drive train troubles

[325i523]

Hello,

Just took my 1989 325i into what I consider to be a very reputable garage, though it was my first visit being in a new city. Word of mouth brought me to the shop, and knowledgeable mechanics kept me there.

Prior to going in, I had (1) a new clunking noise upon accelerating after shifting (99% sure this was the u-joints), (2) a growing but minor vibration felt through the stick & car over the last year-plus (could never pin this one down), and (3) a low pitched old car blah-ish noise most obvious when decelerating in gear (my car's not old :-) ).

After the garage replaced the u-joint (the obvious job #1) with a refurbished part vice the entire drive shaft, they honestly informed me that there was still a vibration felt in the car & that they felt the shaft may have been bent due to bad u-joint driving related damage.

Upon leaving the garage on stoplight/stopsign streets, it was obviously obvious that the u-joint was fixed and, furthermore, the vibration had a new, arguably lesser, effect. As for the old car noise, that remained unassessed for the moment.

Getting to the point, upon getting onto the freeway at RPMs ranging from 2,500 to 3,500 at 50, 60, 70 MPH, the vibration was much stronger than before... having a near shuddering effect on the entire car.

Did fixing/tightening up the u-joint connection amplify the growing vibration troubles? I don't believe the garage left anything undone or unchecked given the level of effort required to access the u-joints. It was their first look at my car, and they were enthusiastic & professional about looking into the problem.

Thank you for reading through this post, Matthew