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Re: Body shimmy (??)

<First of all I was wondering about some body shimmy.  When you push the body
of the car sideways at either the front or back end, it wiggles back and
forth quite a bit.  How do you correct that or at least tone it down?  My
friend has a 528e with the Eibach/Bilstein combination, and his does it.  I
have a 635Csi and mine does it, my father has a 535is and his DOESN"T do it.
 Any ideas?>

    1)  Put the control/thrust/trailing arm bushings back into yours and your
friend's cars, or  b)  Compare tire types and pressures between all three
cars, and maybe put your father's wheels on the other two cars and try again.
 Most likely the sidewalls on his tires are stiffer.  If you can do this by
hand, imagine what cornering forces do!

    I wrote the previous semi-snide paragraph yesterday-- I just now
downloaded the digest containing the follow-up about new bushings.  Yes, it
can make a world of difference, but so can the tires (see b above).  I'd
recommend you get the bushings checked to see if you need them, or tires, or
both.  If you need the control/thrust arm ball joints too, you'll need to
replace the entire arm (they come with bushings)-- the ball joints are not
replaceable as far as I know.

Happy un-shimmying,
Gary
'87 535i (w/new control arms, thrust arms and steering linkages)
'88 325is (probably needs new bushings)