front tire wobble, order of checks

[bp944]

So I have a vibration that comes through the steering wheel and it seems to be coming from the front right wheel. It occurs when I get above 50 mph usually around 55. It comes on quite suddenly, there is no gradual getting worse as you speed up. The wobble gets worse when I turn slightly left. I don't think its brake related since I don't feel it through the pedal and it doesn't increase as I brake. When I jack the car up there doesn't seem to be any plan in the vertical direction when I move the tire. I think the plan is to go through the easy fixes first and see what happens.

Order:
1. switch front wheels, see if its the wheel that's a problem (balance, dead spots, etc)
2. Adjust wheel bearing.
3. Replace wheel bearing.
4. Take car in to check alignment

then what, struts, cv joint, bushings, suspension?

[1982_928]

Put the front wheels and tires on the back, and the backs on the front and see if the shake comes from back there. I think you have a tire coming apart.

[ernie9944]

Start by getting your tires/ wheels balance before going into an alignment.GL

[John_AZ]

Maybe...
Street wheel alignment settings

John

[bp944]

Here's the clueless questions. Can a normal mechanic align a 944's wheel or do they need porsche tools? I'm out in the middle of North Dakota and the nearest porsche tech. is 5.5 hours away. Could I actually do this myself?

Any recommendations on how to test what's wrong?

[John_AZ]

The front is pretty basic. I have changed steering racks, struts, and check my front alignment:
Pelican Technical Article: Home Alignment

The rear needs a tool for the toe-in but can be done:
Steering rack rubber plug

John

[Slam]

More checks: ball joints, tie rod ends, struts. Both my 944s did this and I finally tracked it down to bad struts in one car and bad ball joints in the other. Any misalignment sends the car into a hissy fit around 50mph. I agree about swapping up the wheels, though, as the only way to track stuff like this down is to be methodical and eliminate causes one at a time.

[bp944]

Is there any checks for the ball joints, tie rod ends, struts or do you just replace them? If so, which would you suggest replacing first or which is cheaper?

[djantlive]

Vibration at highway speed is balance issue. Have a tire shop balance your tire. Ask them to use taped weight instead of clip weights to avoid wheel scratches.

[bp944]

I switched the front two wheels and the front right is still wobbly. I assume that means its not the wheels and therefore I shouldn't need a tire balance. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I also checked the bearing. There's no noise coming from it and I tried to adjust the wheel bearing adjuster but the washer won't move separately from the locking collar. I can get the locking collar to move and the thrust washer moves with it.

Would a single wheel wobble come from an alignment issue? Wouldn't that be a vibration from to wheels? It also seems like a wobble that goes from toe-in to toe-out but that might be my mind making it up.

[bp944]

I took the car in to get aligned and they said all my wheel bearings are shot. They said there's a lot of play in the wheels but they said the tie rods, struts, and bushings are fine. They also recommended replacing every hub. Its a shop that does good work but they are used to GM vehicles so I'm inclined to take it with a grain of salt. Should I just replace the bearings and see if that works first or are the hubs shot? If I do need to replace them, is it worth going for paragon's racer's edge hubs since I do plan on tracking the car once its up and running.