Vehicle Vibration and warn tyres

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My 96 605 2.1td is steadily drainign me of any money and interest in it! I have spent even more money on basic maintenance include £260 for a clutch replacement and a nice set of tyres for the front.

How ever, they tyres have been completely warn down on the out side circumferance of the tread. The tracking was done and found to be way out. Little did we know that I have rear adjustable tracking as well.

So 2 new tyres and a full 4 wheel tracking later, I still appear to have a problem.

The car vibrates anywhere between 65 and 80mph in a straight line round corners accelerating or braking. The result of this appears to be the destruction of the tyres!

So. tracking is done. Tyres are all balanced. All I have had done is a clutch replacement.

Can anyone suggest where to direct my mechanic to resolve the problem?

Thanks

[miked]

If it vibrates at a certain speed regardless of which gear you are in then I think you can rule out most things except the wheel balancing (or a problem with the driveshafts or diff). I know you say the wheels are balanced but could a weight have fell off or could they have balanced them wrongly.

An unbalanced front wheel can be felt through the steering wheel a lot more than if it is on the back of the car. I would swap rear wheels for the front ones, if the nature of the vibration changes then it's the wheels. If not then I'm talking rubbish.

[504]

All the Peugeot's I have owned have had tin foil thick wheels. The 504 is the worst and the 205 suffers too. Any small knock, kerbing, etc will dent and distort a Peugeot steel rim, and as the car gets older you'll notice even heavier balancing weights put on by the tyre fitter. If your still on 5g then its good!

Id want to observe the wheels in motion on the balance machine and physically look for distortion. I did this myself with the 205 wheels last week after not solving a light 70+ vibration, after rebalancing. A swop with the spare which is still new and now drives like new.

If this isnt the case for you then I would seriously look at the suspension on the car, something has to be giving to allow the tyres to scrub like it.

[AndersDK]

Further on the line of 504's suggestions :

Jack up each corner, then slowly turn the wheel by hand.
Using a couple of bricks and a stick clamped between, its very easy to set up a simple ref point for the edge of the rim as the wheel is turned.
Now you can instantly see even the smallest imperfections on the rim.
The larger any damage found the worse the vibration it will cause.

The degree of damage together with the weight on wheel while driving will cause a resonance at a certain speed. At exactly this speed the vibration will peak. Obviously the tyre inflation has large influence - and of course the state of the shockers.

Only remedy is to replace the rim.

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Well, I am glad that there appears to be an agreement that there isn't a major mechanical problem! I was worried that something done whilst replacing the clutch could have effected drivshaft joints etc etc

After having the chance to drive the car at a range of speeds over the last couple of days, I would say that the problem is at least significantly reduced. I have monitored the tyre wear VERY closely and the front tyres apepar to be holding up ok. just need to check that the rears are not wearing in the same fashion.

In the event that the tyre wear hs gone after my trip to liverpool this weekend, I will swap the tyres round to see if any vibration remians or changes.

Aren't cars great!

Thanks all

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Ok time for an update.

Front tyres, no wear after 500+ miles. Rear tyres new and not showing any deterioration.

Had it tracked on a 4 wheel alignment machine, NOT the hangers on the back wheel machine! I want to get it done again, but it shouldn't have changed in the last week (unless there is somethign majorly wrong!)

Vibration is still present!

It is at around 65-75ish. I can drive through it to cruise fairly smoothly at 80+ It is more prominant when NOT under load! If I'm accelerating I can feel it through the sterring wheel and the car "buzzes" (vibrates a little but not much). If I lift off (not braking) the vibration is increased the steering wheel is visably moving. If I brake it obviously shakes through the "zone" and smooths out quickly.

So, please, forget the make and model. What can cause these symptoms in ANY car. I need a starting point for further investigations. I don;t really want to sell the stupid thing as I have spent a LOAD of money on maintenance (new clutch and 6 tyres in the last 2 months!). Buty I realised I had spent enough to have bought another car!

Thanks

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