[Mk2] [Turbo] Possible causes of vibration/wobble from steering (Not Wheel balancing/spigots)

[davidmit]

This problem is still plagueing me, can somebody help me think what I am best off checking first. At speeds over about 50mph I have a vibration through my steering (Alot, it makes the car feel unstable and is tiring on the motorway).

I have had the following:

geometry done at reputibile place
bought new spigot rings,
changed arb bushes,
bought hubcentric spacers to replace my cheap 5mm ones just in case, changed the front discs (in case they were warped),
had the wheels balanced twice...... but no difference!!!!

The odd thing is that occasionally when I go for a drive the wobble is gone COMPLETELY , no idea why.

What could it be, its driving me nuts. I have tein ss coilovers with pillowball topmounts. Could these have been put on incorrectly causing the prob?

Could my hub be warped?

What else could be worn down causing this?

The correct answer will be rewarded with a £10 paypal beer token.

Or if close to Bristol come round and sort it for me and I will pay you for the work!

I cannot feel any obvious play anywhere (though don't really know enough to check properly)

[Baker]

possibly ball joints, check theyre ok.

are you sure the wheels are straight and no buckles at all?

[davidmit]

How would you check for play? when it has been jacked up I have put all my stength into wobbleing it and nothing. And I got a quickfit chap to check it too with bar. So I dont think it is that.

Buckled wheels is a possibility, when I had them balanced I was told one was slightly egg shaped. But asking on here most buckles can be balanced out unless it quite obviously wonky.

Keep em coming

[Razor04]

its your front brake callipers sticking and not releasing periodically

[davidmit]

I thought that too, but when I changed the discs I greased all the bits on the caliper to ensure it shouldnt stick.

I've just been on a long journey and after having a good three hours of vibration and then no vibration, I have found two things.

The wheel seems to have a small amount of play if you grab the left and right side of the tire and wiggle you can hear a slight knock somewhere.

Would this be wheel bearing? could this give these symtoms I describe?

Second thing is after reversing and braking and then moving forward and braking there is a 'clonk' could this be related.

[leeandjude]

reading this with interest. mine is similar but at over 65mph..but never disapears. i have a friend with a rev.2 which is exactly the same too

[ashley]

I'd check the ball joints, and tie rod ends for play (have a look in the BGB for details on how- really straight forwards). Also try wiggling the wheel up and down (like you did from side to side)- any play may indicate a bearing on the way out.

When you checked the caliper did the piston go back in easy enough? May be that the piston has rusted and is seizing up in the caliper.

My guess would be steering arms or seized caliper...

[ryan]

Did you have the wheels dynamically balanced? I had wheel wobble that normal balancing didnt solve. Only having them dynamically balanced sorted it (where the machine gives several options on where to put the lead weights. You tried it with properly balanced standard wheels? Might rule out the wheels causing it...

[Baker]

balancing would probably only cause slight wobble, think the type this guy and many others experience, is heavy wobble, caused by something either very loose or problems with brakes sticking.

[raptor95GTS]

you are using the right wheel nuts for the wheels yeah?

[davidmit]

as far as I know the nuts are correct. They are the rounded ones and I have aftermarket rota alloys. I think that they are correct.

[stuboy]

dude, check the front droplinks.

[marc GT Turbo]

maybe ! i had a similar problem . after checking all these things this is what it turned out to be . aftermarket wheels more often than not have a plastic spacer that when you tighten the wheel holds the wheel central to the hub. what had happened was when i took the wheel off , (i was fitting brake pads) the plastic spacer must of fallen out from the back of the wheel . soon as i found it and put it back on the shudders and wobbles had gone . may just be worth checking .

[Baker]

Do all aftermarket wheels require these?

where can they be got from if they're missing?

[marc GT Turbo]

i would try a local dealer who sells alloys

[davidmit]

just ask the wheel maker for spiggot rings. I got 4 for 10 quid.

Sadly they didnt solve the problem for me.

[davidmit]

Ok, I can tell you that after a trip to toyota, my vibration looks to be due to play in the steering rack itself. Once up on the ramp it was clear it was the rack when wobbling the wheel.

Toyota world, Bristol were very good actually. Annoyingly you get what you pay for, they took the tyre off to check for water inside, rebalanced wheels too.

Wont be buying the rack from them however, as its OVER £1050! Bought one for £25 on ebay and will get it reconditioned for £125.

Hopefully this will put an end to my 6 months of trouble.

Don't suppose anyone knows how tricky it is to change a steering rack?

[davidmit]

Ahhhhhh balls! Changed my steering rack and now everything is tighter.

But a drive up to hatfield showed me still to have something giving vibration through the wheel when at speed. Now the steering is tight, sometimes the vibration through the wheel stops and the whole car seems to vibrate (Which I could live with) but then the vibration travels back to the wheel again!!

There must be some competent bristol mechanics on here who can diagnose my problem.

I'm happy to pay £100 once for a diagnosis, only if it proves to be correct though.

I'm left with possible, brakes binding (as I do have a 'chirp' when driving slow) Not noticibly hot to touch the calipers when stopped though. Anyone tell me how to find out for sure without removing pads and driving down the motorway )

Dodgy coilovers bouncing away when at speed (How can I check)

something else, control arms??? please give me suggestions people

[TheRoadWarrior]

I have a similar problem. When you changed the steering rack did you also change the inner rack ends (Drumsticks) for new ones? The ball joint there can get tired and give the impression of play in the steering rack. There is also a ball joint in the outer rack end, was that also changed?

A wheel bearing could also presumably give this sort of problem, but you'd be able to hear that.. especially if the vibration is as bad as it sounds. Motorway driving with mine is uncomfortable.

I'll let you know if i get any improvement from changing my inner rack ends (Just bought some)

[Shmed]

Probably not the answer, but you could rule out anything to do with tyres/wheels if you borrowed someone elses. See if you still get the vibration.

I had vibration in one of my old cars, and it runed out one of the tyres had delevoped a bulge. Pretty sure you or one of the mechanics would've noticed if it was that, but you gotta start ruling things out methodically when troubleshooting mysterious problems.