Vibration/Movement through Steering wheel

[Daryl87]

Afternoon guys and girls,

I've been experiencing a vibration through my steering wheel for a while when I approach 50mph and it stops around 80mph (not that I would ever consider doing this speed...)

I finally managed to get it down to the garage today, and had a few things done:
Passenger ball joints replaced,
Stabilisers replaced,
Balancing and Alignment

I previously had the arm on the drivers side replaced too, however with all of these little jobs, I still get a shaking movement through the steering wheel at these speeds, although it has greatly reduced and doesn't actually shake whilst holding the wheel.

I've also got 16" TSR Druids on, which I assume may affect it in some ways.

Any advice or suggestions would be most appreciated

 

[stevescort172]

hi mate i had the same was worse when coming off power, i changed both track rod ends and both balljoints and had a geometry setup no shakes now.
are you getting any knocking noises?? also jack car up and wiggle wheels to see if you have some play

 

[daddycool]

Put rear wheels on front see what that does. Should help isolate issue to wheels or car

Sent from my ZTE-BLADE using Tapatalk

 

[Daryl87]

Hey mate, cheers for the advise. I may try and get the track rod ends replaced, for i've recently had both balljoints on the passenger side done already. Regarding a geometry setup, I take it it can be done at a normal garage?

The noise is more a constant knocking/tapping, which seems to get louder when increasing speed and turning, although the noise and feel through the wheel has reduced dramatically.

Also, with the play in the wheels, I've had them checked out when I had the joints done, as well as the set of wheels being balanced and aligned yet again...

... this is going to take a fair amount of time and money I fear

Cheers for the help guys

 

[daddycool]

there's only one ball joint on each side, at the bottom between the wishbone and the hub. for the sports anyway, i'd have thought the 1.2 would have pretty much the same set up, bar the arb links.

geometry setups can be done by a garage with a hunter alignment system. but on the clio the only thing they can adjust is the tracking anyway, it's just useful as a tool to rule out anything bent that may affect camber/castor/etc. as you've had the tracking done recently i wouldn't bother doing it at the moment. i wouldn't expect that tracking being out would cause a vibration.

did you swap the wheels over? reason i ask, i read about someone once that had a load of water inside their tyre and it caused a vibration. prob more of a wobble than a vibration actually, but it's a check you can do yourself so worth it. i don't think it's this though, but worth a mention. you never know.

you can check for play in the track rod ends yourself, although i would have thought this would be the first thing a garage does. wheel off the ground, hands at either side of the wheel, any play here indicates play in the track rods ends, tie rods, steering rack etc. with hands at top and bottom, any play here indicates play in ball joints, top mounts, struts etc. again a free check you can do yourself.

tapping/ knocking, that varies when going around corners, is usually a sure fire sign that the cv joints (just behind the discs, under the rubber boots) have leaked, gone dry, and with any crap getting in it just destroys the joint. again, something you can check yourself (wheel off the ground, remove whatever band is holding the cv boot to the hub, pull it back, have a look, when done, big fat tie wrap or two to strap it back to the hub. it may not be conclusive but then it may be obvious. BUT, i don't know if the cv joint would cause the wheel to vibrate.

I'd be tempted to get it back to the garage for another look. Without wanting to get into the legal side of things, if a garage charges you to repair a problem and it isn't repaired, they're in breach of contract. that's the heavy side of it in a nutshell, but any decent garage should be willing to take the car back in for another look. after all, you've paid them to fix it and they (arguably) misdiagnosed.