Octavia 2.0 steering wheel vibration.

[Shaiogded]

Hello guys,

 

This is my first time posting, please be kind.

 

Car: Octavia 2 FaceLift 2.0 TDI vRS DSG

Wheels: Original Zenith 17" alloy 

Tires: Dunlop Winter Sport 5 XL R17 205/50

Mileage: near 440.000km, maintained I would say properly.

 

The issue started tires this September, about after I changed the tires, and also had a minor accident where I scrapped the rear of the car a little, which was due to speed + sand on the road.

 

While cruising between 110 and 150 km/h I feel the steering wheel vibrating
This is not an issue below 110 or above 150.
The vibration seems to be worse when I am turning the wheel, while I start turning, I can feel a force in the Steering wheel that opposes my attempt to turn slightly and starts vibrating.

This vibration is only felt when turning slightly, like when following the curve of the road.
The car drives straight, it has high accuracy, and there is no vibration, or very little when going straight.

Another thing I noticed is that when I am in High RPM at the above speeds, it vibrates worse if I accelerate.

 

The vibrations are not something that causes loss of control, it's just annoying.

 

What I tried so far

- replaced front wheel rods

- aligned angles

- rebalanced the wheels 4 times, in 3 different shops.

- the last time I rebalanced at Pop's Corner shop, the owner there took his time, taking the tires apart, which were unbalanced from the previous shop.

- after reseating the tires, inflating them to 4 PSI to set properly, and properly rebalancing them, I still get the same vibration, even if it's slightly better now.

 

What I noticed is that my engine, when cold starting, shakes, which may indicate worn Engine mounts, can this cause this issue?
I've also been told that "planetary wheels" (I do not know what this is called in English, so here is a screenshot) might be damaged and need changing.

How much would this cost to change, the car is automatic, google says not that much, 300 euros, but I've been told that it might be north of 1000 due to the car being automatic.

 

 

My Skoda dealer, where I've done most of the repairs told me to go to a different shop as they don't have the equipment to align wheels and angles.

 

I've gone to a shop and they low-key told me to change the entire direction system (and car) after I paid them for the diagnostic.

Went to a different shop, which told me to change the front rods as they were stuck, and they could not find anything else that could cause this issue.

 

I will go back to Skoda in January to change the Intake Manifold (flaps issue) and also the engine mounts, if anyone has experienced a similar issue, please let me know what you found.

 

Please let me know if I should add more info.

[Carlston]

5 hours ago, Shaiogded said:

Hello guys,

 

This is my first time posting, please be kind.

 

Car: Octavia 2 FaceLift 2.0 TDI vRS DSG

Wheels: Original Zenith 17" alloy 

Tires: Dunlop Winter Sport 5 XL R17 205/50

Mileage: near 440.000km, maintained I would say properly.

 

The issue started tires this September, about after I changed the tires, and also had a minor accident where I scrapped the rear of the car a little, which was due to speed + sand on the road.

 

While cruising between 110 and 150 km/h I feel the steering wheel vibrating
This is not an issue below 110 or above 150.
The vibration seems to be worse when I am turning the wheel, while I start turning, I can feel a force in the Steering wheel that opposes my attempt to turn slightly and starts vibrating.

This vibration is only felt when turning slightly, like when following the curve of the road.
The car drives straight, it has high accuracy, and there is no vibration, or very little when going straight.

Another thing I noticed is that when I am in High RPM at the above speeds, it vibrates worse if I accelerate.

 

The vibrations are not something that causes loss of control, it's just annoying.

 

What I tried so far

- replaced front wheel rods

- aligned angles

- rebalanced the wheels 4 times, in 3 different shops.

- the last time I rebalanced at Pop's Corner shop, the owner there took his time, taking the tires apart, which were unbalanced from the previous shop.

- after reseating the tires, inflating them to 4 PSI to set properly, and properly rebalancing them, I still get the same vibration, even if it's slightly better now.

 

What I noticed is that my engine, when cold starting, shakes, which may indicate worn Engine mounts, can this cause this issue?
I've also been told that "planetary wheels" (I do not know what this is called in English, so here is a screenshot) might be damaged and need changing.

How much would this cost to change, the car is automatic, google says not that much, 300 euros, but I've been told that it might be north of 1000 due to the car being automatic.

 

 

My Skoda dealer, where I've done most of the repairs told me to go to a different shop as they don't have the equipment to align wheels and angles.

 

I've gone to a shop and they low-key told me to change the entire direction system (and car) after I paid them for the diagnostic.

Went to a different shop, which told me to change the front rods as they were stuck, and they could not find anything else that could cause this issue.

 

I will go back to Skoda in January to change the Intake Manifold (flaps issue) and also the engine mounts, if anyone has experienced a similar issue, please let me know what you found.

 

Please let me know if I should add more info.

 

Rotate the wheels front to back and see if that helps.

 

If the four wheels are all balanced and the horizontal and vertical runout of both the rims and the mounted tyres (mounted tyres means when fitted to the rim) is ok, then you shouldn't notice a difference.

 

If you can notice a difference with the front to back wheel swap, then that indicates a problem with one or more of the wheels.

 

Modern wheel balancing machines do often have a facility for checking the runout of both the rim on its own and the mounted tyre.

 

Bear in mind that if a rim is out of round (eg. damaged by a pothole), then no amount of balancing will correct that kind of imbalance problem.

 

Edited 12 December, 2023 by Carlston

[Paws4Thot]

5 hours ago, Shaiogded said:

I've also been told that "planetary wheels" (I do not know what this is called in English, so here is a screenshot)

Planetary wheels are a thing, but they're part of the interior of an automatic gearbox (see link); your photo is of a drive shaft with attached universal joints.

[Shaiogded]

Hello Paws,

 

Here we call these drive shafts, "planetare", I know that the name is misleading, but that is how we call it, and could not get a translation, also did not know what to look for as I am not that car-savvy.

 

The screenshot is from a random drive shaft (planetara)

 

 

So....back to the subject at hand.
Do you think this is a drive shaft issue?

[Shaiogded]

45 minutes ago, Carlston said:

 

Rotate the wheels front to back and see if that helps.

 

If the four wheels are all balanced and the horizontal and vertical runout of both the rims and the mounted tyres (mounted tyres means when fitted to the rim) is ok, then you shouldn't notice a difference.

 

If you can notice a difference with the front to back wheel swap, then that indicates a problem with one or more of the wheels.

 

Modern wheel balancing machines do often have a facility for checking the runout of both the rim on its own and the mounted tyre.

 

Bear in mind that if a rim is out of round (eg. damaged by a pothole), then no amount of balancing will correct that kind of imbalance problem.

 

 

I've done that when I balanced the wheels previously and found out that they were not balanced.

I will go and do just that, hopefully, this week.

 

I do not feel any vibrations worth mentioning (maybe different things, road, wind, etc) when going straight, no matter what speed I am on.
The vibrations do kick in when turning the wheel slightly, but not actually turning the wheel.

 

It's like this, trying hard to explain properly.
1. I start turning the wheel but not committing to the turn, the steering wheel has a small window where I can move it slightly without actually affecting the wheels, this is a very small window.

2. If I pass that free movement window and commit to the turn, I feel a force that is opposite to my turn, it's not that great, but that's when I feel the vibration.
3. When committing to the turn and actually turning the wheels, the vibration fades.

 

I will try to record this if needed, but I don't have a habit of driving on the highway with a phone in my hands.

[Paws4Thot]

16 minutes ago, Shaiogded said:

The vibrations do kick in when turning the wheel slightly, but not actually turning the wheel.

This suggests a damaged universal joint, probably the outer (wheel end) one. It won't show up when balancing the wheels unless you are somewhere that can do on-car balancing with an automatic gearbox (I used to know someone who could do this with manual boxes but not with automatics).

 

The other alternative is a loose drive shaft balance weight.

[J.R.]

2 hours ago, Paws4Thot said:

Planetary wheels are a thing, but they're part of the interior of an automatic gearbox (see link); your photo is of a drive shaft with attached universal joints.

 

As you are trying to make sure that the OP is corrected where there may have been translation errors you should yourself use the correct terminology which would be CV (constant velocity) joints not universal joints.

 

Whilst a universal joint could cope with the limited articulation of the inner CV joint it could never be used as there is a  velocity change between the input and output hence why they are used in pairs.

Edited 12 December, 2023 by J.R.

[pikpilot]

As it mostly seems to be a problem when turning, I suggest the cause is a slightly buckled wheel. Easy to check by raising each wheel in turn and checking the wheel rim on both sides while spinning the wheel.

 

[Shaiogded]

On 12/12/2023 at 18:25, Paws4Thot said:

This suggests a damaged universal joint, probably the outer (wheel end) one. It won't show up when balancing the wheels unless you are somewhere that can do on-car balancing with an automatic gearbox (I used to know someone who could do this with manual boxes but not with automatics).

 

The other alternative is a loose drive shaft balance weight.

 

Sorry for the late reply.

 

I've bought new rims and installed the tyres on them.

The rims are identical to the Original Zenith 2, beeing ATS Anttares 7x17 et54 5x112.

The ride feels better now, its no longer vibrating when going straight, but I felt it vibrate when turning with the road and I was at 120-126 km/h at one point, then stopped.
Interesting is that it only did it once, and I could not repluicate the issue, so far...

Could it be that the vibration is coming from the tyres?
It was extremly foggy today and the road a bit wet, and I was at the start of my ride nad the tyres were not properly adjusted to the road surface yet.

Also due to being extrely foggy I could not floor it as I was barley seeing 5 meeters in front of me, even with the fog projectors, will give it another try when I get the chance.

 

Is there any diagnostic I can do myself?
I only repair the important bits at our Skoda dealer, and they are booked for the rest of the year...

I do have a VCDS, but last time I run the diagnostic, which was about 1 month ago, it did not caught any direction issues.

 

I will also need to drive about 400km this weekend (200 on highway and 200 on national roads), do you think it will be safe?
 

I do take my car out weekly on our local mountain roads and indulge myself with tight corners and serpentine roads, so far I haven't had any issues.

 

[Shaiogded]

On 17/12/2023 at 17:29, pikpilot said:

As it mostly seems to be a problem when turning, I suggest the cause is a slightly buckled wheel. Easy to check by raising each wheel in turn and checking the wheel rim on both sides while spinning the wheel.

 

 

Changed all 4 rims with brand new ones.

Felt the vibration once, but everything was quite fine afterwards...
The road was a bit wet due to fog and I was at the beggining of my drive, could this cause such vibration?

More to this, could dry roads cause steering wheel vibration if you have winter tires equiped?

The thread on these tires seems to close down when they are dry and open up a bit when they get wet.
I am not that car savvy, sorry if its a stupid question.

 

These are my tires

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Dunlop/Winter-Sport-5.htm