Plea for help: steering wheel vibration and I dont know what else to do!

Hi all Just before Christmas I thought I would treat myself to some new wheels for my 996, I have only had the car a few months (30000 miles from new) but I really didn't gel with the Turbo Twist which were fitted as factory options. I bought a second hand set of cups from a fellow forum member and had them refurbished at Alloy Art in Essex (who do a lot of trade stuff etc), the wheels were fitted and I found the had a noticeable vibrations at around 70mph which got progressively worse through until about 90mph, just like they were out of balance. I had them rebalance a few times and no improvement but my new mobile chap did notice a flat spot in one wheel and the OS front tyre close to the limit, so I replaced the tyre and got a new wheel from Chris (Excel wheels, whos been a top top bloke), new wheel went on last night and....... no improvement! I am totally gutted, not only have I spent a fortune so far but I have a car that drives like a washing machine about 70mph The wheels have no paint on the contact plates and non on the hub bores, they are the correct C2 wheels for the car and all are straight and true (although the back OS does have a slit flat spot) I did notice today when I was driving home that the alignment seems to be out now (again not a problem that I recall before I changed the wheels) but it's there now! Basically the steering wheel seems slight off when I go in a straight line and when I hold it centre the car tracks off to the right The only other things I have had done is having one of the rear struts replaced because of s squeaky bush! I am now at my wits end and have no idea what else it could be, I have thrown £600 with new tyre and new OS front wheel and it has made no improvement! I cant even try changing back to the old wheels because like a fool I sold them Any any advice would be appreciated Thanks Tom

I would think the first move would be to borrow someone else's set for a quick test drive.

I would say as you have a slight flat spot on the rear tyre to get that checked for both roundness and out of true running relative to the wheel. Either ovality or the flat spot would cause this. Plus talk to the refurbisher I would have expected them to have done checks on the wheel rims both before and after the work.

Hi Tom, Sorry to hear that you're still experiencing this problem - I thought that you'd had it sussed a month ago..!! If you're feeling the vibration through the steering wheel rather than the seat of your pants, since you've been round the balance route several times and, assuming that there's no wheel rim runout or tyre flat spots, I think that you'll have to check that there's no wear in the steering system and/or no brake disc runout, both of which which can provoke similar symptoms to front wheel unbalance. A wheel balance problem is generally indicated by vibration of the vehicle and is as likely to be induced by the rear wheels as the front, so it's worth checking the rear suspension for wear - there are a lot of joints there. Good luck and hope you get it fixed. Jeff

Thanks chaps The vibration is coming through the steering wheel only, no vibration through the seats or shaking of the rear view mirror etc! I am going to whip it in to my local german vehicle place (round the corner) on Monday, if they can diagnose it it will have to go to Mercury Sports Classic in brentwood! Just cant for the life of me fathom the problem! Cheers Tom

Sounds very much as though it's front end related Tom - hopefully something simple (and cheap to fix..!) like a worn steering joint or wheel bearing if it's not a balance/run-out problem. Keep us posted on progress. Cheers, Jeff

Will do, fingers crossed, it is driving me to distraction [ ]

You say you had one rear strut changed, it's normal practice to change these in pairs. Did you notice a change afterwards? It just may demonstrate that one point of wear has gone but then the next loose joint feels similar loading. Could be the while corner needs work. But that is unlikely to cause the problems you describe and something is out of true/balance, it's C2 so no problem of front driveshafts check all front joints and brake discs check discs also for cracking unlikely unless worn thin and the inner faces tend to deteriorate first.

Dickstar! Stop wasting good money mate and get it to Chris at Center Gravity. He will sort out your issues and replace anything if they require it. He is superb and I wouldn't take my car to anyone else. Thx Roy

Promax have got a great machine for getting to the bottom of wheel/tyre problems.

Well The car went to Mercury Sports in Brentwood last week, £200 on laser alignment and proper balancing and no more steering wheel shake at 80 mph!!! took it on a run to Oxford today and.... the car still isn't right, there is a general vibration above 55 mph which now feels more like it comes through the seat but also affects the steering wheel, feels more like a general shake but nothing like the unbalanced wheel issue but through the seat and rest of the car, when I touch the dash at 80mph I can feel the same vibration! Back to mercury when I get back from the states and I am leaving it with them until they have figured out what it is!!! Sigh, more updates to follow [ ]

Sounds more like rear wheels now. I was going to suggest trying to find someone to balance the fronts on the car, if they still do it these days. Anyone in the area have a set of spare wheels you could try? I think you need to find out if it is wheels or running gear.

Richard I think you're right, when the guys did the wheels hey said one of the rears also had a flat spot and as the issue wasn't there pre change over I'm thinking it may well just be my bad luck with the new wheels :-( a chap in London has offered to lend me some my02's to try so I'm going to take up his offer, try it and see if the problem is resolved ! Costly endeavour though :-( with I'd kept the originals

Hi Dickstar, heres my two penith, purchased my C2 just before Christmas and has been fine, took it out last Sunday for a spin, temp hovering around zero, been out for about half an hour and driving along dual carriageway and steerign wheel sraterd to vibrate, braked gently and then sped up again, wheel wobble returned, thought a balance weight had fallen off, but as i drove on the vibration got worse. Thought I must have a front puncture, pulled into a garage and checked out the front tiers, all ok. got back in in still some vibration and when i braked to slow down the vibration got worse. got home a bit depressed! Anyhow took car out for a spin tonight, temp about 5 degrees, along the same road and everythign fine....I cant work this out as it was like a flat/wheel imballance so could only put down to cold temps, road conditions or some suspension bush/temperature relatated issue??all tires Ok pressure 36psi on digital gauge my car does have a slight squeak on the nearside front and guess the lower suspension joint needs replacing but not sure this would cause the problem but could be a contributing factor....