Steering wheel wobble above 60. Struggling to find a fault.

[Chasabi]

Morning all,

Over the past few weeks I've had a strange steering wheel wobble. "Wobble" is the best word I can use to describe it. When I hit 60MPH or above it feels like the front wheels are snaking across the road, or at least trying to. I can feel the steering wheel pull one way then the other way. It's not like a wobble or vibration where it feels like a pattern of constant vibration. It feels random, as if the steering wheel is fighting with me.

I had my mechanic look at it 2 weeks ago and he said there was a lot of play in the wheel when it was jacked up and he had his hands around the tyre, manually turning it side to side. He replaced a bush, I'm not sure which. The problem still remains.

Someone said that the disc could be warped but it doesn't vibrate when I brake so I'm not sure if it's the discs.

I took it to Kwik Fit to have the wheels checked for alignment and balancing. The alignment was out slightly which was rectified and one of the font tyres needed rebalancing. The problem still remains. I'm now out of ideas.

Has anyone else had this? Does anyone have an idea what the problem could be?

 

[gordongecko500]

First question to ask - are you running run flat tyres? This is a big cause of the symptoms you are describing. I have RFT's and have the same issue as you.

 

[Chasabi]

No. I bought some new wheel from a forum member before Xmas. They are wrapped in non-RFT Conti Sports.

Those wheels have been on the car since before Xmas and I've had no problems until around the begininng of Feb.

 

[wilbo]

Are all 4 tyres the same? I had a mix of tyres front and back, and had wheel wobble (even after balancing and alignment), then I replaced to have eagle F1s all round and the wobble went.

 

[Daffy]

What mileage is the car?

 

[simonlpearce]

Sounds like the typical tramlining you get on BMW's. Could be just about anything bush, steering arm or suspension related. No real way to know which components need doing but if it were me i would start replacing them one by one until the problem goes away.

Search google for bmw tramlining or something similar, will bring up a whole host of threads similar to this which will most likely just baffle your mind...

 

[Fastatv]

If you exceed 60 mph, say go on to 70 or 80...does the problem remain? Or does it go away?

 

[toolmanchris]

With the car parked on level ground and the handbrake on stick your foot on one of the front tyres and try and push the wheel backwards. If it moves more that a few mm then the front control arm rear bush has gone. I was getting similar issues and replaced them - much better now.
Replace both sides not just one

Regards

Chris

 

[synthedup]

Any think it could bea buckled wheel? with the sate of our roads I wouldn't rule it out :thumbsdown:

 

[Chasabi]

All tyres are the same and the car has just shy of 70k on the clock.

This doesn't seem to be typical tramlining. My understanding of tramlining is related to RFT tyres which is why it's something common with BMW as they seem to use RFT's on most of their sportier models. I didn't have this feedback through the steering wheel when I first got the car. Back then it had 17"s and RFT tyres. I've had 18" 224's and non-RFT conti sports all round for the past 3 months and up until the beginning of Feb I've not noticed this feedback from the steering wheel.

I don't notice it if I accelerate hard. It's more noticeable when cruising at 60-70 MPH. It doesn't seem to change if I go past 70 MPH. I suppose I'll have to get the mechanic back out to it.

I was talking to a mate about it earlier and I thought of a more accurate description based on my experience with my old Skoda Fabia VRS. It feels a bit like torque steer they way the wheel tries to pull left or right.

One plus is that all this 55 MPH driving (sitting behind lorries in the slow lane) is doing wonders for my fuel consumption

 

[Chasabi]

Any think it could bea buckled wheel? with the sate of our roads I wouldn't rule it out :thumbsdown:

This is a worry that has crossed my mind. Wouldn't it have been spotted when the wheels were balanced and aligned though?

Is there a sure fire way to tell or check?

 

[mr wilks]

With the car parked on level ground and the handbrake on stick your foot on one of the front tyres and try and push the wheel backwards. If it moves more that a few mm then the front control arm rear bush has gone. I was getting similar issues and replaced them - much better now.
Replace both sides not just one

Regards

Chris

2nd that Chris
mirrors the exact wheel wobble fault i noticed when testdriving the Zcoupe i bought .
Both front control arms were goosed , once up over 50/60 it started twitching like a rabbits nose :wink:
Grabbing hold of the front tyre each side while parked straight & giving them a shake revealed a whole load of play that shouldnt be there
£45 apiece oem rings a bell ?

if you think its the wheels you could switch front to back just for a testdrive providing the rears are balanced . Could even be a wheel unbalanced or weight come off ? All worth checking

 

[synthedup]

yes it would have been noticed when they were balanced, it could be that some wheel weights have come off? or has been buckled since fitting hope your get it sorted without a big bill

 

[Nelly Welly]

I would also check the brake calipers having one sticky causes a similar wobble at speeds above 60. It disappears as you slow down and dosent reappear until above 60 again.

 

[andysat]

Do you trust the Kwik Fit you went to -they may have read the machine wrong or something?-the one near us looks like it has a load of school kids working there! :roll:

 

[AnttiO]

I would first test with another set of wheels/tyres

 

[Midhurstman]

Sounds like the problem of rear wheel steering to me. This is caused by wear in the rear trailing arm bushes or, if there is no wear it is the bushes allowing movement within the whole cage assembly. This movement constantly alters the geometry set up changing the alignment at the rear wheels. It is cured by fitting the bush end limiter shims available from one or two sources-link as follows http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-964-turner-motorsport-rear-trailing-arm-bushing-limiter-kit-rtab-shim-kit.aspx. These shims fill up the gap at either end of the bush and the outer cage. There are one or two you tube videos showing the amount of movement in a standard RTAB, here's one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9HhqLhxKc4&list=PL15E3C1297249ADFE

 

[JonnyB]

Personally I would go to a local wheel specialist for balancing and not kiwi fit. Kiwi fit 'balanced' my wheels on another car I had with the same symptoms and nothing changed. Took it a month later to a local specialist and lo and behold the issue was fixed. Worth another shot for £15

 

[andysat]

Personally I would go to a local wheel specialist for balancing and not kiwi fit. Kiwi fit 'balanced' my wheels on another car I had with the same symptoms and nothing changed. Took it a month later to a local specialist and lo and behold the issue was fixed. Worth another shot for £15

Yep as I said.

 

[MrPT]

Has anyone else had this? Does anyone have an idea what the problem could be?

I had something similar just before getting my front wishbones + rear bushes + ARB links replaced. The front wheels gently tugged one way then the other when cruising at 60+. Probably too much mechanical play for the power steering to dial out, hence the strange feeling.

I've had wheel weights fall off before and it did't feel anything like this.