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Vibration felt through steering wheel


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At all speeds up to 70mph I can feel no vibration whatsoever, however from about 75mph upwards (on the Continent!) I do notice such a vibration. I have barely perceptible wheel bearing end float, no play anywhere in any suspension bush and the wire wheels are tight on the adapters with no play. Am I right in thinking the vibration can only be wheel balance connected?

Tim

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I think most mechanical imbalances would be noticeable upto 70mph,  but it can of course also be caused by wheels or the tyres themselves being out of true and pattering at high speed, perhaps extenuated by tired dampers.  And vibration can also be due to air turbulence (open a window in a VW at speed and your ear drums get a good pounding) but in an open top car this can be anything from the unsupported windscreen vibrating to a valance panel or even bumper end wobbling.   And even a wobble at the rear end can be like the tail wagging the dog - so felt through the steering.

Pete

 

Edited by Bfg
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Thanks all. 

Pete - tyres 4 years old with still 4-5mm tread and even wear.

Chris - I have had wheels balanced on the car a long time ago but the fitter I have used for the past ten years has always balanced them perfectly off the car up to now, they have an old style balancer and the correct cone for my wire wheels. 

I have two nearly new tyres on the rear, perhaps I should swap those to the front and see if the vibration goes away and yes I will replace them on the rear for safety after carrying out the check. The experiment will have to wait a couple of weeks however since the car is currently off the road.

Tim

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Hi Tim

Sounds rubber related to me. Nothing to say a lead balancing weight hasn't come adrift might be worth having them all rebalanced and check for any "eggs" (bulges) on the inner tyre walls while they are off.

Andy

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One at a time, jack up a front wheel so that it is about 1.5" above the floor, then lie on the ground in line with the wheel and spin it by hand.  If you see the tread moving from side to side &/or the tread rising and falling (i.e. the gap between tread and floor changing), the problem could lie there.

If so, put the offending wheel(s) at the rear because a solid axle TR can accommodate such variations back there, but I see you have a TR4A which probably has IRS (unless one of the US solid axle type), and I cannot say how tolerant an IRS car might be of such anomalies.

Ian Cornish

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Hi Tim

I had a vibration through the steering on my 4a and similarly wheel bearings/ hubs were fine and properly adjusted. I checked every nut and bolt, took it out but the vibration was still there, ( the wheels were not out of balance btw).

So I did another thorough inspection and found that the nearside top ball joint nut was tight, in that it would not tighten any further, but then I noticed that the ball joint wasn't completely in the taper. I managed to get the nut off with use of lever bars to get some tension into the joint, cleaned up the thread and fitted a new nut. Problem solved. Luckily just prior to the RBRR . I take it your lower inner wishbone brackets and chassis are good?

Kevin

Edited by boxofbits
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Thanks Pete, Ian and Kevin, will check your suggestions. If all OK I will get my fitter to have another go at balancing. I will report back when I find the solution.

Tim

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