Remember my problems with steering wheel wobble?

At last the problem has been cured....well almost

I just had 4 new Bilstein "Club Sport" installed and that solved the problem. The wobble is gone and the car handles much better now. Furthermore it doesn't feel rock hard as, at first, I was a bit worried it would. Wonderful!

Unfortunately I still sense a little wobble/nervousness in the steering wheel, but it's in a different way now and much much less than it used to. At 110 km/h it begins to wobble a tiny bit. At 130 it's the same and at 120 km/h it wobbles too much (still it's far less than before).

This could be due to slightly unround tires, that the left rear wheel doesn't center perfectly on the hub and that my track rods are old. Track rods will be attended to in the future.

The whole car does seem a bit unsteady/vibrating (up and down) at speeds around 140 to 160 km/h???? It wasn't like that before the Bilsteins. I don't know what to expect from the harder new shocks so maybe I'm being oversensitive?

Well at least I have experienced a huge improvement and as a bonus I was told that my small oil leaks were absolutely nothing to worry about - that was a relief...

Well just needed to tell somebody.

Sorry to say this but sounds like your new, firmer shocks are just masking the problem that exists. They are merely doing a better job of damping the vibration. A band-aid.

I would continue to look for the root cause of the problem. If you have a wheel that is not centering, red flag. That is a problem.

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Chuck Moreland '86 Cab - "Sparky", '77 Targa - "Sweet Pea"

[This message has been edited by Clark Griswald (edited 07-19-2001).]

It's only a tiny bit. That's what made me think it couldn't be the reason for the massive steering wheel wobble I had earlier. So little tolerance can't possibly cause so much wobble.

Also the old shocks were the originals! 17 years old and practically not working. How will a car behave with no shocks!?

But of course I will have the car checked over in the not too distant future.

PS: The wheels work fine on another 911 (?).

Have you checked the plastic bushing that centers the steering wheel column, under the steering wheel? These disintegrate over time, letting the wheel flop around a lot, and accentuating any sort of wobble greatly. Order the replacement part from a 928, which is metal, easy to put on (if you remember to remove the circlip, don't ask me how I know that), and costs about $8 from Stoddard's. There have been a couple of recent threads on this on the rennlist 911 forum. Good luck.

Jim McIntyre
'85 targa

Hello

Would secound that. The old shocks maybe got killed by the vibration. As you used only inserts nothing has realy changed exept the new damping and the front axle aligement. I´m not sure if the mechanic was aware of your problems so he could start to check the things while he is on there.

Grüsse

No the mechanic wasn't aware of the wobble. But afterwards when I told him he suggested the track rods might be old?

Haven't thought about the steering column thing. Will check that too.

Thanks

GOAT43 writ:
"from a 928, which is metal, easy to put on (if you remember to remove the circlip, don't ask me how I know that), and costs about $8 from Stoddard's."

Ahem! Ahem! Pelican has these also!!! Support the F'n FREE list!

I installed one of these metal collars (from Pelican) on my steering column and it made a world of difference... Then again mine was really sloppy so I knew exectly what needed to be replaced.

I think the part is around $10 give or take. There might be an install "How-To" on the website as well. Very easy, probably 10 minutes and half a beer.

Good Luck,


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Adrian Pillow
1979 911 SC
1966 VW Microbus
PCA - Peachstate Region

Mikkel,

What do you mean when you say the wheel does not center properly on the hub? I am having trouble imagining how this could happen since these are hub-centric wheels. Or perhaps you have replaced your wheels with some that are not hub centric?

Can you post a picture?

Also what are track rods? do you mean tie rods?

I may be wrong,but. In my experiece, if the the steering wheel will have play when the car is sitting still if the bushing needs replacement. I believe you are talking about vibration at speed. This seems to be a common issue on the older cars. They are very sensitive to vibration transmited through the steering wheel. You will have to inspect just about every piece of the suspension to determine the suspect part. (i.e. tie rods, ball joints, bushings, wheel bearings and of course wheel balancing) I've been hunting down this one for the past year. The wobble is only present between 45 and 60 mph on highways that have those expansion joints. It doesn't happen, however, on flat, smooth roads. New tie rods helped a little. Wheel bearing adjustment helped too. The only other thing I can think of is that the A-arm bushings or balljoints are worn. I am also going to have the wheels balanced while on the car.




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Paul
78SC Targa

I suspect tire balancing. Usually when a vibration or wobble coincides with a particular speed it suggests balancing or a defective tire.

Bobby

Yes I mean tie-rods (Spurstangen in German). English is a foreign language Sometimes I forget what things are called.

The wheels are Cup replicas. The centering thing is something that I assume. I could feel a tiny movement when holding the wheel onto the hub. As if it didn't fit 100% perfectly. It is a tiny imperfection, but it might be important anyway? (Since the 3 other wheels don't feel like that)

I have tried the wheels on another 911 and experienced NO PROBLEMS whatsoever. That's confusing because it eliminates all the typical answers such as balancing the wheels, bad rims etc.

pbs911 - yes I mean "at speed".

[This message has been edited by Mikkel (edited 07-21-2001).]

Have you tried putting a different set of wheels and tires on your car?

That would tell you if you have wheel problem or not.

Hi Mikkel,

following your posts for some months on several boards, I now have a new clue which might be the problem.
I had this once on a family car (Audi 100).
A new set of tyres would led to symptoms as described: wheel wobbling at certain (high) speed levels.
Re-balanced the tyres several times-no luck. Did a on-wheel balancing-only slightly better.
Exchanged tyres front to back, right to left-nothing.
Rotated tyres on the rims-no luck.

In the end, the dealer was so frustrated (as my father was) and sent the brand new Pirellis back to the factory. A set of new Good-Years solved the problem!
A couple of weeks later, the dealer told us, that there was one lot of tyres which were made slightly "unround", something you cannot determine by a balancing machine. The whole lot was recalled afterwards from the factory.

No way you can lean another set of rims/tyres for a test ride???

Jens

It would be very nice if I could borrow a set of wheels from another 911. No doubt that I will try that.

It does sometimes seem like the problem gets worse after the car has been standing idle for some time. When I take it for a ride it will shake a lot at first, but then as I drive further and further the shaking gets less noticeable??? It's like the tires have flat spots! But it will also occur when I drive the car every day!? Can tires really develop flat spots overnight?