Bad Wheel Wobble 70mph plus

[lewisheywood]

So after a pothole cracked and badly buckled my alloy, I have changed them over to a set of Calibre CC A's that I have picked up off a mate cheap whilst searching for a new alloy.

Issue is, at speeds of 70mph+ I am getting a very nasty wheel vibration, felt mostly when accelerating but it is definetly there when I take my foot off.

Just looking for advice on what this could be, I am going to do the wobble test to check tie rods etc later on tonight.

All of the alloys are dead straight, 8 months old , tyres all perfect no bulges or cuts etc, however they are obviously not balanced for my car and we did not note where each alloy was when taking them off the previous car so obviously the backs may now be on the front etc etc. Would not be hard to find out from tread and side wear but I didn't think that balancing could cause such a bad wobble anyway??

From the vibration being worse under acceleration I take it that means I can narrow it down to the front two wheels?, and since the pothole was hit on the left hand side I am assuming that is where the damage will be.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks, Lewis

Edit: I have photos of the suspension components if anyone thinks they will be of any use.

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[Cuprabob]

Just for your information, the wheels don't need to be balanced to the car or to a particular location on the car. Each wheel and Tyre is balanced as a standalone assembly. Dynamic balancing, done with the wheel on the car, is pretty rare and not the norm.

If you are happy the wheels are balanced then I would focus on the tie rod end / spring / strut top bearing on the side of the car that sustained the pot hole damage.

If the vibration is at a particular speed and by going faster or slower it reduces it could be balancing.

Also, double check the wheel bolts are done up tight and the wheel bolts have the correct profile for the wheels. OEM wheel bolts are radius shoulder whereas many after market wheels require tapered shoulder wheel bolts.

[lewisheywood]

Thanks for the reply Cuprabob,

I was not aware of that with the balancing, does it therefore not matter which position the alloys are in , for example if it was on the rear left of the previous car , but the front right on my car , it doesn't matter as either way the wheel is balanced ?

Now that you mention it , the bolts that came with the aftermarket alloys were slightly different to my original ones.

I shall attach a photo of the difference, do you think that this could be the cause of the wobble?, in all honesty we mixed the OEM and after market bolts when putting the wheels back on.

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[lewisheywood]

Thanks for the reply Cuprabob,

I was not aware of that with the balancing, does it therefore not matter which position the alloys are in , for example if it was on the rear left of the previous car , but the front right on my car , it doesn't matter as either way the wheel is balanced ?

Now that you mention it , the bolts that came with the aftermarket alloys were slightly different to my original ones.

I shall attach a photo of the difference, do you think that this could be the cause of the wobble?, in all honesty we mixed the OEM and after market bolts when putting the wheels back on.

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Unfornatley changing the bolts did not solve the issue , back to the drawing board

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[JeffW]

It won’t matter for the wheels which corner you put them on. But it might matter for the tyres. Unlikely to be a cause of your wobble, but could be a safety issue.

Directional tyres have a defined left and right sidewall. It should say on the tyre. These can only go on one side of the car depending on how they’re mounted on the wheel.

Asymmetric tyres have defined inside and outside sidewalls. These can go anywhere.

Unidirectional tyres can also go anywhere. They have no left/right inside/outside design.

Could one of the wheels thrown a balancing weight in the changeover? Is there a suspiciously clean patch where a weight would be?


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[Delberthot]

I would be concerned about using the wrong bolts for the wheels - if you use the ones on the bottom in the picture when it should be the ones above them then there is a chance they could work loose and end up chewing the alloy due to having to retighten them.

You don't want them coming lose at any speed, never mind 70+

As well as checking if any of the balancing weights have come off in transit I would seriously consider getting it in to have the geometry checked as hitting a pohole hard enough to crack and buckle could've knocked the tracking off. In fact as a full belt and braces approach, I'd be tempted to have the wheels rebalanced at the same time if it was me

[lewisheywood]

It won’t matter for the wheels which corner you put them on. But it might matter for the tyres. Unlikely to be a cause of your wobble, but could be a safety issue.

Directional tyres have a defined left and right sidewall. It should say on the tyre. These can only go on one side of the car depending on how they’re mounted on the wheel.

Asymmetric tyres have defined inside and outside sidewalls. These can go anywhere.

Unidirectional tyres can also go anywhere. They have no left/right inside/outside design.

Could one of the wheels thrown a balancing weight in the changeover? Is there a suspiciously clean patch where a weight would be?


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The tyres I have on them are asymmetric I believe, they are cheap kumhos, bit of a downgrade from my P Zeros [emoji58]

In terms of the bolts , I have changed them all over just to be safe.

In regards to the weights, the tyres were balanced when they first went on so when both the tyres and alloys were brand new (i find it strange that brand new tyres even need balancing) anyway, 3 of the alloys have the same number of weights, however one has less than the other 3, and 2 of the sets of weights have been put on rather wonky, not sure if that would make a difference? (Hard to say if a weight had come off as the alloys were cleaned spotless every 3 months so no residue left as evidence)

I then went on to put my original 19s on the front and the problem still exists at 70+

The alloy with the least weights is on the back so I suppose I ought to try switching those to the originals as well.

To be honest I think the wobble is too bad for it to be a balancing issue , surely a tiny weight can't cause a shake felt throughout the whole car?.

To me the car feels slightly floaty on the front end compared to before, hard to describe but this could be down to the new wheels/wheel combination so who knows.

I can also hear a very quiet and low toned whistling sound that I'm 99% wasn't there before.

Car is going in on Thursday but I'd like to get an idea of what it may be beforehand...

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[lewisheywood]

I would be concerned about using the wrong bolts for the wheels - if you use the ones on the bottom in the picture when it should be the ones above them then there is a chance they could work loose and end up chewing the alloy due to having to retighten them.

You don't want them coming lose at any speed, never mind 70+

As well as checking if any of the balancing weights have come off in transit I would seriously consider getting it in to have the geometry checked as hitting a pohole hard enough to crack and buckle could've knocked the tracking off. In fact as a full belt and braces approach, I'd be tempted to have the wheels rebalanced at the same time if it was me

I'd have thought tracking would be knocked out to but it is the exact same as before , even with the new alloys, it pulls left ever so slightly which I've been told is standard of any car, so that if you fall asleep at the wheel, you are steered off the road not into on coming traffic (could be a myth) either way it hadn't changed [emoji848]

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[Delberthot]

Hopefully to answer both of your posts but you can't be sure that the tracking is ok unless you have it checked - if I drive on a straight road at any speed, as long as the road is level and there is no wind my car drives straight as have all of the cars that I've owned.

Even brand new alloys and tyres must be balanced - it's amazing what a difference a tiny weight can make to the handling of your car.

You'll be around £60 all in to have your alignment adjusted and wheels balanced v. a wobbly car and £200+ for a new set of tyres worn unevenly


I'd take it easy until the car gets checked out - even having someone under your car checking this could possibly identify something else as being the cause

[Cuprabob]

I would be concerned about using the wrong bolts for the wheels - if you use the ones on the bottom in the picture when it should be the ones above them then there is a chance they could work loose and end up chewing the alloy due to having to retighten them.

You don't want them coming lose at any speed, never mind 70+

As well as checking if any of the balancing weights have come off in transit I would seriously consider getting it in to have the geometry checked as hitting a pohole hard enough to crack and buckle could've knocked the tracking off. In fact as a full belt and braces approach, I'd be tempted to have the wheels rebalanced at the same time if it was me

I'd have thought tracking would be knocked out to but it is the exact same as before , even with the new alloys, it pulls left ever so slightly which I've been told is standard of any car, so that if you fall asleep at the wheel, you are steered off the road not into on coming traffic (could be a myth) either way it hadn't changed [emoji848]

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The very slight drift you get to the left on a perfectly aligned car is down to the camber of the road. Roads are constructed with a slight camber to the verge to facilitate drainage.