Heya all, I'm having some steering wheel wobble, and am wondering if anyone may be able to help me track it down. My definition of steering wheel wobble is that 'the steering wheel shakes back & forth a few mm, but not enough to impede normal operation of the steering wheel'. The history:

Got new wheels, wrong hub size, no hub rings. Massive wobble. Removed wheels until I got the hub rings.

Installed wheels w/hub rings, the wobble was completely gone from the steering wheel.

Got coil-overs, and lowered the Batmini waaaaay low for the Dragon. Got some nasty vibration on accelleration due to the CV joint angles. Vibration only occured during accelleration, no wobble or vibration otherwise.

Took back to tuner, and raised the front up about 1" to fix the CV-joint angle issue. No more vibration. Wobble is back.

But it's not like it was before. Before it was wobble wobble wobble (before the plastic hub rings). Now it's sometimes. I feel like if I'm driving down the road, it's either wobbling or it's not. If I go over a bump or trammel a bit in some of the wonderful maryland road ruts, that the intensity of the wobble can change, start, or stop.

I removed the wheels, verified all the hub rings were still in place, and ensured the wheels were torque'd down to spec. Wobble dissapeared... For a couple days. Maybe I didn't fix it at all, and it just decided not to wobble for a bit because it comes and goes.

So that's the history. I'm using plastic 56.1-73mm hub rings and am wondering what types of things could cause this intermitent (not all the time) wobble. Maybe it's the plastic rings? Front wheels the rings popped out easily, rear wheels the rings were both wedged in pretty tight. I'd think if it were a bent or misaligned wheel that it would wobble all the time, and not just sometimes.

Anyhow, I think it's more likely that it may be a wheel tire thing than a suspension thing, so I thought I'd give it a go here. Any ideas?

 

Can you tell me more about the CV joint angle issue? I have a "wobble" in the whole car, not just the steering wheel during acceleration from 30-50kph. I'd love to hear a fix for this, other then raising the car!

Thanks in advance.

 

I would like an answer to this as well, because I have the same exact intermittent "wobble" of the steering wheel.
I am running the factory Webspokes with a 215/45/17 tire and M7 springs.

 

first of get rid of them plastic rings cuz of teh heat build up on front brakes this could warp 'em... 'n also how many miles on ur tyres since u last balanced? might need it again.

 

Wheel balance can do this, if both front wheels are slightly unbalanced to roughly the same degree.
Sometimes the vibrations from the wheels cancel each other out, and sometimes they add together,
depending whether the imbalance of one wheel is in phase or out of phase with the that of the other
wheel.
If the wobble comes and goes at regular intervals when traveling on an extended slight curve in the
road, but stays the same in a dead straightaway, this is probably the problem.

 

here ya go:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...39#post1016832

Yeah Joker, I'm going to get metal rings.

I think I have about 11k on them Cristo. I wonder how difficult it would be to get these balanced again. Getting someone to balance them would also (in essence) test for wheel warping, yes?

 

The shop that mounted them for you shoul doffer free lifetime balancing. I know Discout Tire does!

 

I would add, and this is only speculation based on my own observation, that in and out of phase can occur when wheels are removed and placed back in a different orientation; lets say you remove and reinstall the left front wheel and none of the others. If you reinstall the wheel in a different orientation, what was at 12:00 is now at 3:00, the wheel weights are now in a different orientation with respect to all the other wheels.

This is the only reason I can offer for my intermittent wobble. I experiemented until the wobble went away. I install each wheel in the position now. Of course, as tires wear, this may mean little.

 

my vote is poor wheel balance and stretched hub centric rings.

 

I bought the wheels mounted and balanced already.


And I don't know how true that is Meb, because when you turn a corner, the inside wheel travels a shorter distance than the outer wheels and thus would be out of 'alignment' by your comparison.

 

It's funny you say this...I think it's true! I have had medium vibration every since I installed my Exel's a long time ago. Got them balanced from Wheelmax . Put the metal hub rings on. Anyways, the vibe went down significantly because of the beefier front comp sway. But, I still had it. Then I noticed that when I rotated my tires it would be at different times. Then I started torque'n my bolts down differently and it went away for a couple months. Now, it's back again on and off more severe. I have to say, I have never had an alignment done nor have I changed my brake rotors (57K miles). Just 1 set of pads. So, mine is probably a combo.

 

As wagonbat mentioned, the wheels rarely travel the same rotation
with respect to the other 3 unless you're going straight the entire time.
i think the wheel is still out of balance and when the rotation of the
two front wheels resonate at a given frequency, you get that wobble.

i would have the front 2 wheels re-balanced on a hunter machine.

i also don't understand why you would slam the car because you're going
to the dragon. i would do the exact opposite. I would setup the car to
your driving habits by refining the bound/rebound characteristics near
stock height where sus travel and geometry is not compromised. i would
slam it if i was going VIP style.

 

I had the coil-overs the week before MOTD, so I didn't really have time to tune up/down. But I'm comfortable with the current height, so long as I can get rid of this wobble. I suppose I'm going to have to get the wheels rebalanced somewhere. Just no idea where, because a shop up the street wants about $70 to do it.

 

yikes! $70 for balancing 2 wheels?!

pay no more than $20 per wheel/tire. Usually costs $20-25 around my neck of the woods for mounting + balancing.

i would also suggest going to the tirerack site for their recommended installers in your area.

 

My steering wheel wobbles also. It used to do it occassionally and now it does it constantly. I had my tires rotated and balanced in mid June. I don't remember if it did it before, I don't think it did come to think about it. But I'm also pulling to the right, going to get my alignment checked.
I only paid $13 for my rotate and balance.

 

that might be why your wheels aren't balanced yet?

 

jus take it to a Firestone(firestone sumtimes have a hunter) or Merchants they have good enough equiptment fer tha task...
tha hunter machine Ken talks about is mostly needed on big tyres/wheelz like 19's on up^^
70bux is a lot 'o dough, i paid 150 to mount 4 235.35.19's 'n even that wuz high

 

I checked the air in my tires this A.M. and three were only around 30, the one on the right (the way I was pulling) was around 22. My wheel is not wobbling as bad.

After reading this thread I've thought about checking the balance instead of the alignment.

 

Right front tires on front drive cars take the most abuse! allways check pressures 1st, they can fluctuate with normal use. Atleast once a month!

Alex

 

I had steering wheel wobble the other day, and one under pressure back tire was causing it. Can that be your cause?