Wheel Wobble issues

waynerp

waynerp

Dedicated Member
British Zeds
Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Points
44
Location
Kent
Model of Z
2.8
Hi Guys.
I'm having an ongoing issue with intermittent wheel wobble.
I had a complete set of new tyres fitted Ocotober' ish last year.
The car probably does 20 miles per week approx, and mainly round town, i dont often open him up, but when i do motorway miles or go over 40mph i sometimes get violent wheel wobble, and i mean it is very severe.
After some 'testing!!' it only seems to happen after i have driven harder / faster for a short while, ie accelerate hard when going on a motorway, slow down to cruising speed and the steering feels like its going shake off the column.
I have had the wheels balanced 3 times in the past couple of months, I have just replaced ALL 4 discs and pads, had a mechanic check all the wheels to make sure they are straight with no bends / buckles, and the problem is still happening.
My mechanic said that the offside front tyre, looks like the tread pattern is a bit miss shaped, ie: when you spin the wheel you can see the tread is kind of wobbly.
Could this be the problem? or can you give any clues to what else it could be, because its really starting worry me

Many Thanks
 
waynerp said:
Hi Guys.
I'm having an ongoing issue with intermittent wheel wobble.
I had a complete set of new tyres fitted Ocotober' ish last year.
The car probably does 20 miles per week approx, and mainly round town, i dont often open him up, but when i do motorway miles or go over 40mph i sometimes get violent wheel wobble, and i mean it is very severe.
After some 'testing!!' it only seems to happen after i have driven harder / faster for a short while, ie accelerate hard when going on a motorway, slow down to cruising speed and the steering feels like its going shake off the column.
I have had the wheels balanced 3 times in the past couple of months, I have just replaced ALL 4 discs and pads, had a mechanic check all the wheels to make sure they are straight with no bends / buckles, and the problem is still happening.
My mechanic said that the offside front tyre, looks like the tread pattern is a bit miss shaped, ie: when you spin the wheel you can see the tread is kind of wobbly.
Could this be the problem? or can you give any clues to what else it could be, because its really starting worry me

Many Thanks
Click to expand...
It could well be a dodgy tyre, this isn't unheard of. Are they an economy tyre or branded? Also you say it's at speed and you keep having them balanced. Is the same place balancing them? If so could they be using cheap weights that are coming off at higher speeds? I'd start by switching the possibly bad tyre to the rear and try that. :thumbsup:
 
Hi. They are branded. Think they are cooper tyres. I had them balanced at 2 different places as i thought the place that fitted them might be doing something wrong! I cant swap front to back as they are staggered wheels.
 
I would go back to the tyre supplier before you put too much mileage on them. I would rate Cooper tyre only as a budget tyre. If there is any sign of tread distortion it is only going to get worse. They should change it gratis.

Tony.
 
I agree, go to the source for replacement. There should never be any visible distortion in the tread pattern no matter what make. Also have you had the front end inspected to rule worn parts out? But if you didn't notice wobble before I'm betting tires as the problem. HTH JIM
 
I'm with Tony, if your on staggered you don't have the option to swap so take it back, sounds like a bad tyre. Good luck!
 
Hi All,
So i have just been to the garage where i purchased the tyres. TBH they were very helpful and thorough. They took all the wheels off re balanced them all. All 4 sides were out of balance. The last place to re balance them was Kwik Fit !!.
They said that the tyres were all 100% ok. Two of the tyres have slight bends / buckles in them which is apparently normal for old soft alloys, and the balancing rectifies this.
Now, i have just taken it for a blast up the dual carrigeway and the problem still remains!!!
I have had new disks, pads, shocks, springs all round,new front powerflex bushes and the front offside wishbone bush are all new.
What else could be causing this problem?
The front tyres are a different brand to the rears but i cant see that causing this problem

Any ideas?

On a side note, my vinyl wrapping is slowly coming together..

 
That smells like bullshit to me Wayne. If a tyre is out of shape no amount of balancing will correct it, it's just not possible. I work in the tyre trade so I'm not guessing here. Shame your not nearer for me to have a look. It's possible that the wheels are at fault. Is there anyone near to you who would let you try their front wheels to see how they react?

Tony.
 
Great Minds. Just spoke to my brother who also suggested putting some donor wheels on the front. Going to call my BM mechanic who should have some spares lying around
 
The wheels you have fitted are they a z3 fit it sounds like a spigot ring issue that only happens at speed it can go again when you pass a certain speed but then return it certainly mimics it...
When you bolt the wheels on is there any movement of the wheel on the hub ?
 
They are the standard Z3 wheels like the ones on your Z3. No movement on the wheel hub.
 
Strange ...... im no where near you to let you try mine its one thing i have not had at all on the zed even with the tracking out no wobble at all.
As said if you can borrow a pair of fronts at least it will rule out the steering and all the joints.......Frustrating! !
 
Many thanks for the offer. TBH its actually very scary on the motorway, as it comes on from nowhere. A while back i had to pull over on the hard shoulder of the M25. it felt like the wheels were coming off!
 
Thats exactly like a wheel with a spigot issue and it is violent i had it on an e30 once with some after market wheels it drove great at low speeds but literally shook the steering wheel from you hands at speed not somthing you need....
 
You welcome to try a set of 17in BMW Style 78 fronts I have that I know don't wobble at all.
Im near Canterbury

Sounds really strange this problem. Can it be power steering related? Ie low fluid or bad pump?
 
Dino D said:
Can it be power steering related?
Click to expand...

I've been wondering that myself Dino, also maybe tracking can set up a shake which builds and gets violent, I have seen that before too.

Tony.
 
I agree Tony and Dino but I'm still thinking this is tire related. No amount of balancing will help buckling tires as Tony has said. Contact the co and see what they have to say about it. My wife's fusion had about 200k On it when we had a flat. My friend took the tire off and it had been an jnternal flaw. Get those tires removed and have a look on the inside. While they're off get them to check them for trueness. That's pretty scary to have to pull off the motorway. Good luck!! JIM
 
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