VRS 09 Estate Limited Edition steering wheel vibration above 70

[Ratcatcher]

I have a steering wheel vibration between 70 & 80, I cant get rid of.

 

Front springs/dampers/Tie rods replace

Front wheels Balanced and checked for buckles

4 Wheel alignment done after above

Tread pattern checked

Front to back wheels swapped so not wheels

No play in bearings

Recent MOT

 

None of the above has fixed the problem, driving me mad

 

Could there be a faulty new damper or any other ideas?

Top mounts were not changed but problem was not there before all the above work 

[pikpilot]

Have you checked for lost motion in the drive shafts?

[Ratcatcher]

I have not, but this problem only started after the work was done

[Ratcatcher]

On 12/08/2023 at 15:24, Ratcatcher said:

I have a steering wheel vibration between 70 & 80, I cant get rid of.

 

Front springs/dampers/Tie rods replace

Front wheels Balanced and checked for buckles

4 Wheel alignment done after above

Tread pattern checked

Front to back wheels swapped so not wheels

No play in bearings

Recent MOT

 

None of the above has fixed the problem, driving me mad

 

Could there be a faulty new damper or any other ideas?

Top mounts were not changed but problem was not there before all the above work 

UPDATE

 

Every joint and bearing checked up on ramp by an MOT engineer, all OK

 

BUT

 

On way home I decided to do more test on motorway

 

Took car to a speed where the vibration felt on steering wheel

 

Got worse the faster I went, didn't drive through  it

 

lifted off power vibration stopped

 

took it out of gear and coasted vibration stopped

 

SO it was only there when the wheels were actually being driven.

 

Could this be Drive Shafts???

 

If so how can I manually check on a ramp??

 

 

[Ratcatcher]

On 12/08/2023 at 16:27, pikpilot said:

Have you checked for lost motion in the drive shafts?

Am wondering if you could be right.

 

Look at my update please

 

What does "Lost Motion" mean and how do I check?

[pikpilot]

4 hours ago, Ratcatcher said:

What does "Lost Motion" mean and how do I check?

 

Lost motion is where a driven shaft has slack before being connected to the next shaft. Term used to be used with steering systems having a gearbox at the end of the steering column.

 

In your case I wondered if the drive shafts or coupling were worn. Easily checked by grabbing a drive shaft and trying to turn it in both directions. Repeat on the other drive shaft and compare.

Alternatively, raise each front wheel in turn and rotate the road wheel back and forth looking for slack.

 

[Ratcatcher]

21 hours ago, pikpilot said:

 

Lost motion is where a driven shaft has slack before being connected to the next shaft. Term used to be used with steering systems having a gearbox at the end of the steering column.

 

In your case I wondered if the drive shafts or coupling were worn. Easily checked by grabbing a drive shaft and trying to turn it in both directions. Repeat on the other drive shaft and compare.

Alternatively, raise each front wheel in turn and rotate the road wheel back and forth looking for slack.

 

Thanks would this account for the vibration only when the wheels are being driven? and not there when I lift the power?

 

[pikpilot]

Yes, it could. Do the test I advised and especially look for wear on rubber components. Check too for slack where the drive shaft connects to the shaft coming out of the gearbox.

I am surprised your garage did not do these tests when replacing the suspension. 

I would also suggest you take off each front wheel in turn and check their work. Do both sides look the same? Any loose or missing bolts?  Were all the wheel bolts tight and properly seated?

[Ratcatcher]

39 minutes ago, pikpilot said:

Yes, it could. Do the test I advised and especially look for wear on rubber components. Check too for slack where the drive shaft connects to the shaft coming out of the gearbox.

I am surprised your garage did not do these tests when replacing the suspension. 

I would also suggest you take off each front wheel in turn and check their work. Do both sides look the same? Any loose or missing bolts?  Were all the wheel bolts tight and properly seated?

Thanks I will do these tests tomorrow or Monday.

 

This problem only started after the the struts and springs were replaced, they would only remove the hubs from the driveshafts, the other end of the driveshafts are bolted to a flange from the gearbox.

 

Could they have disturbed anything inside either joint on the shaft when they were pulling the hubs off the spline?

 

If this is not resolved by Wednesday I have it booked in on a ramp so they can run it upto  speed with the wheels in the air.

 

 

[T2000]

6 hours ago, Ratcatcher said:

Thanks I will do these tests tomorrow or Monday.

 

This problem only started after the the struts and springs were replaced, they would only remove the hubs from the driveshafts, the other end of the driveshafts are bolted to a flange from the gearbox.

 

Could they have disturbed anything inside either joint on the shaft when they were pulling the hubs off the spline?

 

If this is not resolved by Wednesday I have it booked in on a ramp so they can run it upto  speed with the wheels in the air.

 

 

They would have had to knock the driveshaft through the hub with a soft mallet after removing the hub nut so could have disturbed something, I agree with the diagnosis, vibration on load and smoothing out on lift off points to inner joint/s.

[Ratcatcher]

On 19/08/2023 at 21:13, T2000 said:

They would have had to knock the driveshaft through the hub with a soft mallet after removing the hub nut so could have disturbed something, I agree with the diagnosis, vibration on load and smoothing out on lift off points to inner joint/s.

Finally resolved the Vibration.

 

I had a Spigot ring on one of my front wheels so moved it to the back now all ok.

 

Both my rear wheels now have spigot rings which I will replace with metal new ones.

 

Not sure why they are different from the fronts as all wheels are the Limited Edition VRS ones?

 

[T2000]

2 hours ago, Ratcatcher said:

Finally resolved the Vibration.

 

I had a Spigot ring on one of my front wheels so moved it to the back now all ok.

 

Both my rear wheels now have spigot rings which I will replace with metal new ones.

 

Not sure why they are different from the fronts as all wheels are the Limited Edition VRS ones?

 

The LE wheels are made of chocolate so a lot got replaced due to bends and cracks, Team Dynamics made them I believe called Monza so you may have a couple of replacements on there with a slightly different centre bore http://www.kitcardirect.co.uk/team-dynamics-monza-r-wheel-7-x-17.html, incidentally I have a brand new centre cap for these sitting here if anyone needs it for free.

[Ratcatcher]

46 minutes ago, T2000 said:

3 hours ago, Ratcatcher said:

Expand  

The LE wheels are made of chocolate so a lot got replaced due to bends and cracks, Team Dynamics made them I believe called Monza so you may have a couple of replacements on there with a slightly

Thanks. My wheels are 18 inch

 

Will look tomorrow 

[T2000]

40 minutes ago, Ratcatcher said:

Thanks. My wheels are 18 inch

 

Will look tomorrow 

Yeah all LE wheels are 18's, mine were also, I just used that link to show who makes them and that there are different sizes and offsets so one would assume different bore sizes also hence the reason you have spigot rings on 2 of them, I would guess that the stamps on the back of the wheels non spigot vs spigot ones are different.