Bad Juddering

SiHH

SiHH

SiHH

Soldato
Joined
4 Mar 2004
Posts
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Location
Hemel Hempstead, Herts, U
Urgent advice needed :(

My E36 318Tds was driving happily when all of a sudden my steering wheel had an awful juddering through it.

I pulled over and I could see smoke coming from the drivers front wheel, called the emergency services and they confirmed there was no fire.

I am now starting to think that it could be from the brakes or something.. stuck caliper perhaps ?

I have started driving it again and everything is fine again, steering fine, breaking fine too but the juddering happened once before about a month ago briefly.

Any thoughts guys ?
 
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Did the wheel itself get hot?

If it was a badly sticking caliper it would have been like driving on a flat tyre.

Still no harm in checking, sometimes the surface of the pads comes apart from the back plate causing similar issues, could also be a wheelarch liner getting in the way of the wheel or leaking brake fluid, however that would have caught fire?
 
Firestar_3x said:
Did the wheel itself get hot?

If it was a badly sticking caliper it would have been like driving on a flat tyre.

Still no harm in checking, sometimes the surface of the pads comes apart from the back plate causing similar issues, could also be a wheelarch liner getting in the way of the wheel or leaking brake fluid, however that would have caught fire?
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To be honest I didnt touch the wheel. Kinda panicked when I saw the smoke to be fair.

Im gonna take the wheel off and have a nose.
 
If it wasn't pulling in the direction of the failed wheel and given the juddering, then it's more likely a wheelbearing has collapsed (or is in the process of).
 
Then surely it would still be juddering now? He says it isn't, although I suppose depending on the severity it could get worse with heat as well.

I'd check the brakes, if it's sticking it will get worse with heat.
 
AmDaMan said:
Then surely it would still be juddering now? He says it isn't, although I suppose depending on the severity it could get worse with heat as well.

I'd check the brakes, if it's sticking it will get worse with heat.
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Well I have had the wheel off and checked the brakes but I cant see anything that looks out of the ordinary.. mind you im a noob when it comes to this stuff.

Am going to take it to my local garage and hopefully wont get ripped off lol.
 
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sounds like brakes - did it only happen at speed - could something work lose due to high vibrations etc...
 
Got back from garage, looks like a sticky caliper which he reckons needs replacing along with pads.
 
SiHH said:
Got back from garage, looks like a sticky caliper which he reckons needs replacing along with pads.
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Replacing? It must be REALLY bad if it needs replacing. You can clean calipers up so easily. A replacement caliper should really be a last resort.

All you need to do is to take the caliper apart, grease the sliding pins (check how it's sliding by hand- should be very easy to slide), grease the back of the pads and pull back the rubber seal (only by about a millimeter) around the piston and see what the piston looks like. If it is ok the tiny bit of the piston you see should be really shiny, if not, it will need either cleaning right up and the seal replacing or a new piston.

These are very easy jobs which, with a basic tool set, should take about an hour
 
I had this happen twice on my E36 323i... was a sticking caliper both times. A specialist BMW indy in Southampton said this was a known weak spot. Mine had the juddering at about 40-60mph, though below those speeds it was fine. Had to drive it with a slightly sticking caliper for a few days before I got it sorted.
 
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MrFunex said:
I had this happen twice on my E36 323i... was a sticking caliper both times. A specialist BMW indy in Southampton said this was a known weak spot. Mine had the juddering at about 40-60mph, though below those speeds it was fine. Had to drive it with a slightly sticking caliper for a few days before I got it sorted.
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Thanks.

As per post above, did you replace your caliper or just give it a good clean ?
 
SiHH said:
Thanks.

As per post above, did you replace your caliper or just give it a good clean ?
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I'm afraid I'm not very mechanically minded at all, so both times I took it to a garage. Cost about £100-150 (so probably a refurb job) to put right the second time, which included a new set of pads as the old ones were cooked. I can recommend Bartley BMW specialists in Southampton - their service was excellent.

The first time cost slightly more... I was driving along behind a really old banger and could smell hot brakes. Assumed it wasn't me. After a few miles the banger turned off and I noticed the smell was still there. I stopped asap and had smoke coming from the wheel too. I was in the middle of absolutely nowhere, with nothing to put a possible fire out with, save my own pee! Luckily this wasn't needed! Got the car trailered back home in the end and took it to Kwik Fit where I was robbed of almost double what the indy charged me the second time :( They did have to replace the brake pipes and the fluid as well as the pads and the caliper though. I think I'd boiled the majority of the brake fluid... D'oh!
 
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MrFunex said:
I'm afraid I'm not very mechanically minded at all, so both times I took it to a garage. Cost about £100-150 (so probably a refurb job) to put right the second time, which included a new set of pads as the old ones were cooked. I can recommend Bartley BMW specialists in Southampton - their service was excellent.

The first time cost slightly more... I was driving along behind a really old banger and could smell hot brakes. Assumed it wasn't me. After a few miles the banger turned off and I noticed the smell was still there. I stopped asap and had smoke coming from the wheel too. I was in the middle of absolutely nowhere, with nothing to put a possible fire out with, save my own pee! Luckily this wasn't needed! Got the car trailered back home in the end and took it to Kwik Fit where I was robbed of almost double what the indy charged me the second time :( They did have to replace the brake pipes and the fluid as well as the pads and the caliper though. I think I'd boiled the majority of the brake fluid... D'oh!
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Oo err.

Well I have been quoted £25 to change the caliper (plus parts obviously) from a local garage. They never mentioned anything about pipes and fluid. Am hoping it will be ok.
 
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