Vibrating steering wheel

Jshodgson · Post by **Jshodgson** » 20 Oct 2004, 06:23

My Xantia steering wheel vibrates above 60 mph. On previous cars this has been due to wheel balance, tracking, front brakes.
Has anyone else resolved a similar problem in their Xantia - which should be my first port of call?
Are there any other "Xantia" causes?
Ta

tony42 · Post by **tony42** » 20 Oct 2004, 06:25

Mine vibrates when accelarating over undulating surfaces or braking hard over similar surfaces. had it checked and was told p bushes are worn and will need replacing. mine were not bad enough to change at this time. Maybe you have something similar

Stempy · Post by **Stempy** » 20 Oct 2004, 12:19

My old VSX was very sensitive to wheel balance. Make sure you get all four checked as the rears on mine caused a worse shake than the fronts! Also had worn drive shafts cause a steering wobble but this was only when accellerating.

brookdale31 · Post by **brookdale31** » 20 Oct 2004, 14:12

Can anyone help me. I have recently bought a 1995 Xantia 1.9TD. There is a judder on the brakes as the vehicle comes to a stop. It appears to be coming from the nearside front. I have put new pads in,swapped both calipers as one was leaking and put on a new nearside drop link as the ball joints were worn. This has still not cured the problem. There is a knocking noise, which i presume is one of the anti roll bar bushes. Could this be causing the judder? I can only feel it through the pedal, it does not effect the streering. I have considered warped discs but a feeler guage check on both sides doesn't show anything up. Is this a common problem?
Eamonn

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 20 Oct 2004, 16:02

I wouldn't trust feeler gauges for finding warped discs - they'd have to be pretty bad to show up there. My warped disc only had a deflection of 0.1 mm and it nearly shook the car to pieces if you braked heavily. Use a dial gauge instead.
//NiSk

Jshodgson · Post by **Jshodgson** » 21 Oct 2004, 01:03

After a motrqay drive today it would seem the judder is only there between 65 and 74 mph and it feels like it is coming through the pedals a bit aswell. I tried coasting and the judder is still there.

tony42 · Post by **tony42** » 21 Oct 2004, 08:04

Hi
That sounds like wheels need balancing, cheap and cheerful solution if thats the problem . Had a problem with a Volvo940 were had a judder above a certain speed. Turned out to be a wheel with a large dent in it from a pothole

wrinklet1 · Post by **wrinklet1** » 21 Oct 2004, 12:28

Yes, your wheels need balancing, the tracking shouldn't cause a vibration, that causes worn tyres and wandering to one side or another.
If the brake disc was warped, you would get the sensation throught the brake pedal and at all speeds.
If you still get a vibration after balancing, the problem could be a driveshaft thats out of balance.
PAul

Jshodgson · Post by **Jshodgson** » 02 Nov 2004, 05:51

Had all four wheels balanced at a total cost of £11.50 and now the vibration has improved vastly.
Thanks

uhn113x · Post by **uhn113x** » 02 Nov 2004, 13:38

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Jshodgson

Had all four wheels balanced at a total cost of £11.50 and now the vibration has improved vastly.
Thanks
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
It should have gone! [;)]

pete_wood_uk · Post by **pete_wood_uk** » 02 Nov 2004, 14:31

Consider how old the tyres are? The back tyres on Xantias can last forever (he says from experience, having despaired of a pair of Michelins ever wearing out) to the point where the carcass can begin to wear out/suffer damage from kerbs, etc, and it's not always obvious.
I once had a tyre that balanced perfectly and had no lumps that you could feel from the outside, but doing a front-to-back swap of the wheels significantly changed the vibration, so it had to be tyre related. A bit more swapping with the spare finally isolated the problem tyre, and I fitted a new pair. Problem solved!
Pete

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 02 Nov 2004, 14:39

I'm sure that the tyres on the rear of my car (when I got it) were the original tyres, so I put them on the front so I'd wear them out more quickly (and have some new tyres on there).