Vibration in steering wheel at high speed

jamesinc

I'm getting massive vibration in the steering wheel. Nothing out of the ordinary, then as I pass 110km/h it goes to ludicrous mode. Seeing as the wheels are new, I'm thinking the culprit is an improperly balanced wheel? I initially thought it must be the prop shaft, but the vibration is worst in the steering wheel. Not getting anything much from the gear selector.

PaddlerEd

Wheels are new, but what are the tyres like? We've got bad flat spots on our 4Runner's tyres which translate into a thunk thunk at certain speeds.

Otherwise, yep does sound like a balancing problem. No excessive amounts of mud (or snow, it is winter and they had snow last week up here!) round the back of the rim?

jamesinc

Tyres are also new! And everything's nice and clean. Car hasn't been off of sealed roads and the weather here has been fair.

Tigabu

Loose idler arm or wheel nuts (wheel not seated properly or hub centric) or loose shocker tower nuts/bolts (from spring change)??? Wheel alignment?

jamesinc

Tigabu said: Loose idler arm or wheel nuts (wheel not seated properly or hub centric) or loose shocker tower nuts/bolts (from spring change)??? Wheel alignment?

I'll check the lugs. I torque them with a torque wrench but you never know, new wheel new problems etc.

PaddlerEd

Did you re-check the torque after a couple of hundred km's?

jamesinc

PaddlerEd said: Did you re-check the torque after a couple of hundred km's?

I've only done about 100km on those wheels. I'll check it all tonight.

PaddlerEd

100kms is enough to warrant it for alloy wheels

Spac

Jack it up, and rotate the wheels. Check the OD of the wheel/tyre for being out of round. Even new tyres can have quite a lot of runout, particularly cheap ones.

Try swapping them front to back, if there's not an obvious problem.

Less important, is to see whether the yellow dot on the tyre is adjacent the valve.

FWIW, the 15" 740 wheels we first had on the blue 940 shook like a mofo. Front-to-backing them made no real difference. They went onto the maroon car when we sold it to Wino. He was warned the there was at least one BAD tyre among them, and to go the Simmons ASAP. They didn't shake at all on his car?! And the blue 940 didn't have a problem with any of the wheels it had fitted after then (Hydras, Aeries, your Geminis, and now the original wheels)(except the Aeires I flat-spotted on a pothole, but that don't count).

PaddlerEd

The yellow dot next to the valve is just so that there aren't as many balance weights I thought?

jamesinc

Dots are fine. Wheels seem fine, although the driver's side already has a tiny bit of feathering just outside of the centre tread line.

If it's not balance, which I'll get the shop to check, could it be worn out strut bearings?

egads (she/her)

Ball joints? Tie rods? Bushings? Random guesses? :-P

jamesinc

All new, no tyre wobbles etc

Spac

Worn strut top bearings normally make a hell of a racket before you can feel any problems.

Worn steering-related parts (tie rod ends, ball joints etc), will usually create vague steering and/or clunks (especially on the transition from one difection to the ofher) rather than wobbles/vibration. Worn ball joints can make the vibration caused by unbalanced/out of round wheels/tyres worse, though.

Spac

I'd definitely take wheels off and swap them around as a first step.

Vee_Que

The lower front control arm bushes wear through and can cause some issues, Otherwise incorrect torquing order for the rims?