I hate to say it but initially I loved drivin' my '07 3 and highly recommended them to all, but as of late my opinion is changing. I have 47K on it (got it at 15K, virtually brand new).
So far in the last year ive had to do...
-2x LF wheel bearings (DIY, but done properly; ie. bought a 12 ton press w/ adapters, etc,etc)
-1 clutch (@45K wtf!?)
-1x LF wheel bearing...again. (dealer was doing clutch & said wheel bearing was bad again, so I let them do it, for warranty reasons.)
-New front rotors&pads (to rule out warped rotors as a source of wobble)
Anyway here it is a couple months later and I still have more problems. Current Symptoms:
- Very mild vibrations @20mph+ (all over, including floorboards, but can't seem to pinpoint a specific corner or even if its front/rear)
- A brief moderate vibration from 55-60mph
- A hum coming from front AND rear
- Initial signs of minor uneven tread wear on the outside edge of both front tires
- Its starting to handle a little squirrelly in hard turns (ie. weight shifting, like on a turn, the inside rear is toeing in/out).
I recently had it aligned/balanced(again) & tire guy says 3 of the 4 wheels appear to have some lateral run-out(slight visible wobble when spun up on balancer) but they balanced out & seem to be ok. Wtf? he must have missed physics 101 if he thinks that tire weights on the axial plane will solve a lateral imbalance/bend(it wasn't a GSP-9700 balancer). So i'm starting to think that the root of my problem is out of round wheels...
* Has anyone heard of bending multiple wheels from solely taking hard corners? (I've never wrecked or curbed it).
* Will minor lateral wheel run-out trash wheel bearings? It seems like the axle nut would counter the lateral forces & hold the bearing in place, but perhaps not.
* Anyone ever had their wheels straightened/"trued"? Do they bend more easily because they've been heated & annealed, or do they keep their shape well from being work hardened?
* At the dealer one mechanic I spoke with said they use a tool for front wheel bearings so the knuckle doesn't need removal(and tire alignment afterwards). I thought the knuckle had to be pulled to get the cv halfshaft out knuckle assembly so u'd have room to pull the bearing; or can the job be done by just seperating the knuckle / lower balljoint and then using a tool like this (obviously u'd need a higher quality one than that) to pull the old/press the new bearings?
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm running out of funds/patience and any suggestions would be much appreciated!
So far in the last year ive had to do...
-2x LF wheel bearings (DIY, but done properly; ie. bought a 12 ton press w/ adapters, etc,etc)
-1 clutch (@45K wtf!?)
-1x LF wheel bearing...again. (dealer was doing clutch & said wheel bearing was bad again, so I let them do it, for warranty reasons.)
-New front rotors&pads (to rule out warped rotors as a source of wobble)
Anyway here it is a couple months later and I still have more problems. Current Symptoms:
- Very mild vibrations @20mph+ (all over, including floorboards, but can't seem to pinpoint a specific corner or even if its front/rear)
- A brief moderate vibration from 55-60mph
- A hum coming from front AND rear
- Initial signs of minor uneven tread wear on the outside edge of both front tires
- Its starting to handle a little squirrelly in hard turns (ie. weight shifting, like on a turn, the inside rear is toeing in/out).
I recently had it aligned/balanced(again) & tire guy says 3 of the 4 wheels appear to have some lateral run-out(slight visible wobble when spun up on balancer) but they balanced out & seem to be ok. Wtf? he must have missed physics 101 if he thinks that tire weights on the axial plane will solve a lateral imbalance/bend(it wasn't a GSP-9700 balancer). So i'm starting to think that the root of my problem is out of round wheels...
* Has anyone heard of bending multiple wheels from solely taking hard corners? (I've never wrecked or curbed it).
* Will minor lateral wheel run-out trash wheel bearings? It seems like the axle nut would counter the lateral forces & hold the bearing in place, but perhaps not.
* Anyone ever had their wheels straightened/"trued"? Do they bend more easily because they've been heated & annealed, or do they keep their shape well from being work hardened?
* At the dealer one mechanic I spoke with said they use a tool for front wheel bearings so the knuckle doesn't need removal(and tire alignment afterwards). I thought the knuckle had to be pulled to get the cv halfshaft out knuckle assembly so u'd have room to pull the bearing; or can the job be done by just seperating the knuckle / lower balljoint and then using a tool like this (obviously u'd need a higher quality one than that) to pull the old/press the new bearings?
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm running out of funds/patience and any suggestions would be much appreciated!
