Very strange wheel balancing problem

[stripmonkey]

Hey guys,

I'm a little OCD when it comes to getting things put right with my Zed, and recently had my alloys refurbed, then tracked and balanced. All-in-all, it's running beautifully, except when travelling between 35-40 mph, the steering wheel wobbles as if the wheels are out of balance. All other speeds the steering is perfect. It is more noticable when the car still warming up. I've had it rebalanced twice now, and they say that everything is fine. So my last port of call is to ask if anyone has some ideas, insight, or experince of this???

PS - I just joined the stubby-club, bought mine from this ebay seller. I prefer it to the MangoWalk type as it thins to a point

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Short-Stubby-...&otn=3&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=8800251125560474346

 

[Blue]

I would try a different balancing place, and ask to see the wheel on the machine to establish if one of the rims may be warped slightly (if it is you'll see the distortion as it spins, or by looking at the tread of the tyre to see if it stays level)

Beyond that you would need to consider possibly poor fitting tyres (if possible swap the wheels around to see if the wobble moves to go through the whole car instead of just the steering wheel)

Another possibility is that the car has a worn suspension component that the wheels were hiding before but are revealing now that they are fully balanced.

 

[jamiez]

Yep - amen to the above.
I had the exact same issue and it was balancing.

 

[andysat]

+1 on my e46

 

[henry1]

Had a similar problem on my Scimitar GTE, it had composite steel and alloy wheels, I had heavy vibration at 65 then it stopped as you speeded up. Had about 3 wheel ballancing firms, no joy. Finally had a puncture and fitted the spare on one of the front wheels problem gone it was a distorted wheel.
Never had anything similar again.
henry1

 

[mcbeee]

Yep - amen to the above.
I had the exact same issue and it was balancing.

Yep, same issue , twice. on my M3 and my Z3.....took them to a real tire place and had them done properly. BMW couldn't balance a plate on a kitchen table and get it right...those car wash kids can't do everything

 

[ranski]

could be as simple as one of your springs has snapped a piece off?

 

[lacroupade]

All suggestions are spot-on...the speed would indicate its a front wheel problem so swap fronts to rears (unless assymmetrical) and be looking for warped/damaged rim, poorly fitted or even poorly made tyres....

 

[Incompatible]

Similar problem as you describe it on a set of tires/wheels that had not given any problems for the previous 12 months. Over time (months) it gradually became worse. When cold, around 35 mph the wobble was the most noticeable, as the tires warmed up or speeds increased, the wobble would slowly disappear. Swapped wheels front to back and problem went away initially. Rebalanced the now rears and returned them to the front and the wobble reappeared. Wheels looked and spun true on the balancer. While again swapping the fronts to the rear I noticed what appeared to be a minor bulge in the tread area of one tire. I placed that one wheel/tire on the rear, and again the wobble went away. Drove down to tire shop and the consensus was the belt under the tread was slowly separating. Had the tire replaced and things are still good 2 years later.