If you're on original axles, it's absolutely time to change them. When my axles went, the whole car would start lurching and shuddering after about 15 minutes on the road. I'd say start with front axles - obviously if you're getting a pull to the right, check the right to begin with. Everything is fine until the moving joints start to heat up and their tolerances change. I had the joy of going through this as well, on several occasions due to different components. Now is not the time to be wasting money and the boss doesn't like unplanned expenses. I was ready to order up some GKNs from FCP, but I thought I'd pass my thoughts to the masses in case I'm missing something obvious. Since the shaking happens after 10 miles, am I right to think axles? I'm thinking that they are extra worn from the lowering and the heat of driving just does them in? There is no clicky-clacky worn CV noises, but both axles do have a mm or 2 of radial play if I turn the axle and hold the inner cup in place.ĭriveshaft also balanced/good guibo/center bearing so it's not coming from the rear. The wheels are equally clean of brake, no visual suggestion of a stuck caliper.
![xit beginning xit beginning](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9Xsrsmb3pCo/WYI1slFvLYI/AAAAAAAAAJU/nn8sTdpQ8oMQiq6BAmw2F0yudr-Xn7nuwCLcBGAs/s1600/august.jpg)
The car is incredibly clean, no corrosion. They are BMW axles, dated '03 and it's possible they are the originals.
![xit beginning xit beginning](https://live.staticflickr.com/5307/5873087294_1c5f13162c_b.jpg)
The CV boots aren't torn, but the outer boots are worn in a ring on the pleats where they were in constant contact when the car was riding low on the H&Rs. All rear bushings (minus the subframe) replaced 15K miles ago. The steering did shudder under braking, but that was fixed with the FCABs. The car did have a shudder when accelerating at low speeds with the H&Rs, which was erased when I installed the Bilstein/Eibach combo 9K miles ago. The car was lowered for an indeterminate amount of time before my ownership on H&R springs. No slop in steering, the axle boots are not torn, no grease anywhere. E36 FCABs installed about 15K miles ago, tie rods ends seem fine, no torn boots. No pulsing brakes like a worn rotor otherwise. Braking is straight, until the shaking happens then it tends to pull to the right. It feels like worn FCABs or an unbalanced wheel. The steering wheel starts to shake, first minor then gets worse. All tires at 10/32 and balanced twice, the car drives great at up to and over 80mph. the car did not have time to cool down between drives today. This happened once a week ago, and it reappeared today, twice.