steering wheel vibration

ayat · Post by **ayat** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:55 pm

hey guys just wanted to pick ur ideas, wife was driving on motorway and told me she got quite bad vibration through the steering wheel. drove it back home to see if it missed behaved and at around 60 quite hard vibrations and wobble, pulled over into car park, got back on motorway and drove home with no problems. took it to tyre shop and got both front wheels balanced, they said it was a little out. then past few days ive had the same problem and much lower speeds. not speed related then and it goes away when the car has been stopped, and will re appear randomly. never had problems before. im gonna book the car into local independent for an early oil change and check over, hopefully injectors will be fixed through warranty if claims department dont make any trouble. im thinking it may be suspension related, but told wife not to drive it as it can be quite scary esp with little one in the back. i have got spacers but they have been on for a while with no probs, spiggot rings all in place, but they never caused problems when i didnt have.

Sanj · Post by **Sanj** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:43 pm

Good to keep family out of the car if not confident with the way it behaves.

I'm in no way qualified to offer advice in this area but from what I've read (and my poor memory) it could be a bush failure issue. Don't quote me, other much better at this, sure you'll get good advice shortly (before your visit to Indy).

tractorjacob · Post by **tractorjacob** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:54 am

I had some nasty steering wheel vibration which was caused by a sticky calliper binding the brakes on.

Next time you get the vibration get out and see how hot the front wheels are, if one is much hotter than the other then you probably have a sticky calliper.

I removed mine, stripped and cleaned it out and it doesnt bind any more.

pvw10 · Post by **pvw10** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:52 am

As above i had both minor and violent wheel wobble just like i had thrown a weight, found the wheel was hot and was a duff caliper. Caliper cleaned fully but same again so had to replace it.

stevox5 · Post by **stevox5** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:19 am

I had exactly the same symptoms with a sticking caliper a few weeks ago as already suggested best way to confirm is see if you have one wheel hotter than the other just after the problem occurs.
Good luck

blingsta · Post by **blingsta** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:28 pm

or maybe a track rod end ?

Black X5 · Post by **Black X5** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:12 pm

From my experience with these cars, if the vibration occurs whilst driving, it is either imbalanced/ buckled wheels or a sticky caliper (which in time will necessitate a new disc!). As mentioned by the guys previously sticky caliper is easy to ID by heat generated around the wheel.

On the other hand if the vibration occurs during braking, it is either going to be a bush problem (predominantly the Thrust arm bushes), or off-level brake discs.

With the suspension components being as big as they are, traditional methods of raising car and checking for play is a fruitless task (unless your the incredible hulk!).

Best method I have found to identify faulty bush(es) is to have an assistant move the steering wheel side to side gently, whilst you inspect for excess movement from the front of the car at ground level. (car needs to be on the ground- not raised by a jack/lift etc). It may be worth comparing side to side- the worn bush should be pretty easy to identify in this way.

The other option is to disassemble and check components individually, but this is pretty labour intensive and costly in terms of time- hence description of the first method!

Faulty track rod ends normally result in a 'loose' steering response- appreciate this is subjective and may be difficult to ID especially if the problem has gradually become worse.

Lower ball joints & anti-roll bar links normally cause squeaks/ rattles etc, especially when going over speed humps/ potholes!

HTHs.

ayat · Post by **ayat** » Sat Mar 12, 2011 10:26 am

thanks everyone, most usefull information i get from the forums. i checked the wheels and the front drivers side blatently sticking. amazing on telling a few local garage they said they dont think it was a sticky caliper and when i asked if they could check, they said they wouldnt want to get into it ???. drove it to coventry to the local mot centre by my shop whom i know, the journery was quite scary didnt know if i was gonna get there or not. luckily wrang the guys up and they said no problems it is a common problem, but recommended replacing the caliper, refurbed caliper on exchange basis and fitted for 100 very hapy, they said the pads and discs look fine so carry on and see how they go. thanks again guys.

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