Troublesome find... Check your spacers!

T

T2FFN

Senior member
 East Yorkshire
I'll post details very shortly that will make a few of you go check yours and a few of you lose sleep no doubt...

Andysat, stay away from this, the worry will be the end of you! :lol:

Now, while I joke, this is a serious safety concern!

Will post details after a quick test drive post my handy work.

Sent from my HTC One X
 
Right, so the back story...

I'd been having quite bad steering wobble between 60-80 which appeared to come from nowhere. I thought this was down to balancing so went to two garages and had the wheels balanced (no change first time, hence second attempt). Still no difference.

The garage did complain i had non-hubcentric spacers and spigot rings. I thought little of it as i couldnt recall where i got the spacers from but thought they were hubcentric when i bought them. As for the spigot ring, well, fake ellipsoids? Strange, but look here:
3u4ydyge.jpg


So, decided to buy regular length bolts and remove the spacers. Massive ballache, damn near fused on, broke two screw drivers trying to wedge them off!

tyse4e9u.jpg


Then i examine the spacer and the spigot ring...

y2epemab.jpg


Erm... thats not a spigot ring, it used to be part of the spacer!!!

ugu4e5yq.jpg


Both removed, wheels on and out for a drive. The wobble is GONE!

So, if you have spacers, check them now and again, i guess the bolts were doing all the work and could've ended another way. :shock:

Sent from my HTC One X
 
Might be worth changing the title *If you have spacers read this*

Good job you spotted it before something let go.
 
I think i bought them from someone here, and his motorsport colleague made him a number of different sizes... cant recall who. (not machine monkey).

Sent from my HTC One X
 
Few worried me!! What thickness spacers are they? They look quite thin? Might have o do a product recall. If they are less than 15mm or if the hole that is machined into the back of the spacer is any deeper than 12 - 13mm tops I can see how this can happen.
 
That explains it. There just is not enough metal to make the pocket in the back and the spigot on the front with anything smaller than 15mm. You are relying on the rads in the corner of the spigot. If any one has 10 12mm spacers with the spigot attached cheek them they should come with an extra part that goes into the centre of the hub.
 
This is why I replaced the wheel bolts with studs. I don't have to worry about the hub holding the wheel centered.

Good catch. :thumbsup:
 
Hmmm, so I thought I'd totally removed the steering wobble at speed, but nope, its def still there, but maybe more so at 70+ now.

It could be that when the wheels were balanced, they were balanced with the broken ring from the spacer in them, thus slightly throwing them off and now removed, they need rebalancing, or, at least one wheel is bent.

Could it be anything else? Tie rod ends? Bearings?

The front wishbones and bushes and droplinks are new.
 
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