Sudden steering wheel wobble

[MikeyH]

Hello all, went for a nice drive up on the moors today, driving back I noticed that the steering wheel was wobbling, not shaking but gently moving left and right. This from about 20/25 mph up to 50mph but getting worse with speed. This is as fast as I went. Checked over the wheels when I got home but can’t see anything wrong, no weights missing from the front wheels but there is one missing from the rear near side. Is there a slim chance that this would cause this to happen. It is bad enough for me to not feel comfortable driving the car. Here’s thanking in advance.

 

[sw4nny]

When i got a wheel wobble out of the blue usual appeared around 60 to 70 mph,turned out to be 2 buckled rear wheels not noticable by eye until it went on wheel balance machine at garage.

 

[MikeyH]

Did that cause the steering wheel to wobble? Sw4nny

 

[sw4nny]

After i got a new set of refurbed wheels problem solved wobble disapeared
But now on thinking it over it was more a vibration than a wobble.

 

[inkey$]

Runflat tyres? I had this on my car when I bought it. Tyre change eradicated the experience completely.

 

[MikeyH]

No not run flats, inkey$.

 

[inkey$]

No not run flats, inkey$.

Sounds like balancing or maybe even brake related then. You don’t have an on-the-way sticky calliper do you?

 

[patriot66]

No not run flats, inkey$.

Sounds like balancing or maybe even brake related then. You don’t have an on-the-way sticky calliper do you?

Agree with Inkey$, sounds like a sticking caliper and probably on the front

 

[pvr]

And the wheel would be rather hot to touch in that case

 

[MikeyH]

When I looked at the offside front wheel although I didn’t touch it there was a lot of heat. I assumed it was the exhaust, maybe not. Thank you inkey$, patriot66 and pvr. I will contact the garage this week.

 

[MikeyH]

Of course the exhaust is on the passenger side isn’t it :headbang: It was very hot, I bet the disc will be trashed won’t it. Previous owner replaced the discs and pads in 2015 but only has only done about 11000 miles since. Also why hasn’t it been pulling to one side?

 

[plenty]

Sticky caliper doesn't generate enough force for the car to pull to one side, but enough for a vibration as you describe.

It's unlikely the disc will be damaged - if it's the caliper you'll need simply to rebuild or replace the caliper plus bleed. An hour's labour plus parts.

 

[MikeyH]

Than you plenty, I am going to have a look at it this morning, it doesn’t sound as bad as I imagined thanks to everyone that replied

 

[AveZ4coop]

I had this issue, replaced the caliper and all sorted. Would never had got to the bottom of it without the forum, I was convinced it was a wheel weight or buckling.

 

[MikeyH]

Yes AveZ4coop I agree and would also have been stuck was it not the great guys on this forum. Anyway, update. Got my new jack out today, first time, offside front wheel very stiff took it off and could not turn the disc at all. So after looking at the help line on here started dismantling the brake. Cleaned it all up, lots of rust and paint stopping the pads moving easily. Put it all back together, still tight, took it apart again, Caliper stuck really stuck and would not budge. Bought new one and fitted. Bleed with my new one man bleeder, all good now. Except I now have one silver and 3 black :rofl: Again thank you all for your help, much more useful than a Haynes manual.