Car shaking at 80+mph

[Anonymous]

Whenever I'm driving down the motorway on the way to work it feels as though the car is shaking whenever it reaches 80+ mph.

Even on the straight roads I can feel it alot more in the seat and it feels as though it is coming from the direction of the rear passenger wheel. The car feels as though it is heavy on that side, but whenever I go down to 60ish it's completely fine.

a) is this normal?
b) if not any suggestions as to what is wrong?
c) what would you recommend to upgrade the handling of the car?

[Chris_h]

Is it like a vibration?
Best to check balancing of wheels first - maybe swap both rear wheels round if you think it is from one side?
If not that (and you still think it is from one corner only) it must be suspenion / wheel bearing / drive shaft... i think..

I think swapping the rears over will help initital diagnosis (tyre / wheel / balance defect)

[Anonymous]

Is it like a vibration?

There is some movement in the steering wheel but from other threads I've read on here that seems to be normal.

It feels as though when you put your foot on the accelerator that the back left side becomes heavy and doesn't want to go.

It's a 2000 X with 70k on it, I've had some people say to try bracing but does this really make a lot of difference? I'm pretty new to the modding scene   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

[Chris_h]

If it is a problem you feel only affects one corner, then I think there is a specific problem you need to address.

[aaronjb]

Bracing doesn't help with straight line accelleration (not once you're rolling in a straight line and at stock power levels, anyway), not appreciably anyway.

Your description is.. hard to picture  s:) s:)  But .. hmm.. maybe wheel bearing, if it feels like it's 'dragging'.

Any noise if you jack the car up and spin the wheel by hand?

[kanujunkie]

Is it like a vibration?
Best to check balancing of wheels first - maybe swap both rear wheels round if you think it is from one side?
If not that (and you still think it is from one corner only) it must be suspenion / wheel bearing / drive shaft... i think..

I think swapping the rears over will help initital diagnosis (tyre / wheel / balance defect)

you cant just swap the wheels over as the direction of rotation will be wrong. Better way is to just get the wheels balanced somewhere different from normal

[Liz]

I think swapping the rears over will help initital diagnosis (tyre / wheel / balance defect)

Obviously don't try this if you have directional tyres!

[Chris_h]

I think swapping the rears over will help initital diagnosis (tyre / wheel / balance defect)

Obviously don't try this if you have directional tyres!

Good point.... didn't think of that!

Was trying to save you a few £££ before your first point of call (assuming there is a vibration) which should be balancing of wheels.

[mg]

A quick indicator if the wheel is out of balance (assuming it was balanced) is to look around the inside of the rim for any missing weights.  They are often held in place by double sided tape.  Look for a clean spot or square of tape.

[darrenjuggins]

Hi,

Suggestions include:

Tyre Pressure first, all corners.

Balance, even a small difference will make a huge difference, a garage will balance all 4 for £10 - £20.

Wheel Damage ? are you the first owner, any curbing you can see ?

Check tyre wear, if the pressure has been wrong, you may find that the uneven wear due to poor inflation ?

Are all your tyres the same brand ? correct size for the wheels ? check the book and check that you have the right size and same brands, many vehicles are being release from garages with "make do" tyres, which is stupid on a sports car and dangerous.

Hope these points help, they are all not very expensive.

After this, you can invest in an alignment, which is always worth having done, before expending on new tyres, especially if you don't know whats been happening with the car before you purchased it.

Cheers

Darren J

[philster_d]

sounds like my front right

[Anonymous]

I would say it sounds like a balance issue, A front wheel out of balance makes the steering wheel shake. A rear wheel out of balance tends to make the whole car shake

[kanujunkie]

I would say it sounds like a balance issue, A front wheel out of balance makes the steering wheel shake. A rear wheel out of balance tends to make the whole car shake

tell me about it, i actually have this issue as well, but i've had the tyres balance 4 times and its never stopped. For me it sounds like a bearing issue which Mr.T is going to deal with on the next service

[Anonymous]

I had exactly the same after a local garage fitted some new Toyos. At 60mph plus the car started to vibrate and got progressively worse. I dropped into the local Kwikfit and they balanced the wheels (there were no weights on at all (nice job!!) and hey presto all was right again. My wheels seem to need a lot of weights to be balanced - nearly 6 inches of weights per wheel - (I know you don't measure weight in inches but you get my point!) so like others have suggested check the inner wheel rim for weights if there aren't any then that would be my first check (after pressures of course.)

[LeeUK]

I had a problem like this on one of our vans.  It wasn't the balance in this case, it was due to someone  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:   parking the van half up on the curb, and half off.  I..erm.. someone deformed the tyre.

[darrenjuggins]

When / If you get them to balance the wheels, ensure they use the correct setting for alloy wheels, on a up to date machine.

You should get weights on the inner and outer edges of the wheel, I always observe the whole fitting process in the bay (I am a control freek) and watch the balancing process.... If they can, the new lads tend to leave the odd 0.5 on the machine and assume it will be ok.... err wrong.

I get them to spin them up until they are exactly Zero.

I also agree with the tyre fitting company that after a month or so after bedding in, I can take it back FOC for a re-balance... they have had a ll my business and know how I operate... In my view, i am the customer, so therefore they should keep me happy.

the reason for the long strip is that for some reason now the weights are actually in blocks of 5, where as before you could get varying weights, thus a block of 25 - 40 looks massive now as opposed to two tens of twenty's ! doh ! doesn't seem to be a problem though.

anything over 50 to 60, get the fitters to reposition the tyre as you will find that really changes the dynamics as some times the tyres can have weight distribution problems.

Therefore when having wheels blalanced you should need no more that 40 to balance out the wheel, anything over this would suggest you have a square wheel / tyre !! tee, hee !!!

hope this helps

Cheers

Darren J

[Chris_h]

Rob,

please let us know how you got on.

Hope all is better......

[Anonymous]

I would say it sounds like a balance issue, A front wheel out of balance makes the steering wheel shake. A rear wheel out of balance tends to make the whole car shake

tell me about it, i actually have this issue as well, but i've had the tyres balance 4 times and its never stopped. For me it sounds like a bearing issue which Mr.T is going to deal with on the next service

I have had two experiences with out of round tires, and in both cases, the wheels accepted a normal balance setup, but the car still vibrated. One car was a Contour SE (aka Mondeo) that had new Dunlops fitted and one was visibly out of round when spun on the balance machine. It was replaced under warranty. The other was a VW with new Contis that I drove cross country (3500 miles). It started out in balance, but had developed St. Vitus' dance by journey's end. All four tires had gone out of round, and I went to a tire shop that actually turned the tires down with an elaborate lathe type device.
Just something you might check.

[kanujunkie]

I have had two experiences with out of round tires, and in both cases, the wheels accepted a normal balance setup, but the car still vibrated. One car was a Contour SE (aka Mondeo) that had new Dunlops fitted and one was visibly out of round when spun on the balance machine. It was replaced under warranty. The other was a VW with new Contis that I drove cross country (3500 miles). It started out in balance, but had developed St. Vitus' dance by journey's end. All four tires had gone out of round, and I went to a tire shop that actually turned the tires down with an elaborate lathe type device.
Just something you might check.

little point for me as i've had this with 4 different sets of tyres on the back so i can isolate that one out as well

[Anonymous]

Well I took the car to Kwik-Fit today and it turns out the problem was simply under inflated rear tyres from the garage I bought it from   s:oops: :oops: s:oops:  

When they tested the tyres they were 26psi all round instead of 32 on the rears.

After feeling like a prat they did give me free wheel balancing and an alignment check and it passed those with no problems so that was good of them.

So after getting the right inflation the car is just amazing! Pulls away like a dream and i love taking it out for a spin

[Chris_h]

Nothing like a cheap fix   s:D s:D  

Just shows how sensitive the Mr2 is..

Chris