Wheel wobble?

[Richiekuk]

Hey all. Ever since I've had my Leon my steering wheel has wobbled ever so slightly around 75-85mph.

Wheels need balancing I hear you cry.
They've been balanced twice, and it's intermittent. It does it more than not, but it'll be smooth for a bit then it'll come back!

Really annoying as whenever the service bloke drives it he says its fine!

Cars only done 16k, so doubt it's bushes or anything like that.

I do 1000 miles a week on motor ways so its starting to do my head in.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Richie K

 

[wjohnson]

I had exactly the same problem on my previous car. Apparently buckled rims can cause this problem. But one way to check this is to swap front to back back to front and see if it still does it. It did on mine and after no-one being able to fix it I bought my leon.

 

[Al]

Did you use different places to balance the wheels, or the same place?

 

[Richiekuk]

Yeh, the seat dealer did it both times.

First we thought it was dodgy tires as they put new (crap) ones on before I bought it. So I got them to put some decent tires on, and it still does it!

I've just been to a tyre place, theyve just swapped front to back (checked rears were balanced first).
So I'll see what happens when I drive to work tommorow. 30 mind of the M1 should do it!

Hope it something as simple as a buckled wheel. Just need to prove it to Seat.

Cheers.

 

[CJS-90]

Buckled wheel springs to mind from me too. Although theoretically it could be dodgy tyres!?


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[mds1256]

mine also does this around 85, all wheels have been balanced and re-balanced and still does it. Think it may be a buckled wheel

 

[Al]

If the wheel was buckled, the garage should have noticed this and advised you as such when they balanced it.

 

[Richiekuk]

Righto, I had the rears put on the front yesterday (balancing checked).

Drove to work this morning and the wobble between about 73 to 87 ish is worse than with the other wheels on.

Im stumped now, as I was hoping it would be nice and smooth this morning proving a buckled wheel or something.

This means more time at the dealers whilst they "blindly" try and sort this out!

Ive been back to the dealers every weekend so far since I've owned the car! Prior engagements mean I now cant get this looked at untill 9th of July!

Am a little P!$$£D off to say the least!

Richie K

 

[Slimy]

My brakes cause this occasionally when they get toasty. If I slam the anchors on, the next few miles I have a wobble until I have to brake again, then they settle down. If they start wobbling as I'm driving, I apply the brakes briefly to warm them up then they run smooth.

 

[Nath.]

There are 2 main ways of balancing a wheel, the cheating way that doesn't work very well (static balance) and the correct way with weights on the inner and outer rim (dynamic). Always ask for the wheels to be balanced this way as it is a lot more accurate. After your dynamic balance you may end up with visible sticky back weights on the outer rim but you can cover these with a bit of silver paint or whatever colour your wheels are, If you're lucky the outer weights will be tucked behind spokes.

Also use a marker pen to mark the location of any hammer on weights before you drive away from the tyre shop, sometimes the hammer on weights can creep along and cause the balance to go out after a few days. I had real bad trouble with balancing on one of my old company cars and this was the cause, the hammer on weights would move about 1-2 inches over a week causing progresivly worse wobble. The design of the rims was such that the inner rim where the weights hammer on was too small. Sticky weights all round will always be better but cost the tyre shop more so they try not to use them.

 

[GrahamFR]

mine does this, slightly higher motorway speed tho, just try to ignore it

 

[sportbilly]

I had balancing issues on a car previously, the usual way to balance is locking the wheel on the machine from the outside edge but if this is not prefectly flat then it wont give great results - on these particular wheels (brand new VW wheels) I had to get the balanced based on the inside edge which solved it.

Just a thought.

 

[Richiekuk]

I assume they were balanced properly at the Seat dealer, and during the swap I watched the guy check the rears, and the weights were correct as they are, and they didn't need balancing.

I can't live with this as I know something isn't right, and I certainly expect a £13k car from a main dealer to behave correctly.

 

[GrahamFR]

you havent got a bent steering arm have you? whats the history of the car, any repairs?

 

[Slimy]

Also use a marker pen to mark the location of any hammer on weights before you drive away from the tyre shop, sometimes the hammer on weights can creep along and cause the balance to go out after a few days. I had real bad trouble with balancing on one of my old company cars and this was the cause, the hammer on weights would move about 1-2 inches over a week causing progresivly worse wobble. The design of the rims was such that the inner rim where the weights hammer on was too small. Sticky weights all round will always be better but cost the tyre shop more so they try not to use them.

My experience is usually the opposite, the hammer on weights stay where they are and I tend to lose sticky weights. Although I suspect that may be partly due to the mechanic, a quick wipe with an IPA cloth would probably allow the weight to stick better.

 

[Richiekuk]

Well it's an approved used car from seat, so I would hope the history is ok.

It's booked in again in 2 weeks (only time I can make it), would prefer it to be sooner though!

 

[GrahamFR]

your aligments not out is it, causing your tyres to nobble? i dont suppose its been lowered?

 

[Richiekuk]

Not sure about alignment. Wouldn't have thought that would cause my symptoms.
Car isn't lowered, totally standard.

 

[Richiekuk]

Reet. Realised something else on my 3 hour drive home tonight.
I had thought the wobble comes and goes, but I've realised it goes when you load the steering (I mean, turning a bend).
Obviously at 80, you can't turn sharp bends, but any bend that loads the steering causes the wobble to stop!

So, I reckon that discounts the wheels and tyres, and points to steering or suspension!

 

[robdf2]

there is a known fault with steering racks , but i think it was to do with more of a knocking noise than wobble