[johnpatrickcrumley]

I have a wobble or tremor at 80-90mph. Seems independent of throttle, brake or coast, just speed. Tires were just balanced, suspension just set up, and I can't see anything on the tires (uneven wear or defect).

Should I just head back to the tire shop and ask them to rebalance? or am I missing something else that could be causing this and be worried?

My wife took a video today while I was driving if anyone wants to have a look and help me out:
wobble - YouTube

Thanks in advance,
John

 

[LotusCC]

Did they road force balance the tires?
If so, you could have a separated belt.
Other issue could be that they didn't use the proper adapter cone when balancing.


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[paulhastings]

Find a surface street that is safe to duplicate. It may just be the highway surface. If you have the same result a .25oz out of balance is enough to make this happen.

 

[johnpatrickcrumley]

Did they road force balance the tires?
If so, you could have a separated belt.
Other issue could be that they didn't use the proper adapter cone when balancing.


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Sorry, I don't know what road force balance means. I could ask the guys at the shop. I am obviously not very educated on this, thanks for the help!

 

[jds62f]

new tires? or stock A048? Had the problem on stock tires @70mph, fixed by replacing the tires.

 

[ZeRoSL]

Same thing that is happening on my daily driver, and havent figured it out yet

Same symptoms, except around 75-85MPH for me, was happening with my Suzuki before I bought new tires.

Bought new tires, balanced, still did it. Had an Alignment done with no help.

still stumped.

Going to try to rebalance soon when I get time

 

[TCAR]

Sounds like imbalance

From what you described, I'd lean toward getting all tires re-balanced - at no cost. Had the same thing happen after I ordered tires online and got them supposedly balanced at a local shop. You might not see any obvious sign that causes your shaking, but have the tire people double-check and re-balance all tires anyway. Let the ground shake once in a while, but not necessary your wheels all the time ...

 

[johnpatrickcrumley]

Just a quick follow up in case anyone was wondering. Got the fronts rebalanced and problem solved. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[David Craig]

I had a very similar experience recently. It was all down to just one front tire needing a rebalance. My steering wheel was shaking badly from about 80 kpm and up.

Now the car is quite smooth.

Sometimes the weights they use for balancing can fall off. I think that may have happened to me.

 

[glb]

You don't say where you are, btw.

I had tiny rubber balls/bits in my A048 on one corner.

Maybe from the mold process?

Guy doing the balance bounced the wheel/tire combo off the floor and we heard the evidence.

 

[DealsGapCobra]

Here is my question, does it vibrate like that, then go away if you go around a long bend on the interstate?

No matter, take them back and ask them to rebalance.

My Story, sorry for the length.

I have recently had two vehicles do that (both truck tires). On the one I bought wheels at Discount Tire and got a crazy vibration using the old tires. I went right back, they re-balanced and it was slightly better, but still pretty bad. Next I took them to my trusted shop and had them balance them with the road force machine...way better but still a problem. They felt perfectly balanced but I would get a wheel vibration on the highway that would go away if I went around a long bend and it would be great. In the next bend it would come back. The problem was that they were perfectly statically balanced but both fronts were slightly off on the dynamic balance. If they were in phase, the wheel would shake, go around a turn so they were out of phase and no shake at all.

I was so fed up with it that I bought my own balancer...no more shake! Now, why both shops and three attempts failed but I was able to succeed, I don't know.

My Lotus wheels/tires were balanced perfectly at the 'trusted' shop.

 

[Nessal]

Can you guys let me know if your steering wheel is dead still when the car is moving or is there a slight tremor because of the lack of power steering dampening the road? If the former, I might have to get my wheels rebalanced.

 

[driftwood]

i also have the same issue around the same speeds... have had it since I bought the car

85ish+ is when my steering wheel starts vibrating (there are a ton of threads on this issue throughout the forums but & all of them give the same recommended answers but only a small fraction of people ever find a fix)... stock rims or not the problem seems to be pretty common on this forum

I have done the following list of things that could factor a difference & nothing has really helped

-2 different sets of tires up front over a 3 year span (r1r's & proxes 4's)
-rebalanced @ 2 different locations (1 with roadforce & 1 without) 3 separate times between the 2 sets of tires
-3 alignments over my 3 years of ownership
-on the previous proxes I had the front tires remounted to the rim
-installed BWR wheel studs & it made the vibration come down about 20ish% (noticeable but not 100% curing of the problem)
-checked ball joints & steering rack link/joints for excessive play & everything is solid
-gone through 2 different suspension setups since ownership (Quantum & Sach's adjustable coils)
-replaced 1 front rim due to being bent

none of the above have made a significant difference & the vibration is still an issue at the same speeds

the only thing I can think of are that my blackwatch spacers or front rotors aren't straight & I'm guessing its the rotors... so at some point when I replace those ill revisit this thread

 

[glb]

How certain are you that the other frt wheel is perfectly straight?

Wouldn't a rotor problem show up only when braking?

Can you remove the spacers and test w/o them?

 

[Krule]

I have had poor results with the road force balancing, maybe it was the operator, but i still had wobble at fwy speeds. I took my car to a specialty shop that does only tires, they do a lot of work With the high speed salt flat race cars. They preformed an "on car" balance along with a tire shaving to make sure the tires were 100% true. Steering wheel is now perfectly still at triple digits.
The on car balance is really nice, because it takes into account your brake disks, wheel bolts, ect.

 

[driftwood]

How certain are you that the other frt wheel is perfectly straight?

about as certain as you are that your rims are straight

Wouldn't a rotor problem show up only when braking?

I suppose pending on how badly its warped it could cause problems when not applying brakes (it is afterall rotating mass to account for)... although my brake pedal feels pretty solid at higher speeds so i could be wrong here

Can you remove the spacers and test w/o them?

it may be tough... the spoke-caliper clearance is pretty tight without the spacers in the front (its a 5mm spacer)

although just polling this thread itself seems more people have the issue than not, so I'm certainly not alone in trying to find the root cause... not too far off of labeling it as a TADTS

 

[Nessal]

After watching the video, I have the exact same issue. I even bought two new front wheels and still have this issue. I figured it was normal for a car without power steering.

 

[Patiotray]

My Elise is rock steady, however my MR2 (manual rack also) will do this at 60mph every time the meatheads at the tire shop ignore my requests to torque the lug nuts to spec. The vibration is present even when not braking. The cure is to raise the car, loosen and retorque the lug nuts to spec. This is a known issue with MR2 rotors but I have heard of it curing other cars as well so I'm just throwing it out there, since it has not been mentioned specifically. There are many possibilities, but if the vibration is felt only in the steering wheel this could be it. The fact that the lug nuts are removed every time you attempt all the other "cures" can really add confusion as the problem may disappear or improve just because a tech torqued the lugs correctly. It's not normal, but it can sometimes be hard to solve.

 

[glb]

about as certain as you are that your rims are straight

That did make me laugh.

Well....given that I have a v steady wheel and no issues, might I not be a bit more sure???

suppose pending on how badly its warped it could cause problems when not applying brakes (it is afterall rotating mass to account for)... although my brake pedal feels pretty solid at higher speeds so i could be wrong here

I believe that rules out rotors. You'd certainly feel it.

it may be tough... the spoke-caliper clearance is pretty tight without the spacers in the front (its a 5mm spacer)

Still perhaps worth a test/try.

although just polling this thread itself seems more people have the issue than not, so I'm certainly not alone in trying to find the root cause... not too far off of labeling it as a TADTS

No, I don't think so. People don't post to say "my car is rock steady" in general.

I know many owners and not a single one has ever mentioned this issue. Not even the married ones....

Have you shaken (not stirred) the frt wheels to check the wheel bearings? First thing I'd do; it's free.

Are all the rod ends and such in good shape?


Is there someone with whom you could swap frt wheels/tires?

 

[LotusCC]

Is there someone with whom you could swap frt wheels/tires?

?
Good idea. And......free if you can find a local member that is amenable to the temporary swap.


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