Steering Wheel Wobble @ 65 Help, Not Tracking/Balancing.....

[Jonno 1992]

Hi all,

I have recently changed the track rod ends and all the 4 wheels, after which i have had the wheels realigned and balanced.

when you take her up to about 65 there is a slight bit of vibration in the steering wheel progressively getting worse to peak at 75, and back down to around 85 where it bottoms out. speaking to the grandparents (who gave us the car) said that it has always vibrated since they bought it from new, and from my couple of years with the car it always has vibrated.

Has anybody got any idea what maybe causing this ?

Reading the old Haynes manual it points in the direction of Suspension Joints, bushes or components.
Would somebody be able to point me in the right direction of where to start or what to look out for ? i have a spare 2000 face lift micra that i can dismal if necessary.

Would be nice to bomb it down the A1/A14 every now and again.
Cheers Jon.

 

[Rob]

If the wheels have been balance ok i would say more than likely worn shafts/cv joints matey. Worrying though it its done it from new!!

 

[SirChris]

weird

 

[Glen]

Jack up the car and check for play in everything. Also you tried a different set of wheels?

 

[r-reg-sr]

most tyre shops are slack, i had the same problem after tyre / balance geting done. 60- 75 mph shake.
went to another tyre shop who also was slack, until threatend so he put tyre back on balancer and done his job what he is sposed to once his safetys under threat

 

[MicrAde]

Try swapping wheels front to back, see if that makes a difference.

 

[frank]

yeh, i,ve seen many wheels where the balancing guy did,nt even bother to remove the old weights, and ended up with balance weights fighting each other.
i would try swapping front to rear
edit ^ heh

 

[pollyp]

jack up and rock each wheel checking for any loose play vertically (upper/lower joint) and horizontally (trackrod ends) and laterally in/out of wheel arch (lower arm front bush).
spin the wheels checking for uneven brake binding/warping.
if the brake discs are artermarket, check they fit tight to the hub centre and not loosely off-centre.
if swapping wheels front to back reduces the steering vibration, they might not be balanced properly.

 

[Jonno 1992]

Right an update on this one,

Moved the back wheels onto the front, that has made a difference. the wobble now lightly kicks in @ 75, reaching a peak at 80 and then dying down again around 85.
Apologies for my naivety, but what does changing the wheels from the front to the back do/shows ?

Jacked the car up and given the wheels a good rock and theres no loose play.

Typically as one problem looks like its getting better another one rises, i have spotted a nice gouge in one of the now front tires so it looks like that will do with being changed.

 

[Jonno 1992]

and i should point out as well that currently its best it has been since i can remember.

Cheers Jon

 

[MicrAde]

If wheels are out of balance it is a lot easier to feel it through the front end, through the steering, than it is from the rear. The idea of swapping front to back is to see if the wobble is from the wheels. As the only change you have made is the wheels and things have improved it tells you that your front wheels were indeed out of balance.