Wobbly steering
Turbo Mini Forums

All,

I?m having a stream of problems with my 90? cooper. I have the ?wobble from hell? between 65 and 75mph. right in the motorway driving band! Its so bad, I struggle to see where I?m going, and my wing mirrors flap like I?m about to take off.. this has been there a while, but has just got worse since changing my front tyres.

To try and fix the wobble, I have tried :-
New adjustable tie bars, set the same length as old ones.
Swapping tie bar bushes
Swapping all 4 ball joints
Swapping lower arm bushes
Changing upper arm pin and bearing
Swapping wheels and tyres
Replace knuckle joints
Wheel alignment
Wheel balancing
Replaced Front disks with new Pagid ones
Replaced Front shoes with new Pagid FR ones
Replaced rear shoes and handbrake cable
Ran car on a complete new set of wheels and tyres.
Measured pitch of wheels both sides, ctr to ctr and both are =/=
Measured tie bars, both same
Solid mounted front of front subframe
Tried shortening both tie bars 4mm to reduce ?shopping trolley? effect.

Any ideas? As not looking forward to a trip from midlands to newquay for RR like this!

please help.... im desperate!

Cheer

R.

Sooperdooperturbocooperexpertengineering!

damaged driveshaft maybe?

Team Racing

tell you what is...
if its only happened after fitting new tyres the tyres are deffective i used to work in a tyre fitting place and its not uncommon for tyres to be faulty from the factory, try swopping the front wheels with the back see if theres some improvement to test the theory.
also your wheels may be buckled a tyre will still balance if the wheels buckled but wont run properly ect like i said try swapping wheels with reaer ones

I'm going with the tyres too, my Rallye had the same problem, swapped them, and now its true and perfect.

Has it been sitting for a while? could have a slight flat spot

you seem to have gone through the whol list are you missing something????

you may try searching for a garage who balances the tyres wheels on the car
( this will reveal all) .... just a thought!

have you placed a DTI on the discs to check for run out this can cause this problem as well.

Jimster:-

may be, but it seems to go away under load, its only really when your 'chasing' the wheels with the engine (not under load, or overrun)

Turbosteve:-

See my post, i have repeatedly swapped wheels about, and have also run a completely different, know unwobbly wheels and tyre set. still no joy!

Sooperdooperturbocooperexpertengineering!

AlexB:-
see above post, done wheels not been sitting either.

Benross:-
Wheels seem true, although as i have tried a complete new set, unlikely.

finding a garage that does on car balancing, in a week, is again, unlikely.

Did have some brake judder, so replaced disks with sum pagid ones on sunday, brakes are sweet as a nut now.. wobble still there.

Edited by mini-marauder on 25th Apr, 2005.

Sooperdooperturbocooperexpertengineering!

id agree with jim could be drive shafts.

and also i rekon as an idea what about top subframe mounts and rear subframe mounts try replacing these maybe with solid or poly, the reason i say this is because i had a bad vibration on me 93 mini and although i broke it before fixing this when id cut the front end off and whist turning the steering wheel you could see the hole subby moving quite a bit sise to side, and when i then put this subby on another mini but with solid mounts it was ok.

also on car wheel balancer is a good idea to

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

ahhh, forgot to mention, i have solid steel top front sub mounts, and deflex front sub bottoms.

anyone know of on car balancing in midlands.?

Sooperdooperturbocooperexpertengineering!

Check for any "lift" in the driveshafts.....

you must ask yourself when the mini drove OK what did you do to it for the problem to arise ???

i bet you changed something or did it just come on ???

THINK BACK
a long shot, but

wheel bearing cage broken up maybe!

who balances those wheels you have fitted ??
the same guy??

if so get a second oppinion from another balancing machine not a static one

i have a sneaking feeling maybe !
have you checked the caster correctley if a "shade" out this can feel like you have shudder like you mentioned ?????

camber and caster effect one and other

hope this helps

the question is did it come on without doing ANYTHING or what have you done ??? ............ then did the problem start

Edited by BENROSS on 26th Apr, 2005.

the longest shot is that it could be hitting the resonant frequency at around motorway speeds. but that is by far a very long shot.

I had the same problem on mine and fortunately for me it was just the wheels needing balancing.

Tis a long shot... but im beginning to think your right..

gunna have the wheels fully balanced 2morra, in a last ditch attemt at fixing.....

else its driveshafts and pot joint when i get back

Sooperdooperturbocooperexpertengineering!

bet its the wheels go find a NEW... garage who uses a dynamic balancer

ie it revolves.... get all four done and ask him very nicely to get them ALL cock on

Also try getting the weights put on the inner rim of the wheel, sometimes can help, also doesn't make your alloys look shite by them hammering weights on left right and centre on the outer rim.......

yeah, thats what im having done, Dynamic wossiname... done on both sides of the rim too... apparently!

Sooperdooperturbocooperexpertengineering!

ooh just missed ure post Tom. i usually get it done inside only, but that aint supposed to be as good?!?!?

would rather have weights on the outside, than wobbly steering!

Sooperdooperturbocooperexpertengineering!

You are right, sometimes a "problem" wheel will need weights on the outer rim as well, like you say it is a compromise to stop you getting the shakes that it looks gash.....

well.... had them done, tok 5-6 attempts at each wheel till they were cock on, and made no differece whatsoever... maybe even a bit worse...

pi$$ed off now...

Sooperdooperturbocooperexpertengineering!

jack each wheel up and spin this by hand and see if the rubber on the wheel the tyre is not WOBBLING ! like the tread the trye is running true

it may be a faulty tyre or all!

THERE IS A REASON or may be two

if the engine has been out for any reason in its past

check by peeling back the INNER cv boot to see if all the ball bearings are in with your pinkie

also are the wheel bearings tight front ones
and make sure there is no play in them

check the track rod ends these may be US!

check the arm where the track rod end bolts through where its fastend to the wheel hub, are these SECURED !
with the locking tabs

check all these and go back over your work you are missing something buddy

& LASTLEY DONT DISPAIR!

be persistent and methodical

that way you get results

let us know

BEN

LOOK for the TWISTED tyre when spinning it

Done all that stuff numerous times, appart from CV balls, but they are all defo in there, as i checked when engine went back in.

TIME is the issue... im at work till 9pm today, and got around 400miles to do tommorrow.

Sooperdooperturbocooperexpertengineering!

just keep it out of the wobble factor if using min to do 400 miles

has one tyre go a bleb on it ???

go over the same ground when you have time

when you have a clear head and not pesterd with work commitments

good luck let us know

What year is your mini?

If it is a later one with taper bearings (prolly will be as u run disks)

The large nuts with splits pins in have to be done up very fucking tight (vft for short!) I think book figures for taper bearings is 250+ pounds

ARe your wheel bearings ok??