Has Anyone Had the Death Wobble

[Talewinds]

No, not that motion your intoxicated body makes just before you crumple onto the sidewalk outside the bar...
Death Wobble. I was trying to figure out how to describe the unusual motion I get out of my steering wheel once in a while. I found youtube videos, but most seem to be related to lifted trucks w/ big tires, even on the Jeep in this video link you can hear that he's running non-stock mud tires of some size.

YouTube - wobbly steering wheel

My car is a mostly un-molested '88 Carrera, 7's/8's, 205/55/16....225/50/16, very nice Dunlop FM901's, but they ARE old tires.
I had all 4 tires nicely balanced last summer, that seemed to make somewhat of an improvement.
I'll never claim to know much about suspension, so I'm all ears if that could be part of the issue.
The car does not sit terribly low either.
Edit: The wobble occurs at highway speeds only.

[rick-l]

When I only drove my 88 once or twice a month it developed a wobble, not as bad as that, at certain highway speeds. I assumed it was flat spotting the tires.

[Talewinds]

I've noticed that it's more pronounced when the car sits for a week or so, but it usually sits for a week between drives. I wondered about flat spotting, thanks for pointing that out.

[tharbert]

When you had the tires balanced, did you ask the technician to look for a bent rim or tires out-of-round?

When balanced, did you have them do a rotation or slap them back on the same corners?

If a front-to-rear rotation made it better, maybe you just moved the wobbler making it appear be better without fixing it.

Also, steel belts can slip under the tread. This can manifest in the death wobble and end simply in death for at least the tire. You may also see small wires sticking out of the sidewalls. Otherwise, the tire may look normal until failure.

[widgeon13]

What about warped rotors?

[pplkook]

04-07 4x4 Dodge Trucks (3/4 ton and up) are famous for this....

Not on my P-car, though I haven't had it for many years. Like someone above noted, if it hasn't been driven for a couple weeks, I notice it for a bit, but it will usually go away.

-Jack

[Dixie]

You already listed the problem. Old tires are unsafe. Tires degrade with time, not just miles. Buy new tires.

[DanielDudley]

Good tires for our cars are plentiful and affordable. Failing to purchase new tires even when the old ones are clearly past their prime is still a common error, due no doubt to the fact that the old tires still have tread.

It only goes downhill from here. Ask me how I know.

[Craig_D]

I had a "death wobble" (a.k.a. Tank-slapper) due to old tires on my Yamaha R1 at around 75 mph on the track. Result: shattered collar bone, dislocated & separated shoulder, fractured ribs, and an expensive repair bill.

....I shouldn'ta tried to get the "most" out of my semi-worn tires.

[kenikh]

This is the same type of thing known in motorcycle realms as a "tank slapper"...harmonics build up in the steering apparatus and sends thiings all over the place. It is most common in vehicles with steering geometry way out of whack (lifted trucks) or cars with worn front suspension compenents. Lots of things play in, but is isn't "normal" to Porsches...

[chiroracer]

Ditto: on my hobie skateboard with clay wheels

[clexton1]

I had this problem and new tires fixed it.
I also found play in the front wheel bearings can cause a shake.

Paul

[steely]

well since you asked, when i was a kid, we had that issue on my mom's corvair. (ah, memories)

Certainly wasn't a suv or truck - don't recall what the fix was, but I don't remember a repair. Tires may have been implicated - so long ago. Usually happened around a tight range of speed (55-60?) and could be pretty severe.

[Talewinds]

Yep, tires is the direction I'm leaning. When I had the tires balanced they only rotated them side to side due to the different size fronts/rears....................
Like I said, the tires are old but I don't know how old as I only bought the car last January, but based on the California registration history and extremely low mileage in the last few years the tires could have been on there for several years, I recall looking at the date code and noting they were old, just can't remember how old, but as someone else suggested above, there's still tons of tread left.
I think it would probably be a good time to jack up the front end and look for play and wear/aging in the suspension components and wheel bearings.

[MarKoBrow]

Check front wear bearings inner and outer first, check tires then tie rods inner and outer. A tire with a broken cord will wobble but is consistant and will always wobble what your describing sounds like one of your front wheels is very loose and I am almost certain if it was shaken you will find a worn outer bearing.

[equality72521]

Only on my Jeep

[-84 Carrera]

Originally Posted by Talewinds

No, not that motion your intoxicated body makes just before you crumple onto the sidewalk outside the bar...
Death Wobble. I was trying to figure out how to describe the unusual motion I get out of my steering wheel once in a while. I found youtube videos, but most seem to be related to lifted trucks w/ big tires, even on the Jeep in this video link you can hear that he's running non-stock mud tires of some size.

YouTube - wobbly steering wheel

My car is a mostly un-molested '88 Carrera, 7's/8's, 205/55/16....225/50/16, very nice Dunlop FM901's, but they ARE old tires.
I had all 4 tires nicely balanced last summer, that seemed to make somewhat of an improvement.
I'll never claim to know much about suspension, so I'm all ears if that could be part of the issue.
The car does not sit terribly low either.
Edit: The wobble occurs at highway speeds only.

My Dunlops did that when new. Consistently at speeds around 150 km/h. My tire shop told me the tires were not round. I switched to Michelin and the issue went away. I put that down as a learning experience to stay with premium tires.

/Claes

[ted]

May not be the case but a pulled belt on a front tire can do that for an hour or so before it blows out.

[antares]

That "wobble sound" - tactile (vibrations etc. ) or not, is most always a wheel bearing issue.

Tires can to some extent make that "wobble sound" but are almost always associated with tactile contributing component vibrations as well.

Mostly when worn bearing chase ways of inner wheel bearings are complimented by various other front suspension component interactions , the wobble sound and the tactile vibrations manifests themselves the best!

[Flieger]

BMW E21 3 series like my 1983 320i do this at highway speed (well, what is technically "highway speed" ) If driving faster cannot cure the problem, you may consider your front sway bar.

On the E21, the front suspension consists of a strut, lateral link and a front sway bar link. Think of the 911's A-arm but with the front bracing rod part of the "A" being the bent end of the sway-bar. The sway bar is held by some rubber bushings up front and apparently they are too soft. There is a bad harmonic around 60 mph where the wheel shakes. This happens with any tires, any pressures, after balancing, after rotating, all the time.

Firmer bushings fix this for the E21- there is a kit with some washers and stuff.

I don't know if that helps or not, but you may consider firmer bushings. I do not know if the sway bar bushings alone would help or if the A-arm bushings would need to be bearings as well. The BMW has rubber all over so maybe the sway bar fix alone changes the frequency/speed relation enough to make it not a problem.