Warped Discs

[gazsharp]

Guys, my e46 330 sport has just started giving a steering judder. This is an on-going saga in that the car has now been through 3 sets of discs in the last 15000 miles. When discs are replaced the problem disappears only to come back again after 2-3k miles. Could a buckled wheel warp discs as this is now my only possibility.

I have had the car for 3 months now and changed the discs once. This was after spending £500 on front suspension and £300 on pads/discs. The suspension was a wrong stear, although items needed replaced. This was done at a local BMW specialist, but I then took the car to my local BMW dealer who replaced the discs again.

I am aware of the front passenger wheel having a bad buckle.

Would anything else cause the discs to warp. There is no way that the car has been abused on these or the previous sets.

Help

[jamoor]

are the alloys balanced?

[belleair302]

Time for a KDS re alignment test, followed by discussions regarding suspension setup and new wheels. Otherwise look at a new brake kit, better calipers and disks.

[Top pup]

It's not got a sticking caliper? A sticky caliper will soon warp the disks, and can cause judder even if they arn't warped.

[drivin_me_nuts]

... had this with my E39 M5. the D/S front caliper was sticking and caused the disks to warp. If your car is under warranty both the disks and the caliper shoud be replaced gratis

[GreenV8S]

This article might be relevent:

http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_warped_braked...

[gazsharp]

Thanks guys, the alloys are balanced and tracking recently done. I have already gone down the front suspension route with new arms and ball joints, under the impression that the discs were ok to later discover that they were warped again.

The caliper sounds like a good route now. I will check which side is warped in the morning. BMW dealer said that all was ok though.

Would the buckled alloy cause this

[Top pup]

gazsharp said:

Would the buckled alloy cause this

Might not be the cause but it's certainly not going to help matters, i'd get it swoped over before anything else.

[Coupe'-Racing]

Hi

does the car stand for amy length of time without use.

Where the pad stays in contact with one patch of the disc - this can often lead to judder.

Do you have matched tyres on the same axles - the E46 is prone to a sensitive setup - mine still not right after replacing almost everything front and rear.

Next step for me will be to play with the suspension settings at the rear as when the car is loaded - it drives great - so I will induce some neg camber at the rear and see.

All the best

[gazsharp]

I have discovered that the problem all along is the passenger front disc getting warped. I can now only put this down to the caliper sticking.

Drivers fornt disc ok and turns freely, but passengers side sticking.

Sounds too simple though, but cars is perfect with new discs yet problem keeps returning after 3k miles.