Steering wheel shake

hornmeister2000 · 11th May 2004, 13:07

Hi All,

I don't know if anyone remember's a post I made on the same problem a couple of weeks ago? Anyway, the car's been off the road since then having bodywork done (and looks GORGEOUS!). The steering wheel has been shaking since I had the wheel bearings and driveshafts replaced about a month ago. Didn't trust the garage, so I've taken it somewhere else to have this looked at and he said there's nothing wrong with it but it could be a tyre. However, if it's a tyre, it's coincided conveniently with all this work.

I can't get a tyre till the weekend and have to drive a VERY long way next week, so if it's not the tyre, it'll be too late to get it looked at again.

Does anyone know anything else that would cause the steering wheel to shake? It happens at all speeds, but gets faster with the speed of the car.

Desperately hoping for some help...

Neil

E_T_V · 11th May 2004, 13:45

Check the wheelnuts on all four wheels (we once had a rear that came loose).

Also if you can before jack up the front of the car and get someone to turn the wheel by hand. Look carefully for any bulges or for the tyre being egg shaped, (this happened twice on our rover). If the tyre is bulged it will be fairly obvious. swap it for the spare and see if that helps. Check the rears and fronts for tyre defects, (but it is more likely to be on the front).

You can do the checks one evening with a jack and a helper. If you take your hands off of the steering wheel whilst driving does the car steer in any particular direction. (most cars naturally drift slowly to the left).

hornmeister2000 · 11th May 2004, 13:50

Thanks for the advice. It drives pretty straight without my hands on the wheel. The vibration isn't constant - it comes and goes every 20 seconds-or-so...

John · 11th May 2004, 14:18

Swap front and back wheels and see what happens.

hornmeister2000 · 12th May 2004, 14:03

Got the car back from the garage last night and actually found a tyre place open late. Took the car in, and the problem was that the garage hadn't put the wheels on straight - they'd put them on the hubs badly, tightened up the nuts, and sent me on my way. The wheel hub had cut into the alloy at a funny angle and they weren't turning straight. Fortunately there wasn't too much damage, but it took the tyre place an hour to put it right!

John · 12th May 2004, 14:08

Present the garage with the tyre place bill

hornmeister2000 · 12th May 2004, 14:11

Needed 2 tyres anyway. Lucky really otherwise I wouldn't have found out! It just cost me a big tip for the guy who did it. I will present the garage with their bill for 2 hours labour trying to find out the problem THEY made!

For anyone in London, I can recommend a garage NEVER to go to!

Simon · 12th May 2004, 17:43

Yes, you've got to be careful with the alloys, particularly the cross spokes because the centre hole is quite a tight fit. The trick in the future is to just slap the wheel on the studs, it'll be wonky to begin with but you must be patient and do up each wheel nut only a couple of turns in a diagonal sequence. Keep spinning the wheel and you'll see where it is out, and this will correspond with a loose adjacent wheel nut. Keep doing up the nuts until the wheel runs straight when spun by hand, then its just a final torque up as normal. Oh yes and don't forget to apply copper grease to the inside mating surface of the wheel before you put it onto the hub, or the bi-metallic corrosion will make the wheel extremely reluctant to remove next time. This is quite a common problem.

hornmeister2000 · 13th May 2004, 08:36

Took it for a drive last night and it's STILL vibrating, although not as bad as it was. I'm wondering if it's the wheel damaged or if the vibration has damaged something else. Taking it to the garage again tomorrow for him to have a look and swop the wheels round. Only 6 days to go until I have to take it 4,000 miles across Europe and I'm beginning to get a bit nervous now...

Mat_C · 13th May 2004, 15:16

I would present that garage with a bill for that work and full refund of all work they've done in the past. Then report them to trading standards. I couldn't believe what they did in your last thread about this problem and this just takes the ****!

I would also sue them, but thats just me!

Did the tyre place balance the wheel before or after they fixed the damage? It could be well out of balance.

hornmeister2000 · 13th May 2004, 15:20

After. There's still a scraping noise, anyway so it's obviously not straight. I've got a plan of action:

1) Take to garage tomorrow. Get him to run it on axle stands with the wheels OFF and check the things (not very technical I'm afraid) are rotating straight. That would rule out a car problem

2) Get the wheels swapped front-back

3) Drive to Bristol tomorrow night (gotta go there) and see how it is

4) Go to a tyre place and get them to check and balance all wheels

That should solve the problem...

John · 14th May 2004, 10:59

Are the brake discs warped, had that on an escort once.

hornmeister2000 · 14th May 2004, 11:01

They weren't before I had the driveshafts done...

E_T_V · 14th May 2004, 11:25

Dare I ask if the drive shafts are bent? Also have the rubber dampers been correctly replaced on them?

Jack · 14th May 2004, 12:18

Have they checked the run out when they changed the driveshafts? If it's not within tolerances then it could cause vibration. The fact that it occurs every 20 seconds suggests a resonance which I would think is due to a balance problem / run out problem.