Help front end wobble
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi lads

Really need some help diagnosing this problem.

I got a wheel alignment & the car drove awesome.

A few things died like cvs wheel bearing & knuckle joint wore through
The cup, new bits in back for wheel alignment.

I had to change the ride height so decided to get a wheel
Alignment.

Got car back drove great but now when I hit over 80kph
I get this steering wheel wobble from left to right, it's not a balance issue
It's like the wheels or suspension is tryin to pull the wheel left & right.

Wobbles when I turn & wobbles straight.

Took it to another shop & the checked the toe
So the book is 1.56mm total, lot mate set my toe to
5.2mm total. Shit load out right?

This other shop I'm at now has no idea, I told them to do it to the book
But set the toe -1mm total it feels better & less wobble
But it's still there.

I have done the following.
New rack ends
All new boots
New wheel bearings
New cv joint right hand side
New inner cvs left & right
New knuckle joints
New top & bottom ball joint left.
Greased everything, filled rack with oil.
Rack seems good turns on a pin.

I ordered new shocks as my gaz look a bit flogged
I thought maybe they are gone causing this
Bouncing left to right problem.

They gaz shocks seem to be walking out the
Top & bottom bushes, it even loosened my wheel nuts with this
Wobble vibration.

I have been on the highway & put my foot ok the clutch
& coasted at speed but still wobble so not drive shafts?

The car is a rover mini
G13B engine conversion
Minitastic springs
Hilows
adjustable tie rods

* looking at buying adjustable lower arms.

Any ideas? To me it's the wheel alinement still, it's so hard
To get some one in oz to set up a mini.

any play in the rack. buckle in the wheel?

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

I had similar in my daily.

I took it to the wheel shop to get the wheels balanced and my front whell has a massive flat spot in it... there alot of pot holes on the way to work which i try to go round but is not always possible.

When put on the balacing machine, one wheel said it needed 5 grams and the not so good wheel needed 75 grams. The balancing man said in his technical terminology "this wheels fucked".

off to ebay i went...

my car also had a wobble on the front at hight speed, detected it on the rollers last week. all is new and true on mine, properly set up etc. am going to look into this over the coming weeks when I get chance, got a feeling that there will be nothing evident though. will keep an eye on this thread for ideas...

A friend had a similar problem, turned out his steering rack had come loose on the 2 u bolts

Avon 2010 class c 3rd
Avon 2011 class c 2nd 13.8 @ 98mph

I also had a friend that had this problem and in the end it did actually come down to the shit balancing done in your avaerage garage.

In trying to eliminate the cause he replaced everything, ball joints, cv joints, pot joints, driveshafts. Even had the discs and drive flanges balanced, but still had the same wabble. had the wheel balance re checked at another 'average' tyre fitter and it was said to be spot on.

Unsure of the real problem and after speaking with his racing buddies, he went out of his way to find a special tyre fitting center that has high tech balancing equipment and the experience to go with it. This balancing machine has a roller that measures tyre side wall stiffnes and can detect the point at which the ply construction overlaps. He was aso told that balancing wheels with only weights on the inside is not suitable in all situations. The other thing to consider is that your average tyre shop will only balance wheels to a certain tollerence that is less likely to be noticable at normall expected road speeds, which can be far less than experienced on track cars.

After having the same wheels and tyres re balanced with this super high tech equipment and clip on weights installed on the outer edge of the rims, the wabble was gone. It was wheel balance after all but at least he now nknows he doesn't need to worry too much about wear on any of the driveline components lol.

Hmm ok I have also tried swapping wheels
From
Front to back still same thing.

I will
Check u bolts next, but there is no play in the rack that I can feel.

Rack is moving if I try move by hand.

It's all come from
When I got a alignment, it's not a out
Of balance feeling, it's like the front end is floating left to right and on the highway around 90 it pulls steering wheel
Left to right but the car will drive dead straight or of I turn left or right it fights the steering wheel.

has the rear alighment been checked?

also corner weights? it could be acting like a stool with one leg sorter than the others....

Loose tie rods, steering arms?

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Is the subframe bolted up properly? Is everything tight. Always first to do if you habe replaced alot. Plus safety first

Drives
-Ford S-max Mk2 Ecoboost
-Rover 100 VVC #2 - track project

Searching is all you need on TurboMinis

Checked rear wheel bearings not that.

Left cv is a bit notchy though, not replaced that!

Job for tomorrow.

Edited by NickG on 18th May, 2013.

Is everything tight? If something is loose can cause the same symptoms.

Drives
-Ford S-max Mk2 Ecoboost
-Rover 100 VVC #2 - track project

Searching is all you need on TurboMinis

Thanks ill check the steering rack u bolts tomorrow.

Are they a common thing to go loose?

Yeah rack ends are new & tight, it's pretty new. Got some new shocks coming Monday
My gaz ones seem pretty flogged out might cause the um even bounce like feeling.

Dazed and Confused....

I had this, snapped a bolt one of the steering arms,also check the little inserts are in the hub/steering arm they are needed