Steering wheel vibrations

[16v_paddy]

I've run out of ideas so probably best to ask for another opinion now

As you know, my car got a thorough pasting at Castle Combe and she made it home a bit worse for wear. She was pulling all over the road & had horrible vibrations through the steering wheel and some lovely clunking noises.

Before I went to Combe, I replaced the drivers side wishbone & ball joint as they were ****ed. After Combe, the near side ball joint was mullered and the CV boot had split at some point while out on track so the CV joint was obviously shagged I replaced the ball joint & just got a whole new shaft.

After they were done I was still left with an unpleasant vibration through the wheel from60+ mph & the car pulling to the right a bit. No big deal as I put that down to wheel alignment.
Got the tracking done on friday & had the wheels balanced for good measure as well.

The problem now is that I've still got that unpleasant vibration through the steering wheel, it's nowhere near as bad as it was but it's still there from 70+ mph

[Coops]

you checked all bolts etc, including ones holding rack to subframe etc etc?

[16v_paddy]

Indeed I have, been a good boy you see :P

I'm at the un-educated guessing stage now

[richy]

are they the same tyres which you used on track? vibration from 60plus through the wheel id say was the wheels balancing most likely.

if they are the wheels you used on track, then id check the tyres are not out of shape, they might of balanced them but if there ovaled etc then it wont make any difference, try swapping the wheels front to back and if the vibration goes from the steering wheel to the car(you will know when you drive it, back end shakes like a dieseased dog!) then its 100% them

that or they did a shit job of balancing which wouldnt be the first time ive seen done tbh but def worth swapping front to back to test.

[16v_paddy]

Don't think it's that as I tried swapping the wheels about front to back including the ones I didn't use on track & none of them made any difference

My latest guess is maybe the inner CV joint on the O/S driveshaft, gonna see if I can borrow 1 to see if it makes any difference

[richy]

if you swapped all the wheels about and are happy there all ok which is likely then doubt it is that, although what you initially said sounds like that.

does the steering wheel vibrate all the time? or does it do it under accel/decelleration, what about free wheeling out of gear etc??

o/s inner cv joint usually causes vibrations under accel when its going, unless its falling apart big time etc lol

[16v_paddy]

It's only ever doing it once I get up to 70mph & stays the same maybe slightly worse the faster I go, if I let go of the wheel you can see the ****er dancing about Soon as I let off & slow back down it goes away

Haven't tried free wheeling it out of gear yet so will see if that does ote

[Coops]

what wheels are you on currently paddy lah?

[16v_paddy]

what wheels are you on currently paddy lah?

On the same set of ph2's I've always had & the wheels that came with the car when I bought it are wearing R888's

Tried free wheeling it out of gear & it made sod all difference, I did notice however that as soon as I started to go faster than 85-90 all the way up to silly speeds the vibrating goes away and comes right back when the speed comes back down

[Chadwick]

Sorry to dig this old horse back up!

I've got a slight vibration/noise. This thread came closest to the problem than any other in the searches.

- When driving It sounds like its coming from the gearbox or N/S Driveshaft.

-The vibration can be felt in the pedals, its only the driver who can notice it..

- When accelerating, the noise goes. but its still there when braking / coasting. Maybe still there when accelerating, but the engine noise drowns it out (But I don't think it does)

- It sounds slightly like one of the pads is catching on the disk, but its not that. Coincidentally, the noise is linear with the wheel speed.

- Its got a brand new
O/S Driveshaft
ball joints
Track rod ends (The tracking is slightly out but I'm pretty sure this is not the issue)
Wishbone bushes
ARB bushes
Top mounts
Coilovers (Again, probably need setting up properly, but its seems ok, and pretty even)

- I jacked the front of the car up, put it in 3rd gear, the o/s wheel span at full speed, n/s didn't spin. If I stopped the o/s wheel, the n/s started to spin. (Which is what I expected because it's a standard diff)

- I struggled to hear the noise when had it on stands, plus didn't have much time to investigate.

When the engine is off, in neutral. If I turn the n/s wheel, it has around 40degree's of clockwise - anti-clockwise movement before it feels like its turning any mechanical components inside. If that makes sense? But the o/s seems fine, with no movement.

Any Idea's? Im edging towards either a billy bolhoxed tripod joint, n/s CV joint with some play in it, or a billy B'd Gearbox.