that i dont know what does a "BMW MOMENT" means, i'm driving a piece of junk ! so i went to rebalance, and the machine was showing OO and 00 , cool ... but when they put the rims back and i started driving i was even WORST !!! my gosh, how come ? so i figure... it's gotta be the tires, they are not a good one i bought it from pepboys , so i went there and i fight, so they gave me 4 BRAND NEW tires, new models, the same size.. went to the best place around to install and balance. the car is a little bit better, but STILL SOOOOO BAD, it seems like the steering wheel and the back, the whole car is gonna fly... and the funny thing, one day it's sooo bad, the other is not so bad, the other i dont feel anything . i was thinking about two chioces, One the rims are busted .. (it can't be! i never hit anything ...) CAN IT BE THAT SMALL PIECE OF NYLON, ROUND, THAT GOES BETWEEN THE RIM AND THE CAR?? it didnt come with my rims.... what else can it be??
got new shocks (4) , new control arms, mounts, everything that makes the car shake was replaced . Please help me i'm going crazy!!! my rims are just like doug's :

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