Vibration through the steering wheel

[Monty84]

Hi all, I changed my tyres about 2 weeks ago, when I did this almost immediately after I was under the impression that the tyre fitters hadn't carried out a very good job of balancing the wheels as I was noticing juddering around 50 mile an hour, light vibrations but different to before.

Two weeks have passed one and it has got extreme, it has spent the day with an Indy who test drove the car, confirmed the same thing I have said above, and then attempted to diagnose the fault.  As the wheels had been balanced again he headed down the route of discs being warped.  They did have a lip on them and the surface felt wavy.  Also on braking I get a lot of vibration.

The discs and pads have now been replaced and the vibration is still there. The Indy informs me there is nothing wrong with the suspension as it all seems solid.  The wheels have now been balanced 3 times in two weeks and by two different garages to be sure.

A chap at work suggested that the rears may be causing some vibration if they have lost there weights.  This is the case and so I will be asking the Indy to carry out balancing of these. 

Can anybody suggests my next angle of attack.

[bigsanj]

I had a vibration at 50mph when the car was warm. Have you checked for a sticking caliper? Take the car for a drive untill you get a vibration. Pull over and just place your hand over the front wheel. If one is hotter than the other thens its the caliper. Another way is to look at the amount of brake dust on the front wheels,is it the same amount on each.

Best of luck

[Monty84]

I was hoping when they fitted new discs and pads they would have freed them up a bit, however I will give this a shot as they may not have spent the time on the callipers that I would have done.

Going to get backs balanced tomorrow afternoon to take that element of doubt out also, had a look earlier and can't find one single weight on one of my rears.  Can't believe there 100 true with tyres and wheels.

[X5Sport]

Could be a bent wheel rim running out of true.  It won't always show on a balancer.  The way to check is to lift each wheel off the ground in turn and put a wire or similar just off contact with the rim and gently turn the wheel.  The gap should not change at all.  If it does, bent wheel.

Richard

[CondorX5]

What tyres did you fit Monty84?  These cars can be very fussy about tyre choice. Also what wheels are fitted- the OEM 19" or 20" or aftermarket?      Just seems like too much of a coincidence that the problem arose after you changed tyres, but it might be unrelated I suppose.

[Monty84]

20" hankooks on front bridgestones are half worn not changed yet on back.
Had a cv joint changed also, just cv pushed on to original drive shaft.

Front wheels balanced and rears can't find a single weight.

[Smeeagain]

This has been written about a lot on the forum so search all the links you can
Some will tell you its the tyres, others will say wheel balance, sticky caliper, others discs and so on. Every one is right but not necessarily about your car. for me I had to replace the front control arm bushes and the problem disappeared overnight.
Wheel balance is your cheapest option, followed by tracking so get all four done first before proceeding. Not impossible but unusual for your (rear) wheels to have no weights. that would suggest that you have two perfectly true wheels and almost every wheel is out at least a little bit If nothing else you want the tracking to be bang on to extend the life of your new tyres so got be worth doing regardless.
Smee

[Monty84]

Had my rears balanced now, a huge amount of weight on both of them.  Has stopped the majority of the vibration, juddering now. Garage has suggested switching front tyres on wheels with them been directional and rebalancing to see if they can get it a little better. Already a hell of a lot better but still some left to get rid of.