Steering wheel shake at 60mph and over

[Billybomber]

Hi Guys,

I'm out of ideas but maybe somone can point me in the right direction.

I do a lot of motrway miles so I find it very annoying that when I GET TO 60 MPH that the steering wheel starts to judder....

so i've done the basics....

1/ got wheels aligned
2/ got wheels balanced (3 times in different places)
3/ had bearings in wheels tightened

mechanic assures me that everything is mechanically sound ie track rods bearings, bush's etc

tyre people all say there is no obvious sign of bad tyres or alloys

I've tried moving front wheels to back wheels...judder is still there only it's thrown the alignment out again ...would that indicate a buckle?

so at the minuite i'm left scratching my head....:nenau

any ideas or has anyone else had anything similar...

i'm getting to the point where i'm thinking new alloys and tyres but that could be very costly.

thanks in advance

Bill

 

[Liam]

Probably be hard to do but if you could beg/steal/borrow wheels from another T" and see if there is any improvement. or else try jacking up each wheel and giving it a good spin to see if there is a noticeable wobble.

 

[Deleted account DD]

Once youve decided the wheel is running true..............................

One thing to look out for that the Kwik Fit bloke pointed out to me (we have a superb one near us :thumb2 ) when I had exactly the same problem.

Because of the shape of the wheel centres (more like truck wheels) the rims do not always sit square and accurate on the cone type locator on the majority of "smaller" balancing machines like theirs.

He declined to try to balance them because he couldnt be sure of a good result and even recommended somewhere that did them on the car. Before I went on my hacked off way, he whipped a wheel off stuck it on the machine,checked the balance, took the turned the wheel on the machine and ran it again. He did this 3 times and got three completely different results.

Cut a long story short I ended up a local truck tyre specialist, he too had come across this problem. One of his customers runs a "racing range rover" that apparently can see off a lot of sports cars theyd had a similar problem and solved it by using powder balnce. Quite simply they crack the tyres off the rims and drop a calculated amount of powder into the tyre and when you drive it finds the low (or is it high?) points inside and balances out. The stuff in mine is a light grey mettallic looking powdery mess.

I tried it and it sorted it :thumb2:thumb2:thumb2 that was last Oct (I think) and almost 10,000 miles on the balance is still in and no wobble @ 60.

 

[Jocky]

Dave where did you get that done?
My Trol has got a bit of wobble @60 and it drives me nuts after a while:doh or I just go faster to get out of it and use loads of fuel:doh

 

[zippy656]

i get that too. just between 50 ans 60.

car dont wobble but just the stearing wheel.

 

[BigBlack]

My T2's have had their wheels balanced at the local agricultural/HGV place... as said before, there machines are the only ones which can balance the 'bigger' wheels acuratley.

Try look in the yellow pages for somewhere that does tractor tyres/JCB and such, and give them a ring.

 

[elty001]

i had the same problem with my old t2 with the standard alloys on.
put a set of steels on and it cured it:thumb2

 

[Deleted account DD]

Dave where did you get that done?
My Trol has got a bit of wobble @60 and it drives me nuts after a while:doh or I just go faster to get out of it and use loads of fuel:doh

I cant remember the name of the place but its by the old Pickering lift factory in Stockton, Station St , off the roundabout, junction of maritime rd/norton rd.

I've no doubt the name of the bussiness (I'm sure their signage/logos are red) will come to me in the middle of the night, if it does I promise I'll let you know :thumb2

The other option is the tyre place in the old fire station at Grangetown, they do on the car balancing.

 

[Deleted account DD]

Got em, "Tyre power"

http://www.townpages.com/details.htm


And I think the Grangetown one is "Town and Country"

 

[Billybomber]

Once youve decided the wheel is running true..............................

One thing to look out for that the Kwik Fit bloke pointed out to me (we have a superb one near us :thumb2 ) when I had exactly the same problem.

Because of the shape of the wheel centres (more like truck wheels) the rims do not always sit square and accurate on the cone type locator on the majority of "smaller" balancing machines like theirs.

He declined to try to balance them because he couldnt be sure of a good result and even recommended somewhere that did them on the car. Before I went on my hacked off way, he whipped a wheel off stuck it on the machine,checked the balance, took the turned the wheel on the machine and ran it again. He did this 3 times and got three completely different results.

Cut a long story short I ended up a local truck tyre specialist, he too had come across this problem. One of his customers runs a "racing range rover" that apparently can see off a lot of sports cars theyd had a similar problem and solved it by using powder balnce. Quite simply they crack the tyres off the rims and drop a calculated amount of powder into the tyre and when you drive it finds the low (or is it high?) points inside and balances out. The stuff in mine is a light grey mettallic looking powdery mess.

I tried it and it sorted it :thumb2:thumb2:thumb2 that was last Oct (I think) and almost 10,000 miles on the balance is still in and no wobble @ 60.

Wow, you learn something every day.

Do you mind if I ask what that costs?

Thanks for the help, if nothing else you give me hope..

Bill

 

[Billybomber]

was the stuff like this:

http://www.tyre-equipment.co.uk/acatalog/EasyBalance_Wheel_Balancing_Compound.html

thanks Bill:thumb2

 

[Toolbox]

I have had mine balanced 3 time since December after having new tyres fitted, still not perfect even after the garage purchased an adaptor plate for their machine to hold the wheels by the stud holes and not the centre as normal.

 

[Lee3197]

Wow ! You learn something new every day ! I've got steel eheels on mine now, and no problems at all !

Lee. :thumbs

 

[DJ38]

Your Wheels rely on the wheel nuts to keep them centred.
Most other vehicles use spigot tolerence for centering, not Terrano's
Each nut is tapered to center the wheel on tightening, check that they arn't damaged and locking up with the wheel off centre, this will cause imbalance.

Try the following:
After slackening the nuts, just try jacking up your front wheels,
Check the condition of your nut tapers and wheel stud holes.

If ok, tightened up the nuts opposite each other, just taking up the tension, then bang the tyre on the rims to ensure centre seating on the nuts, then tighten to correct torque

See if this cures your problem, i bet it does!

This is a top tip if your also using wheel spacers!

 

[Billybomber]

Your Wheels rely on the wheel nuts to keep them centred.
Most other vehicles use spigot tolerence for centering, not Terrano's
Each nut is tapered to center the wheel on tightening, check that they arn't damaged and locking up with the wheel off centre, this will cause imbalance.

Try the following:
After slackening the nuts, just try jacking up your front wheels,
Check the condition of your nut tapers and wheel stud holes.

If ok, tightened up the nuts opposite each other, just taking up the tension, then bang the tyre on the rims to ensure centre seating on the nuts, then tighten to correct torque

See if this cures your problem, i bet it does!

This is a top tip if your also using wheel spacers!

Excellent tip, that might explain why when the tyres are off to be turned the speed at which the steering shakes varies slightly then stays constant, till they're off and on again.

I'll be able to give them a good check at the weekend, then i'll try the powder stuff. After that.... new alloys / steel rims

 

[Toolbox]

Excellent tip, that might explain why when the tyres are off to be turned the speed at which the steering shakes varies slightly then stays constant, till they're off and on again.

I'll be able to give them a good check at the weekend, then i'll try the powder stuff. After that.... new alloys / steel rims

When you say you take the tyres off to be turned, do you mean you then run the tyre in the other direction as if you swapped sides?

You should always keep a worn tyre running in the same direction on theses trucks only changing wheels around on one side. If not it will cause wobbles due to the tyre wear.

 

[Billybomber]

When you say you take the tyres off to be turned, do you mean you then run the tyre in the other direction as if you swapped sides?

You should always keep a worn tyre running in the same direction on theses trucks only changing wheels around on one side. If not it will cause wobbles due to the tyre wear.

no mate, i just meant turn them as in have them off to get them balanced. Turning in ref to the balancing machine. Never swapped wheels left to right. Just back to front. Hope i'm explaining myself right, night shifts do funny things to yer head...

Bill

 

[Deleted account DD]

Wow, you learn something every day.

Do you mind if I ask what that costs?

Thanks for the help, if nothing else you give me hope..

Bill

I cant remeber what they started off at for two wheels to try it out but I eventually paid £35 for all 4 with a money back if you dont like it promise :thumb2

I did think at first it was expensive but "normal" balance is around £5 if i remember (kwik fit who regularly calibrate their machines) or £10 ish for on car at our local place.

 

[Deleted account DD]

was the stuff like this:

http://www.tyre-equipment.co.uk/acatalog/EasyBalance_Wheel_Balancing_Compound.html

thanks Bill:thumb2

That looks like it :thumb2

 

[Deleted account DD]

I have had mine balanced 3 time since December after having new tyres fitted, still not perfect even after the garage purchased an adaptor plate for their machine to hold the wheels by the stud holes and not the centre as normal.

Interesting stuff.

Is the rest of their kit up to spec? minute wear on the balance spindle then a fraction of a mill out on the plate on a wheel this size would mean it would never be spot on. I remember balancing tyres in the wheel bay years ago and it was bloody difficult on one of the machines and not on its identical buddy

If you have another car, take a wheel off take it down to be balanced and see if they get it right before you start digging on your truck for faults :thumb2

Or get them to turn the Terrano wheel through 90 deg then bolt back onto the machine and try the balance again. Could be very interesting.

I was lucky really, I was confident mine was ok and it was a balance or tyre problem simply because it was fine with the old tyres fitted