[wgeclipse]

Brought my 2018 with 21k, and SA never heard of this happening. The tech diagnosed the problem, and waiting on the output shafts to come in.

[wgeclipse]

I know this is an old post, but finally had rear output shafts replaced three weeks ago. Should an alignment have been done? Have noticed that the steering has been a little off and pulling to the left. I have checked the tire pressures, and all close to recommended PSI even with the change in temps lately.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by wgeclipse

I know this is an old post, but finally had rear output shafts replaced three weeks ago. Should an alignment have been done? Have noticed that the steering has been a little off and pulling to the left. I have checked the tire pressures, and all close to recommended PSI even with the change in temps lately.

Depends on what the techs did, meaning what parts were loosened, removed, adjusted, replaced, etc. If you are noticing a pulling that was not there before you took it in, then something has changed. When you are on a straight highway at 55-70mph, does the car track straight with the steering wheel straight? Or in order to keep the car going straight, do you have to turn the steering wheel a little either right or left? If so, then yes an alignment needs done but if the issue was not there before they replaced the output shafts, I would just take it back and say ever since the shafts were replaced, the car pulls in one direction.

They will likely try to blame it on your tires so the sooner you take it back, the better

[AlpineX3M40i]

Hello BMW Forum folks.

I just purchased a 2018 CPO X3 M40i. I notice a vibration in my steering wheel as you have pointed out in this thread when I hit 50 mph to about 60 mph.

Question...how much of a vibration should be felt for this to be an issue? It is definitely there and is quite concerning as I am bothered by it knowing it is there.

I just took the vehicle in and they did the alignment and forced balance thing. Same story as I have seen in this thread from others. I asked if they did a road test and they said that everything is resolved...

But as I was driving home, I still felt a vibration in the 50-60 mph range. Nothing changed in my opinion.

I am dealing with the BMW Austin South dealership. Nice folks, but I am dreading the battle that others have gone through.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get the dealership to actually resolve this?

Any tips on what to actually say to get them to address this? I am going out of new car warranty soon and then into CPO...

Thank you for your help

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by AlpineX3M40i

Hello BMW Forum folks.

I just purchased a 2018 CPO X3 M40i. I notice a vibration in my steering wheel as you have pointed out in this thread when I hit 50 mph to about 60 mph.

Question...how much of a vibration should be felt for this to be an issue? It is definitely there and is quite concerning as I am bothered by it knowing it is there.

I just took the vehicle in and they did the alignment and forced balance thing. Same story as I have seen in this thread from others. I asked if they did a road test and they said that everything is resolved...

But as I was driving home, I still felt a vibration in the 50-60 mph range. Nothing changed in my opinion.

I am dealing with the BMW Austin South dealership. Nice folks, but I am dreading the battle that others have gone through.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get the dealership to actually resolve this?

Any tips on what to actually say to get them to address this? I am going out of new car warranty soon and then into CPO...

Thank you for your help

Ugh - I feel for you and what lies ahead. Personally, I'd sell the car as there has not been a known reported permanent solution. There is an inherent design/mfg issue that was resolved in later years and to my knowledge BMW has not owned up to admitting they had a design/mfg error. Hopefully someone who has the right words to say and preferably a service report to offer you, will chime in. However, even if they do, its only a temporary fix by replacing the parts you have undoubtedly read in this thread. You will be faced with the vibration returning at the frequency reported by others.

In terms of how much vibration is too much, well lets put it this way, you shouldn't have any vibration so its up to your tolerance level but since you said your X3 is almost out of the original warranty, I'd push the issue with your dealer so they replace the parts before you transition to your CPO warranty which will cost you a little for each visit.

If you've gone through this entire thread, you've seen a spreadsheet I made and uploaded, you should download that but if your dealer is going to be like most dealers, they will reject any data coming off of the forums. If you don't get a response from your post here cause this thread is quite old and owners have really stopped reporting, you can once again go through the individual posts looking for those who have had the parts replaced and send them a personal msg to connect with them instead of waiting or hoping they see this post. Good luck

[AlpineX3M40i]

Thank you Marty! Sincerely appreciate all of your work on this for everyone on this thread and beyond. I feel stupid for not having researched this before buying the vehicle.

I reached out to the dealer today. Wish me luck.

Any reason to reach out to BMW NA Customer Service at this time or just stick with the local dealer for now?

Love, love, love the vehicle...except for 50-60 mph. Had an M4 and other BMWs in the past and this is honestly my favorite for an everyday around town car. Just enough performance and practical for Home Depot and Costco.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by AlpineX3M40i

Thank you Marty! Sincerely appreciate all of your work on this for everyone on this thread and beyond. I feel stupid for not having researched this before buying the vehicle.

I reached out to the dealer today. Wish me luck.

Any reason to reach out to BMW NA Customer Service at this time or just stick with the local dealer for now?

Love, love, love the vehicle...except for 50-60 mph. Had an M4 and other BMWs in the past and this is honestly my favorite for an everyday around town car. Just enough performance and practical for Home Depot and Costco.

If it were me, I'd initially stick with your favorite dealer before going above them to BMW NA, it just might piss them off. If they refuse or put their hands up saying they have no clue what's causing it, then the next step would be BMW NA and in that case, if you can get the name of a couple BMW tech's who were sent out to help some of the others with this issue, that would be great. I still think your best bet is in contacting a few of the other posters and get details, names, part numbers, etc.
I almost bought one myself and if it weren't for the fact that the rear cargo deck gets raised about 3" when ordering the spare tire option, I'd be in the same boat as you.

[MBtoBMW]

My dealer replaced the rear output shafts around 12k miles ago and it seemed to *almost* completely eliminate the vibration. I was fine with that. 12k miles later, the vibration is starting to come back with an intensity that is starting to annoy me again. I would definitely say that new rear output shafts are a very temporary solution.

[BriMW]

Fancy finding you all here! Jun 2018 build here. Thought my issue was that I needed new tires at around 14k miles so got a fresh set of Pirellis on my 718M wheels last spring. I then drove 1k miles on a cross country trip. Didn’t really notice what I call the shimmy but also thought it was bad tires so wasn’t thinking about it. Once at my destination I started realizing it again. Took car in and was told it needed a wheel balance (that wasn’t covered under tire warranty even though I purchased the tires 1k miles before at a BMW service center). I begrudgingly had it done. Got the car back, still having the issue. Take it back and they tell me that my wheel may be bent. So they replace the wheel. No real change after I got it back, so I’ve been living with this stupid shake since last fall and now I see that this isn’t uncommon amongst early build X3 M40is. Mine isn’t limited to the 50-60mph range either. It smooths out after that up to about 80mph and then returns. I guess we will be going back to the dealership to get this worked out! Thank you guys for all of this information.

[wgeclipse]

Originally Posted by BriMW

Fancy finding you all here! Jun 2018 build here. Thought my issue was that I needed new tires at around 14k miles so got a fresh set of Pirellis on my 718M wheels last spring. I then drove 1k miles on a cross country trip. Didn’t really notice what I call the shimmy but also thought it was bad tires so wasn’t thinking about it. Once at my destination I started realizing it again. Took car in and was told it needed a wheel balance (that wasn’t covered under tire warranty even though I purchased the tires 1k miles before at a BMW service center). I begrudgingly had it done. Got the car back, still having the issue. Take it back and they tell me that my wheel may be bent. So they replace the wheel. No real change after I got it back, so I’ve been living with this stupid shake since last fall and now I see that this isn’t uncommon amongst early build X3 M40is. Mine isn’t limited to the 50-60mph range either. It smooths out after that up to about 80mph and then returns. I guess we will be going back to the dealership to get this worked out! Thank you guys for all of this information.

Fixed at BMW of Austin. They can verify the condition if the vibration goes away with weight in the back. If I remember correctly the problem went away when they tested with 200 lbs of sandbags in the back. You will want this fixed as output shafts are $1252 each.

[BriMW]

Originally Posted by wgeclipse

Fixed at BMW of Austin. They can verify the condition if the vibration goes away with weight in the back. If I remember correctly the problem went away when they tested with 200 lbs of sandbags in the back. You will want this fixed as output shafts are $1252 each.

Thanks for sharing. BMW of Grapevine already knows I don’t play around, so hopefully they’ll take care of me. I doubt they want me discussing after sales experience, brand loyalty, and service failures with Richard Hart and Stephan Reiff at BMW NA again!

[wgeclipse]

Originally Posted by BriMW

Thanks for sharing. BMW of Grapevine already knows I don’t play around, so hopefully they’ll take care of me. I doubt they want me discussing after sales experience, brand loyalty, and service failures with Richard Hart and Stephan Reiff at BMW NA again!

Ha bought my car at BMW of Grapevine. PM me have a guy up there that is great and should be able to help you.

[bmwnutty]

Marty,
Please add me to your data base of 2018 X3 M40i owners experiencing this steering wheel vibration. We took delivery of this CPO vehicle about for weeks ago and are experiencing the exact symptoms that come on at 52 MPH under slight load and continue with speed, feeling the vibration in the seats as well. Never noticed this during the test drive, probably because I was too excited by the power and accelerated right past 52 MPH.
VIN # 5UXTS3C56J0Y96594, 2/2018 Build Date, 35,101 Miles. CarFax shows vehicle serviced exclusively at Tenafly BMW in NJ with nothing but routine maintenance and service done.
I have an appointment with Tulley BMW (where we purchased it) tomorrow and will report back as to what their response is.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by bmwnutty

Marty,
Please add me to your data base of 2018 X3 M40i owners experiencing this steering wheel vibration.

Hi bmwnutty, I stopped updating the spreadsheet quite some time ago due to the inactivity of this thread and owners not reporting the results when they took theirs to the dealer. From my point of view, anyone buying one of these with this issue, will live with the issue forever. Even if your dealer throws parts at the car under warranty, at some point the car will be out of warranty and those parts will once again wear out and the vibration will return. The best course of action is to prove its a BMW design/mfg issue and have them buy your car back which some have done. If you would like the spreadsheet in Excel format, PM me and I'll try sending it. I know that the system would not accept an Excel format so I had to convert it to pdf in order to post it but maybe the PM area is different.

[bmwnutty]

Thanks Marty, I would appreciate a copy of the data base you collected, to help prove to my dealer (if necessary) that I'm not the only one dealing with this issue.
As a new subscriber, it appears I don't have the necessary "privileges" yet to send a PM, or else I don't know what I'm doing. Can you e-mail it do me at doughbaxter@gmail.com ?
Thank you.

[bmwnutty]

Our CPO X3 M40i went in to the dealer today for a faded rear hatch valance replacement and I brought up this steering wheel vibration issue, providing the dealer SA with documentation from this thread, as well as Marty's spreadsheet. I got the usual "we'll check it out" and the roll of the eyes, with the SA less than engaging. When I came back mid-day to get the car, the SA said that the technician did confirm the vibration and was doing a software update as he "thought this may fix it". I thought, Oh Boy, here we go!
Thirty minutes later the SA came out and advised that the software update didn't do anything and that they had ordered new rear axle shafts for the car.
Something changed, they either found a Service Bulletin, talked to their TFE, etc. as their demeanor totally changed and they were now believing me.
We will be getting the vehicle back tomorrow supposedly and we'll see if that cured the problem. I'm still concerned that we may have a manufacturing defect in those differential mounting points being off center as we are a 2/2018 build date, right in the middle of the supposed defect range, but no one seems to have ever confirmed this.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by bmwnutty

Our CPO X3 M40i went in to the dealer today for a faded rear hatch valance replacement and I brought up this steering wheel vibration issue, providing the dealer SA with documentation from this thread, as well as Marty's spreadsheet. I got the usual "we'll check it out" and the roll of the eyes, with the SA less than engaging. When I came back mid-day to get the car, the SA said that the technician did confirm the vibration and was doing a software update as he "thought this may fix it". I thought, Oh Boy, here we go!
Thirty minutes later the SA came out and advised that the software update didn't do anything and that they had ordered new rear axle shafts for the car.
Something changed, they either found a Service Bulletin, talked to their TFE, etc. as their demeanor totally changed and they were now believing me.
We will be getting the vehicle back tomorrow supposedly and we'll see if that cured the problem. I'm still concerned that we may have a manufacturing defect in those differential mounting points being off center as we are a 2/2018 build date, right in the middle of the supposed defect range, but no one seems to have ever confirmed this.

It stands to reason that not all dealerships in all areas of the US would have seen this issue since it only impacted a select number of X3's before BMW found the root cause and corrected it and I highly doubt a dealer will go searching for symptoms and solutions of problems they aren't presented with. Upon being alerted of this issue by a customer, a good dealer will then investigate and it appears your did. While we don't know what's in the BMW system for this issue, I somehow get the impression that they are directed to throw parts at a car in hopes that by the time those parts succumb to the same fate as the original parts, the car will be out of warranty and owners will either sell or live with the issue

It sure would have been nice if owners who may have had the vibration issue completely solved, meaning they continued to drive the car, vibration free, well past the mileage point where the replacement parts would have once again started to wear out and the vibration returned, had been faithful in reporting that to this forum. That would have given you, and others, the data to present to your dealer to actually address root cause. It's fairly common on forums of any kind that people are most active when in search of a solution and then don't come back to report what solved the issue.

According to the data reported on this forum, the ave mileage reported when the owner experienced the vibration was about 6,300 but the range was quite wide at 2,500 to 16,800 so once the axels are replaced, owners would have had to drive around 7-12K miles before the vibration returned and that could represent a year or more of driving. Keep your records, keep the names of the people you dealt with at the dealership and ask them what their position will be if the issue returns and your car is out of warranty and get that in writing. Good luck!

[xylodan]

Originally Posted by Marty in NY

It stands to reason that not all dealerships in all areas of the US would have seen this issue since it only impacted a select number of X3's before BMW found the root cause and corrected it and I highly doubt a dealer will go searching for symptoms and solutions of problems they aren't presented with. Upon being alerted of this issue by a customer, a good dealer will then investigate and it appears your did. While we don't know what's in the BMW system for this issue, I somehow get the impression that they are directed to throw parts at a car in hopes that by the time those parts succumb to the same fate as the original parts, the car will be out of warranty and owners will either sell or live with the issue

It sure would have been nice if owners who may have had the vibration issue completely solved, meaning they continued to drive the car, vibration free, well past the mileage point where the replacement parts would have once again started to wear out and the vibration returned, had been faithful in reporting that to this forum. That would have given you, and others, the data to present to your dealer to actually address root cause. It's fairly common on forums of any kind that people are most active when in search of a solution and then don't come back to report what solved the issue.

According to the data reported on this forum, the ave mileage reported when the owner experienced the vibration was about 6,300 but the range was quite wide at 2,500 to 16,800 so once the axels are replaced, owners would have had to drive around 7-12K miles before the vibration returned and that could represent a year or more of driving. Keep your records, keep the names of the people you dealt with at the dealership and ask them what their position will be if the issue returns and your car is out of warranty and get that in writing. Good luck!

I think many of us unloaded the cars and ran away as fast as we could.

[Ayyleoo]

Welp… just got my 2019 CPO last month… already took once for shaking. Wheel balance. Nothing. Lagging in taking it back … pulls to the left in Sport Plus Mode - what years does this pertain to mostly ?
…

[antair]

There should be no vibration on any speed. Period. "Driving characteristics"… what a shame…

[383vett]

Originally Posted by Ayyleoo

Welp… just got my 2019 CPO last month… already took once for shaking. Wheel balance. Nothing. Lagging in taking it back … pulls to the left in Sport Plus Mode - what years does this pertain to mostly ?
…

I believe this was an issue with early production 2018 models. Mine was manufactured 11-17 and BMW bought it back months later.

[Sportskid1]

Bringing this topic back from the dead. I took ownership of a 2018 X3 M40i with 34K on it about 6 weeks ago and I think I have this same issues. It has an early 2018 build date and around 50-60 mph the car vibrates. At first I though it was the lane departure warning but nothing changes when that is turned off. I think I an stuck with it now as I can't return the car so I am trying to figure out what to do as while the car is out of warranty I have a 90 day warranty from the company I bought the car from. From reading this thread it sounds like replacing the half shafts is the only solution but temporary. Is there a BMW Service Bulletin that is out on this problem that I can bring in when I have the car looked at. If so where do I find that. I am just worried that I am going to get the run around and have this rejected what I ask them to fix it under warranty.

Also since I will likely be stuck with this car for a long time is there any safety issues in just driving the car for another 50k miles and living with the vibration. Is there a chance of catastrophic failure due to this bad design?