Xantia steering

[froggy]

Hi, I have a very slight vibration coming up through the steering wheel. Just had the front wheels balanced, and the vibration is still there. Could it be track rods or maybe drop links ? anyone have any ideas which areas I should be looking at? [ I did"nt get the front wheels tracked, ?] many thanks Terry .

[DickieG]

Vibrations felt though the steering at certain speeds are normally due to a rotating item being out of balance or an out of shape tyre, so if it wasn't the wheels it could be a driveshaft etc. However I'd be more inclined to suspect its a wheel balance problem, unfortunately from personal experience I'm not exactly very confident with wheel balancing that's done at many tyre fitting bays as I had similar problems to yourself where the wheels are 'balanced' several times by different personnel but the problem still persists so I've tried another tyre fitting company and still had the problem which why I now get my wheels balanced by my local Citroen dealer as that avoids getting lumbered with the typical yobbo tyre fitter doing the job. I've even stood next to what most people would say was a decent bloke as he recalibrated the wheel balance machine only for it to then cock up the balance of my wheels hence why I now only use the dealer.

[froggy]

Thanks, I will try my local Citroen dealer.

[Peter.N.]

Quite often it seems to be caused by a tyre being 'out of round' due to ply seperation, they balance OK with no weight on them but distort under load.

Peter

[Estately]

May I suggest that while each wheel is spinning on the balancing machine, bend to align your eye ( from a distance) with the tread at the top against the wall behind or some fixed point of reference to determine whether the tyre is truly round. If there is a problem the tread will appear to rise and fall as it rotates, similarly check the sidewalls.

You may have to ask the operator if he will raise the cover as the wheel is slowing down, get him to check it as well.

Regards

[jgra1]

also, do take a good look at the moving rim (s).. i was quite suprised recently to discover (by chance) that the inner rim on one of my alloys was buckled..

the car has never been prefectly smooth, this would explain it... I wonder how often any of us jack up either end of car and critically look at the tyre/wheel shape.. the amount of potholes etc would explain my buckle i am sure
John

[addo]

Yes, I've on occasion stuck the dial indicator's magnetic base on the wing or strut and measured a rim's runout... People give you funny looks when doing this.

Am reaching the unfortunate conclusion that a Xantia on rough roads, does far better on steel rims as they are tougher. Also, it's good to do all the front end in one hit - track rods inner and outer, lower arm bushes, ball joints and drop links. And to check the driveshafts while it's all in the mix.

[citronut]

drop links cannot/will not cause viration or wheel wobble,

regards malcolm