Steering Is Shaking At 120km/h

[uncouth32]

Hi, i have a r34gtt sedan and recently had Volks GTC 17 put onto it. but since i get my new rims, my steering wheel will vibrate quite badly at 120km/h onwards! i have done balancing and alignment but it is still the same. i have 215 archilles on the front and 235 neuton on the rears. I think it might be the tyres but would there be anything else causing this?? due to a tight budget, i dont wanna spend 1k+ on tyres and not solving the problem. still on stock suspension and has a front strut bar. Had shitty tyres on my stock rims too but it wasnt doing this. When it vibrates, i can hardly feel the road and have to slow down and even braking, i do not dare to brake too hard. anyone having this issue too?

on the side track, i went to a tyre shop for balancing and alignment service and after the service, i went to test the car and still vibrating so i went back to the shop. instead of helping me out, that guy was telling me off for driving at 120km/h and kept insisting that the balancing was good to 110km/h and doesnt see any problem!! and even said if im not happy with his service he can refund me the money in a pretty loud voice!! so much for customer service... so i rebutted him saying im preparing for the drags and he said well, if you are going to the drags, u will have to re-balance your wheels again anyway!! wtf!! and the classic part was "mate, you should be expecting this when you had afermarket rims on your car as stock rims are better!!" so much for someone who is selling tyres and rims. He should then stop selling tyres with speed ratings above 120!

[Excess]

are you running spacers at all?

[uncouth32]

no spaces dude.. and had those hub rings as well...

[342NV]

I had the exact problem in my 34 as well.

i had shitty aftermarket 17's that came with the car and when i drove it at first it was fine.,

but when i changed my front tires at the tire shop they couldnt put the stick on led weights because my front calipers were too big

and would hit the weights straight off.

so i went to a few tyre shops. many couldnt help, but i went to one and the bloke smashed the weights like really really thin eventually he got the two fronts nice and balanced..

never had a problem since..

[uncouth32]

when i had my first balancing at another shop, there was no stick on weights at all and was off by abt 100g each wheel!! lol... but before the 1st balancing, i can only do 90km/h max.. it got better after the 1st balacing at least i could go up to 130km/h but still vibrating on the steering:( i dont want a skyline that can go 130km/p max!!

[342NV]

yeah same. at the time my wheels were 70-80 off on EACH wheel

but now shes all sweet. although the steering does shake when im slowing down from 150 + but im pretty sure thats just the rotors needing machining,

[blinko]

i have the same shaking problem on my r32 at high speeds...

"although the steering does shake when im slowing down from 150 + but im pretty sure thats just the rotors needing machining"

wouldnt that be the abs?

[342NV]

abs?

hope not..

i went to a tyre shop and they told me that its a rotor problem :S

[uncouth32]

hmm... i have got weights as well and has been balanced twice already... so i believe i have done what you have done too.. but still no change. as my tyres were brand new with the rims, i cant justify changing it after only 2 months aye...

[NZM.031]

if you can feel it pulsate through your foot, or it shakes under braking, its your rotors.

you really shouldnt be doing 120 anyway and i would always say that to a customer when they complained of a noise or shaking at anything over 110... as there is no legal place to test these speeds, its not up to the workshop, if its correct to 110 then hes done his job, anything over and its your problem.

cheap tyres that have been flat or have been pinched on a gutter, etc can have irregularities with the sidewalls and cause a wobble.. tyre pressures can too... do you have a slow leak?? could be a buckled wheel that has had the gutter rash repaired.

swap the fronts to the back.. if it still does it, its a steering problem, if it stops, its a wheel problem.

i have seen wheels balanced before the tyre goes on, with the weights placed on the tyre side of the rim, that would stop it hitting on your brakes, but not as effective.

cheers

Linton

[russky]

"you really shouldnt be doing 120 anyway and i would always say that to a customer when they complained of a noise or shaking at anything over 110... as there is no legal place to test these speeds, its not up to the workshop, if its correct to 110 then hes done his job, anything over and its your problem."

Unless someone takes it to the track...

[s13_Skyline_inside]

i can understand where the shop would come from if they said this but id be pretty shitty as well if my wheels werent balanced properly for a track day, if they are balanced spot on then no matter what speed you do it shouldnt vibrate, but then again im like that, other guys at work get them nearly right and say yeh she'll be ok but i take pride in my work so i get them spot on,

on the other hand tho its a real pain in the ass to balance wheels when the customer doesnt want weights to be visible on the outside of the wheel like with a pair of gtc's

Edited January 23, 2009 by s13_Skyline_inside

[rtune]

there is balancing and balancing.

Do they have road force balancing machines here? they are more advanced, they run the tire on a

roller simulating the weight of the car, and they can advise if a tire needs to be rotated

on the rim, and finally, they will pass or fail the entire rim and tire as balanced within high tolerance or unworkable

(for example if the tire has an issue due to curbing or whatever, or the rim is really bad).

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/features/how.cfm

I think if there is a wobble at 120kmh+ there is a wobble at lower speeds as well, just your steering

and suspension is absorbing it.

[russky]

Spot on also means avoiding legal action for negligence if there is a crash (unless stated in the terms of purchase that balancing is done for up to 120 km/h speeds). Any other lawyers want to comment?

[uncouth32]

*stressed* im gonna see if there is any way i can get new rubbers on the car soon and see if that will remove the vibrations... but till i do so, next time im on a cruise, im sticking to 120km/h then.

[R.3.2.G.T.R]

try rotating the wheels as suggested, will confirm whether its the rims/tyres or steering problems.. maybe also get pedders suspension check ($20-25 odd) done incase its bushes or like

[uncouth32]

will rotation be okay when im running 215 on the front and 235 at the rears? will definitely drop by pedders and see what they can do about it. cheers mate! hmm, do you think 215 shitty tyres on the front could very well be the cause if the vibrations?? anyway, will try the rotations and a check at pedders and see how it goes. *sigh*

[blind_elk]

Before forking out for new tyres - how much were those "no-names" anyway? - get the tyres turned around on the rims, then swap sides (ie L->R) so the tyre still rotates in the same direction.

[NZM.031]

its also very hard for the workshop to create a clay masterpiece if they are working with shit, so to speak.

if you had just forked out for a set of good quality volks, brand new off the boat, and then got them wrapped in some very expensive high quality rubber, the mans job would be very simple.

if you've given him some cheap, worn rubber, on old beat up rims, or even cheap new rims, then he can only do what he can do.

are your volks new or second hand?? are they volks?? ive seen lenso's that someone put a volk logo in the centre caps.

and it will be ok to go down your street with the wheels swapped around.

if youre taking it to the track, then take it to a proper suspension place... or someone that atleast deals with other race cars and fitting semi slicks, etc.

also... one more thing.. look at it from his point... heres a guy, who wants his wheels balanced.. for speeds over 120km as he's going to the track.. yet he has cheap, mismatching tyres front and rear, and doesnt want to spend money for 4 good tyres, of a reputable brand... unless its a beat up drifter.. that story doesnt add up.. if you rocked up with 4 semi slicks to be put on lightweight rims... he might think different and put some effort into it.

again... 110 is the max limit.. so why on a cruise will you be just sitting on 120??

and in all the money your going to spend on going here, going there, turning the tyres around, etc. you may aswell just buy 2 brand new, QUALITY name tyres.

[scathing]

its also very hard for the workshop to create a clay masterpiece if they are working with shit, so to speak.

Or if they are shit.

again... 110 is the max limit.. so why on a cruise will you be just sitting on 120??

You can do 130km/hr on the Stuart Highway in NT. I'd rather find out about potential issues near a metropolitan area than in the middle of the desert. Just because the OP isn't going now doesn't mean he might not go in the future either.

I wouldn't specifically go ask for a "130km/hr alignment" if I were to go again, because I'd (mistakenly) assume that the shop did their job properly in the first place.

If I had some workshop tell me that they'd only work on my car up to the posted speed limit I'd assume they were either incompetent or negligent, and trying to deflect attention away from the fact. If it isn't physically possible to do it then fine (and the tyres he's named are both shithouse and mis-matched, so I'd be inclined to believe it was a hardware issue), but if the mechanical components are capable of doing something with the right setup and the workshop didn't then its a fault with their workmanship or attitude.

If people can't "legally do more than 110km/hr", why would the government bother to explicitly state in the ADR relating to tyre fitment that its speed rating must be higher than the car's possible top speed? Surely you should be able to legally drive any car with tyres rated to 110km/hr if that's your only concern.

If an organisation as dense, and willing to hide behind legal technicalities, as the government understands that you need to ensure all your support components are in place and capable of exceeding the legal speed limit if the vehicle can then so should people who apparently have an interest in cars.

Edited January 27, 2009 by scathing