E53 steering wheel wobble

[Nightsman33]

Hi guys recently bought a facelift E53 diesel
Im getting a very bad steering wheel wobble at 60mph.
Its fine anything under that.
Iv just fitted whishbones, ball joints discs and pads but still getting the wobble on the steering wheel its quite bad.
Pistonsnare nice and free on the calipers i checked when changing the above.
Also noticed at slow speeds if i brake sharp it feels like there abit of play in passenger side wheel not sure if its linked or not.
Any ideas please.
Many Thanks

[Alan Gunn]

I have the same and also did all the front end work like you.
Mine is from around 58 to 62 then it goes i just got used to it and hope the next set of tyres fix it.

[X5Sport]

Any sign of distortion in the wheel hubs? A pothole could have caused an issue with the shape of the wheel rim. Worth also checking the mating surface between wheel and hub. Sometimes it can just be a tyre being out of shape….it doesn’t take much.

[Nightsman33]

Tyres are worn on outer edges so i have booked in for 2 new front tyres and 4 wheel alignment wednesday so hopefully that will fix it. I had same problem.on my E46 but it turnes out to be the discs but not the case on my X5. No damage to wheels or visual damage on hubs.
Thanks guys

[X5Sport]

Doesn’t leave much you haven’t thought about. Could be a balance issue, but it sounds like you’ve checked that. Bit of a long shot, but check the propshaft centre bearing mount. There’s a rubber bush in it that could have gone bad. Our E46 had disc trouble as well, but only once hot. My E71 just had a calliper replaced as it was sticking but again the vibration only showed up as the disc overheated. Calliper changed and no problem so the disc hadn’t warped (surprisingly as it had ‘blued’ )


When you buy tyres you need to be aware of the fact that you have an xDrive vehicle. That means you need to be careful with tyre choices and that you never exceed more than 2mm tread depth difference between any wheel and any other wheel or axle. Doing so increases the chance of either a broken transfer box or differential.

Unfortunately this often means you need to change all 4 tyres as a set. This isn’t unique to BMW as it applies to most high end cars with this type of drive system, especially where different sized wheels are fitted on the two axles. It also means you need to buy premium tyres in many cases. BMW ‘approved’ tyres have a ‘*’ on the sidewall. Other options are MO/MOE (Mercedes) or Audi (AO). The problem comes from needing to match the outer diameter correctly at all speeds. Cheap brands can expand more at speed resulting in too wide a diameter that the transmission then doesn’t like.

You may not have a problem but the risk does increase. It usually starts showing with an odd rumble at speed and slightly jerky movement on full lock when at walking speed. It should not happen at all but design choices made by certain manufacturers means it has to be borne in mind. It isn’t what most owners want to hear at all, but we’ve had too many instances in the past on here and did have a member who worked on BMW transmissions (kkx5) and warned us at length about it. It’s only really become less of an issue on ‘G’ series cars as they have a redesigned transfer box. Any half-decent tyre place should also know and advise you.

[Nightsman33]

Doesn’t leave much you haven’t thought about. Could be a balance issue, but it sounds like you’ve checked that. Bit of a long shot, but check the propshaft centre bearing mount. There’s a rubber bush in it that could have gone bad. Our E46 had disc trouble as well, but only once hot. My E71 just had a calliper replaced as it was sticking but again the vibration only showed up as the disc overheated. Calliper changed and no problem so the disc hadn’t warped (surprisingly as it had ‘blued’ )


When you buy tyres you need to be aware of the fact that you have an xDrive vehicle. That means you need to be careful with tyre choices and that you never exceed more than 2mm tread depth difference between any wheel and any other wheel or axle. Doing so increases the chance of either a broken transfer box or differential.

Unfortunately this often means you need to change all 4 tyres as a set. This isn’t unique to BMW as it applies to most high end cars with this type of drive system, especially where different sized wheels are fitted on the two axles. It also means you need to buy premium tyres in many cases. BMW ‘approved’ tyres have a ‘*’ on the sidewall. Other options are MO/MOE (Mercedes) or Audi (AO). The problem comes from needing to match the outer diameter correctly at all speeds. Cheap brands can expand more at speed resulting in too wide a diameter that the transmission then doesn’t like.

You may not have a problem but the risk does increase. It usually starts showing with an odd rumble at speed and slightly jerky movement on full lock when at walking speed. It should not happen at all but design choices made by certain manufacturers means it has to be borne in mind. It isn’t what most owners want to hear at all, but we’ve had too many instances in the past on here and did have a member who worked on BMW transmissions (kkx5) and warned us at length about it. It’s only really become less of an issue on ‘G’ series cars as they have a redesigned transfer box. Any half-decent tyre place should also know and advise you.

Thanks for that. Iv only owned it a week so just finding out and trying to sort the issues as im going along.
There brand new tyres on the rear was fitted by previous owner just before i bought it bur for whatever reason he didnt change the front ones. I wont fit cheap budget tyres not sure off top if my head what brand the rear are but they sre brand new.

[X5Sport]

It could be the difference between old and new causing vibration as well, especially if >2mm difference.

The default ones are/were Michelin Diamaris, and Pirelli, Bridgestone, Hankook, Dunlop, Continental are all brands used. Match the new pair on the car with your replacements. Having 4 all the same make/type helps.

[Nightsman33]

Thanks alot for the help thats what il do then. Dunlop are what im fitting on the front thats whay i tend to use iv had no problems with them
Many thanks