Hi
I'm at my wits end with a severe steering wheel shake experienced at anything over 60mph. I've recently had four brand new alloys put on, had them balanced 3 times, had them swapped front to back, had the bushes inspected, had the steering inspected and nobody can find anything wrong!
The shake comes through the steering column and up to the wheel, and can then be felt by the passengers too. There's no increase with braking, and no change whether cruising or building speed.
What else do I need to consider???
Many thanks
David
Steering Shake
Re: Steering Shake
Sir,
I would strongly recommend having your wheel alignments checked by someone in the "alignmycar" group. They are on the web.
They have fancy laser type equipment which I believe is very good.
I had my XJ6 done 3 years ago and all wheels were out of spec, including the back wheels.
I had a one year old Toyota Hilux done 6 months ago (10,000 mls) and the fronts were all over the place!
I think that unless you are CERTAIN that your wheel alignments are right, you are blowing into the wind.
In fact, were it me, I would have the job done at TWO alignment shops and then you can compare the results. OK, it'll cost.
Expect to pay about £85 a go.
If you are Leeds-ish, I can recommend without reservation All Car Auto Centre, Deighton, Huddersfield 01484 427677
Graham Pearson.
Best,
Spud23
I would strongly recommend having your wheel alignments checked by someone in the "alignmycar" group. They are on the web.
They have fancy laser type equipment which I believe is very good.
I had my XJ6 done 3 years ago and all wheels were out of spec, including the back wheels.
I had a one year old Toyota Hilux done 6 months ago (10,000 mls) and the fronts were all over the place!
I think that unless you are CERTAIN that your wheel alignments are right, you are blowing into the wind.
In fact, were it me, I would have the job done at TWO alignment shops and then you can compare the results. OK, it'll cost.
Expect to pay about £85 a go.
If you are Leeds-ish, I can recommend without reservation All Car Auto Centre, Deighton, Huddersfield 01484 427677
Graham Pearson.
Best,
Spud23
Re: Steering Shake
Lets go back to basics.
Jack each front wheel and make sure it JUST touches the ground. Spin the wheel and look under the tread area. Consider if the tyre carcass is perfectly round. Similarly look for side wall bulges and for carcass irregularities such as being mis-shapen. Are the tyres of decent manufacturer? Cheap tyres can often go out of shape.
Wheel balancing must be spot on. These cars will vibrate if balance is sub-standard.
Camber should be set at 0.75-1.00 degree positive. Toe should be about parallel with just a tad of toe in. Most garages are unable to set caster. This is the method I use and if a garage is in doubt, get them to use my method. Measure from the rear of the rear wheel to the rear of the front rim across the centre line of the wheel rims with a tape measure. Place a piece of tape at 119.4". The tape mark should coincide with the rear of the front rim if caster is correct. The front wheels should then look central in the wheel arches. Adjust toe if you have to adjust caster at the front banana arm bush bolt. Normally, if there is no bush degradation, I can set a car up on a ramp using this method in less than five minutes. I`ve set six of these cars up for local JEC members including Paul`s car which appeared with my own in the last magazine..
Lever test the inner drop arm bush and the large one in the banana arm. There should be no significant wear in either.
I had similar issues recently. Brake discs on my XJR are 365mm diameter and when new weigh 11.8Kg each. That is a lot of revolving mass set some 162mm from the centre of the axle. Any imbalance is quickly noted. My old discs had lost 0.75Kg each in weight due to disc wear. I had vibration issues when cruising even though I`ve been through a similar elimination process as described in the original post here. This car had also had every single bush changed about a year earlier, so bushings were almost new. I had brake vibration coming down from 70mph to around 50mph. Changing the discs for new ones cured both vibration issues at a stroke. The disc change on both front hubs took exactly one and a quarter hours, working in our car park on hands and knees.
Wheel bearings only last about 80-90K miles. Check for noise and play. Any bearing which sounds like a building site cement mixer eating a sack of peanuts should be immediately changed. Experience over 12 years on S-type and X350 taught me that lesson!
I hope that gives some ideas to pursue.
Mike K
Jack each front wheel and make sure it JUST touches the ground. Spin the wheel and look under the tread area. Consider if the tyre carcass is perfectly round. Similarly look for side wall bulges and for carcass irregularities such as being mis-shapen. Are the tyres of decent manufacturer? Cheap tyres can often go out of shape.
Wheel balancing must be spot on. These cars will vibrate if balance is sub-standard.
Camber should be set at 0.75-1.00 degree positive. Toe should be about parallel with just a tad of toe in. Most garages are unable to set caster. This is the method I use and if a garage is in doubt, get them to use my method. Measure from the rear of the rear wheel to the rear of the front rim across the centre line of the wheel rims with a tape measure. Place a piece of tape at 119.4". The tape mark should coincide with the rear of the front rim if caster is correct. The front wheels should then look central in the wheel arches. Adjust toe if you have to adjust caster at the front banana arm bush bolt. Normally, if there is no bush degradation, I can set a car up on a ramp using this method in less than five minutes. I`ve set six of these cars up for local JEC members including Paul`s car which appeared with my own in the last magazine..
Lever test the inner drop arm bush and the large one in the banana arm. There should be no significant wear in either.
I had similar issues recently. Brake discs on my XJR are 365mm diameter and when new weigh 11.8Kg each. That is a lot of revolving mass set some 162mm from the centre of the axle. Any imbalance is quickly noted. My old discs had lost 0.75Kg each in weight due to disc wear. I had vibration issues when cruising even though I`ve been through a similar elimination process as described in the original post here. This car had also had every single bush changed about a year earlier, so bushings were almost new. I had brake vibration coming down from 70mph to around 50mph. Changing the discs for new ones cured both vibration issues at a stroke. The disc change on both front hubs took exactly one and a quarter hours, working in our car park on hands and knees.
Wheel bearings only last about 80-90K miles. Check for noise and play. Any bearing which sounds like a building site cement mixer eating a sack of peanuts should be immediately changed. Experience over 12 years on S-type and X350 taught me that lesson!
I hope that gives some ideas to pursue.
Mike K
X350 Co-ordinator
2004 XJR
2004 XJR
Re: Steering Shake
Hi Spud and Mike - thanks for the comments, it gives me hope!! I'll post back with a reply when I can get these checks done
David
David
Re: Steering Shake
I`ll add some more to this thread.
Both front and rear brake discs sets now new on my X350R. What a difference made to noise, vibration and harshness! It is important to realise that when brake discs wear, they loose mass which can put the disc badly out of balance. Remember, that in my earlier post I said that about 3/4Kg of weight had been lost from each of the old discs when they were finally dis-guarded. That is not insignificant and can certainly cause weight and balance problems. Warping if the disc may also show up badly as the disc thins through wear. The effect is at its most noticeable when braking. Such vibration can be very tedious.
Also vitally important is good wheel balance. It doesn`t take much to throw things out. Loss of a weight from a rim frequently will cause vibration. Rim damage is not helpful. It is very easy to drop the car into a pothole and cause a flat spot to be bashed into an otherwise good ali rim. Spinning the wheel at a tyre depot will often reveal this or other type of localised buckling damage. Sometimes it can be repaired. On other occasions, the rim may need to be replaced.
Out of round tyre carcass issues can cause mayhem. Flat spots, bulges in side walls or tread areas can also cause vibration issues. Duff tyres of this sort need scrapping. Nothing lasts for ever.
Total mass balance of rims and tyres is important. Again it doesn`t require much to spoil the weight and balance of the complete rim and tyre. My own recent experience with my XJR now leads me to a tyre depot that has the newest tyre balancing kit on display. On a Friday, I had two front wheels balanced. I was so pleased with the work that I took the car back to the tyre depot on the Monday and had the two rear tyres done as well. On both occasions I experienced a dramatic improvement. No more NVH issues!
Credit where credit is due. My thanks to Anthony Hazel at Tyremark in Caterham, Surrey on the A22. 01883 348609. If you live nearby or are passing through Caterham and need tyre work done, these guys do a very nice job indeed. Spotless workshop, brand new tyre equipment and loads of help and enthusiasm. They get my Five Star rating for service and price. £20 paid to have all four tyres and rims balanced.
It is worth mentioning that it does no harm at all to have rims and tyres re-balanced as the tyre carcass becomes 50% worn. Worth doing if you wish to keep vibration issues at bay.
The bottom line is it is all down to regular maintenance. The more that is carried out, the nicer the car you will end up driving. Lack of maintenance leads to a rough running car.
Mike
Both front and rear brake discs sets now new on my X350R. What a difference made to noise, vibration and harshness! It is important to realise that when brake discs wear, they loose mass which can put the disc badly out of balance. Remember, that in my earlier post I said that about 3/4Kg of weight had been lost from each of the old discs when they were finally dis-guarded. That is not insignificant and can certainly cause weight and balance problems. Warping if the disc may also show up badly as the disc thins through wear. The effect is at its most noticeable when braking. Such vibration can be very tedious.
Also vitally important is good wheel balance. It doesn`t take much to throw things out. Loss of a weight from a rim frequently will cause vibration. Rim damage is not helpful. It is very easy to drop the car into a pothole and cause a flat spot to be bashed into an otherwise good ali rim. Spinning the wheel at a tyre depot will often reveal this or other type of localised buckling damage. Sometimes it can be repaired. On other occasions, the rim may need to be replaced.
Out of round tyre carcass issues can cause mayhem. Flat spots, bulges in side walls or tread areas can also cause vibration issues. Duff tyres of this sort need scrapping. Nothing lasts for ever.
Total mass balance of rims and tyres is important. Again it doesn`t require much to spoil the weight and balance of the complete rim and tyre. My own recent experience with my XJR now leads me to a tyre depot that has the newest tyre balancing kit on display. On a Friday, I had two front wheels balanced. I was so pleased with the work that I took the car back to the tyre depot on the Monday and had the two rear tyres done as well. On both occasions I experienced a dramatic improvement. No more NVH issues!
Credit where credit is due. My thanks to Anthony Hazel at Tyremark in Caterham, Surrey on the A22. 01883 348609. If you live nearby or are passing through Caterham and need tyre work done, these guys do a very nice job indeed. Spotless workshop, brand new tyre equipment and loads of help and enthusiasm. They get my Five Star rating for service and price. £20 paid to have all four tyres and rims balanced.
It is worth mentioning that it does no harm at all to have rims and tyres re-balanced as the tyre carcass becomes 50% worn. Worth doing if you wish to keep vibration issues at bay.
The bottom line is it is all down to regular maintenance. The more that is carried out, the nicer the car you will end up driving. Lack of maintenance leads to a rough running car.
Mike
X350 Co-ordinator
2004 XJR
2004 XJR
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