BMW 3 Series steering wheel shakes alot

without going to extremes of what steering wheel shacking could be linked to i believe the simplest and most common problem would be that the tracking on the wheels is out of alignment. The strains of everday city driving can do this to any car things like bumping up curbs, going too fast over speedbumps simple things really that would knock the wheel slightly wonky on its axis. Thankfully the colution is also a simple one. As you are asking this question i would asume you do not have a full mechanics garage so id advise you to take your car down to quick fit and ask them to do the tracking, they use mirrors and lifting equipment to put it right. there is only a small cost involved i think £10 was all i paid and now i find my car alot smoother, well worth it.

The downside of leaving it is increased uneven tire wear so probly something you want to do sooner rather than later.

hope this helps
sam

Hi

The most likley cause of wheel shake is wheel balance issues,or as you have an E36 you may have
worn track control bushes (common).
In my experience tracking anomalies would not cause
steering shake unless the tyres were in a very bad way.

Regards

Donut

If you are experiencing this problem at all speeds i suggest that you have an out of shape or badly damaged tyre or the wheel is buckled, the noise is now probably a worn steering or suspension joint due to driving it like this.

prob go with tyre being damaged for shake although its possible worn bushes on bottom arms to cause this.As for the tapping sound if its mainly over pot holes this points to worn drop link very cheap from your local car spares and only held on by a couple of nuts though they usually seaze so a soakin in wd should help