Wheel Wobble

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andydykes
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Wheel Wobble

Post by andydykes »

My C5 has developed a wheel wobble which is noticeable through the steering wheel at crawling speed (traffic jams) and up to 30mph. Breaks in a straight line. Car passed mot last month, no mention of any play etc in components.

Is this a common problem or do I have to start work checking everything out and where do I start? One wheel trim is non standard, tyre pressures are ok and can't see anything visual wrong although tread near limit on one tyre.

Any ideas or experiences please.

Thanks

Andy
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Post by myglaren »

Could be a bleb on the tyre or the tread starting to come away.
Possibly also a lost weight.

The tyres need examining minutely for defects then maybe balancing, although if the tread is near the limit it might be better all round to just renew the tyres.
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Post by Peter.N. »

I would agree. Low speed 'wobble' is almost always caused by a defective tyre.
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Post by andydykes »

Looks like a trip to the tyre stealer's! Any recommendations for tyres make and fitters?
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Post by Peter.N. »

To be honest, I always use 'cheapies' and have covered hundreds of thousands of miles on them. Others would disagree, it depends a lot on how you drive, I get about 30,000 miles from my front tyres because I'm old and don't rush about everwhere, but if you drive you car to the limit then probably something dearer would be more suitable.
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Post by dnsey »

I agree with Peter.
I use 'Goodride' Chinese-made tyres, which give perfectly adequate performance for calm driving, wear quite well, and give a very noticeably smoother and quieter ride than many of the major brands.
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Post by andydykes »

dnsey wrote:I agree with Peter.
I use 'Goodride' Chinese-made tyres, which give perfectly adequate performance for calm driving, wear quite well, and give a very noticeably smoother and quieter ride than many of the major brands.
Who stocks them?
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Post by corsehf »

Do you have these damned centre-less wheels that as i have recently found out, are difficult to balance.
I have had mine done twice recently due to 'wheel wobble' hoping it to be the cause of my steering vibration yet everytime i take it in to be done, they claim that the wheels are miles out and re-do them adding a ton of weights but in a different spot.
They are getting better but no where near perfect. :(
Andy

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andydykes
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Post by andydykes »

corsehf wrote:Do you have these damned centre-less wheels that as i have recently found out, are difficult to balance.
I have had mine done twice recently due to 'wheel wobble' hoping it to be the cause of my steering vibration yet everytime i take it in to be done, they claim that the wheels are miles out and re-do them adding a ton of weights but in a different spot.
They are getting better but no where near perfect. :(
No, just the bog standard steel ones. Only recently noticed it more. Then again been stuck in more traffic jams on the A55 :x
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Post by Homer »

Peter.N. wrote:To be honest, I always use 'cheapies' and have covered hundreds of thousands of miles on them. Others would disagree,
You are right.

I tried some budget tyres on the 807, which actually get decent reviews online and they were horrendous. You didn't steer the car so much as politely suggest it deviate from a straight line.

Replaced them when they (very quickly) wore down with Michelins and the difference was amazing. The Michelins cost twice as much but have given me more than 3 times the mileage and are still going.

With the BXs and Xantias I found there was a massive difference in ride quality (as well as grip) between brands.
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Post by dnsey »

mendedit
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Post by mendedit »

Cheapo tyres? never again,
Bought 4 new budget in one go once + valves + balance,
car kept trying to steer into the verge, at speed I had to fight to keep on the road,
took car back to fitters for re-tracking......it made no difference.....
back again checked again all OK.......made no difference......
took car to another tyre depot in case tracking Lasers were out or monkeys were having a bad day,
this time had to pay again drove off.....you guessed.....made no difference,
then some one told me that many budget tyres are still hand belted in former Iron Curtain countrys and can be belted too much on one side causing it to pull to the side,
When I did fit new (Michelins) this stopped, are quieter and lasted 40,000mls.
nowadays may not last so long because of enviromental reasons!!!!

It might be worth having wheels balanced on the car if you can for a better balance
The world is full of them and a lot are in
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a word on joints in cheap tyres

Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Hi, I used to use the cheapest tyres available I believe they were branded camac, they had a knack of being badly welded at the join and as the tyre started to wear I had to go back and have the tyres re-balanced because the joins threw the balance off.

another point to consider is you drive a hydraulic suspension car so are you more likley to drive over holes in the road becuase you think the car suspension can handle it? this would be slightly foolish because you could buckle your wheels, another possability is if you experience a clunking sound as you transverse small bumps in the road it could be that your bottom swing arm bearing or bearings are going home,
you won't feel any play in the wheels when they are on the ground you will need to jack up the car and let the suspension down before grabbing the top of the wheel and shaking it back and forth Not front to rear , but from side to side, to acertain if there is any play in the bottom swing arm joint.

if so then thease cost about 10 quid for a Xany not sure about a C5 though, it can be a pig of a job and some can be easy. if you have any play on the bottom joint dont drive until you have it fixed your wheels and hubs might decide to seperate from your swing arms on the road.

and that would be messy.

regards Nigel.
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Post by Ross_K »

Wanli, Goodride, Nankang etc. would not be my first choice - they're not exactly what you'd call grippy... :shock: The only time I'd buy them is if I was selling a car and wanted to be able to say it had four new tyres.

Vredestein Hi-Trac aren't bad for the money. Klebers Dynaxer are good too - I'm told they're the same company as Michelin.

It might sound obvious, but those four little bits of rubber are all that keep you on the road. Why skimp on them? :-k
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Ross,

I have just driven 470 miles on tyres that only cost me £20 each and yes they are second hand tryes, thank god we still have a reliable source of them. all the EU crap that says a patch can't be applied is emptying your pocket at your expense, it is around £75 a tyre in the UK at the moment and they are economny tyres for the xantia.

if you know how to drive a citroen properly it shouldn't really matter what kind of tyres you use, personally I think Michelins are a bit soft and amplify the little bumps in the road surface, Ive got firestones on at the mo they were nearly brand new when they were fitted and I could never have afforded to buy them new on my income.

My used tyres were fitted and balanced for £20 each and i didn't have to pay a tyre disposal charge either. if you take a nearly new tyre to be patched with a heavy duty patch most tyre dealers signed up to the money making scam rules of the EU will tell you its not worth repairing the tyre or they won't repair it so your out of pocket yet again. new tyres are becomming as big a rip off as petrol and diesel prices, the motorist is being stabbed in the back yet again by the EU and its stupid rules.

its like airbags if you like me know at least two people that have been killed by airbags you to would uplug the stupid idiotic ideas and just rely on the good ole fashioned seat belts. The xantia seartbelts have a gun type cartridge beneath the seat that pulls the seat belt tight across your lap when the airbag fires this can snap your spine when it pulls tight across your waist, ok you might not be the one the system kills but someone will be and I dont want it to be me so I have unplugged the airbag system completely. The EU and its stupid health and saftey rules is screwing us all and ive had enough of conforming to the rules that are set by another country other than this one.

I'm off to burn me boxers....lol........regards Nigel. ](*,) p.s no offense intended.
Citroen Xantia S2 1.9 TD estate 189K soon to be broken for parts Jan 2017 headlamps & radiator fan assembly already spoken for & A 1987 Citroen 2CV6 special just for fun.
New addition Citroen C5 2.0 HDi Exclusive Hatch purchased 09/12/2016 with 83K on the clock.
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