Help with suspension

[95GTST]

Hi guys,

Having problems with my steering wheel shaking at 80kph and anything over 120kph. It's been happening ever since I got my new rims and tyres (235x45R17).

I took into a mate of mine, who used to work for Pedders, and now has his own business. He seemed to think it needing a wheel balance.

I've had new Whiteline adjustable radius rod bushes installed and a Whiteline rear control arm (upper) adjustable camber kit waiting to go in. It's got a front strut brace fitted & pineapples fitted, otherwise has stock suspension.

I've had several different workshops/tyre joints re-balance the rims and everytime they said they're fine. Also had an on-car balance done and it was all good. The only thing I couldn't do was a 4 wheel on-car balance.

I've had the Pedders suspension check and spring test done and it came up fine.

Will the rear camber kit fix the problem?

Anyone with some more suggestions would be much appreciated, as I don't want to keep hurting my baby.

Kyran

[NZM.031]

what rims did you get??? maybe they are warped or buckled from the factory. also do you have new or second hand tyres?? maybe they have an egg in them.

a mates 180 does that too, its got a sloppy steering rack though.

get someone to wobble the steering wheel slightly while you look under there for any steering parts that have movement in them. all parts should be tight, and move together as one, if one moves a bit before moving the next component then it can cause dramas.

these are annyoing problems to develop and could be a number of components.

good luck champ

cheers

Linton

[Vishel]

Similar problem here. Get a vibration over 100km/h after fitting new rims and tyres (18x8's with 225/40's). Wheels have been balanced three times and alignment done twice, all good. Have been doing a bit of bit research on various forums but I have not found any definite answers. Like NZM.031 says there are many components making up the suspension. The original, worn-out suspension rubbers are probably having trouble coping with the bigger, often heavier, wheel. You will have to get under there and look for excessive play. I found that my tension rod bushings are leaking and I will change these out within the next two weeks. Vibration at speed is also a sign of worn shocks. The standard shocks are good for about 60000km. Again, the worn shocks could be having trouble controlling bigger, heavier wheels. I found someone with a similar problem on a 300zx forum. His solution related the centre hole diameter of the wheel. Basically, the weight of the vehicle should rest on the centre hole of the rim, not on the studs. Most aftermarket rims are made to suit a variety of cars and have quite large centre holes. This means that the weight of the car rests on the studs. Apparently this can cause balance problems. Switch back to the original wheels and see if this solves the problem. I have sold the original wheels so I can't test this theory. Start by eliminating the easy stuff. I've been slowly replacing worn components with new items but the vibration is still there. Eventually I will end up with a fully adjustable race suspension set-up but with my luck the shaking will still be there.

Good luck.

[Sydneykid]

Similar problem here. Get a vibration over 100km/h after fitting new rims and tyres (18x8's with 225/40's). Wheels have been balanced three times and alignment done twice, all good. Have been doing a bit of bit research on various forums but I have not found any definite answers. Like NZM.031 says there are many components making up the suspension. The original, worn-out suspension rubbers are probably having trouble coping with the bigger, often heavier, wheel. You will have to get under there and look for excessive play. I found that my tension rod bushings are leaking and I will change these out within the next two weeks. Vibration at speed is also a sign of worn shocks. The standard shocks are good for about 60000km. Again, the worn shocks could be having trouble controlling bigger, heavier wheels. I found someone with a similar problem on a 300zx forum. His solution related the centre hole diameter of the wheel. Basically, the weight of the vehicle should rest on the centre hole of the rim, not on the studs. Most aftermarket rims are made to suit a variety of cars and have quite large centre holes. This means that the weight of the car rests on the studs. Apparently this can cause balance problems. Switch back to the original wheels and see if this solves the problem. I have sold the original wheels so I can't test this theory. Start by eliminating the easy stuff. I've been slowly replacing worn components with new items but the vibration is still there. Eventually I will end up with a fully adjustable race suspension set-up but with my luck the shaking will still be there.

Good luck.

It is ESSENTIAL that the wheel centres match the hubs, you can buy inserts (donuts) that fit into the rims if the centre hole is too big. Go to any decent tyre service and have them measure the hub and the wheel centre. It has been my experience that 99% of the time, running vibration is due to wheel balance or off centre wheel location on the hub. I have only found 1 or 2 cars that have had other causes, tailshaft out of balance or bent drive shaft/axle. And that is most unlikely on a Skyline, those components are very over engineered.

Braking vibration is usually due to warped disks, but obviously you only get that when you put your foot on the brake pedal.

[95GTST]

Thanks guys, I'll pop into my local bridgestone dealership and get them to check it out.

[r33GTS-t-200kw]

I had exactly the same problem. Got new tyres and asked for a 4 wheel alignemnt. Problem solved, no more shaking and its solid as a rock at high speeds. I think my rear wheels were a fair way out of alignment as the before and after data sheet showed alot of changed from before and after alignemnt. If that makes any sense.

[race_snooze]

I am having the same problem anything over 70kph the car shakes, problem was found to be buckeled rims (rays volks 18") will be getting them fixed this week sometime, $140 a rim

[Vishel]

SydneyKid, cheers for the help mate. Had some rings made up for my car, the wheel is now centered on the hub but still no luck. The vibration is still there. My next step is to change the worn tension rod bushings and get the rims checked and balanced again.

[mik78e]

could be the offset of the wheel, check it out again whether it suppose to be on lines or not

make sure you did a great job of wheel balancin

[LittleB]

Hi guys,

Having problems with my steering wheel shaking at 80kph and anything over 120kph. It's been happening ever since I got my new rims and tyres (235x45R17).

I took into a mate of mine, who used to work for Pedders, and now has his own business. He seemed to think it needing a wheel balance.

I've had new Whiteline adjustable radius rod bushes installed and a Whiteline rear control arm (upper) adjustable camber kit waiting to go in. It's got a front strut brace fitted & pineapples fitted, otherwise has stock suspension.

I've had several different workshops/tyre joints re-balance the rims and everytime they said they're fine. Also had an on-car balance done and it was all good. The only thing I couldn't do was a 4 wheel on-car balance.

I've had the Pedders suspension check and spring test done and it came up fine.

Will the rear camber kit fix the problem?

Anyone with some more suggestions would be much appreciated, as I don't want to keep hurting my baby.

 

Kyran

Hi there, sorry to drag up an old thread but I recently purchased new rims and tyres (235x45R17) - same size as yours - and I have exactly the same problem!

I have had balancing and alignments done as well as the plastic hub inserts installed but still have that annoying steering wheel vibration.

I found your thread via search as I would like to find out if you managed to resolve the issue. It is annoying the crap out of me.

[Sydneykid]

Hi there, sorry to drag up an old thread but I recently purchased new rims and tyres (235x45R17) - same size as yours - and I have exactly the same problem!  

I have had balancing and alignments done as well as the plastic hub inserts installed but still have that annoying steering wheel vibration.  

I found your thread via search as I would like to find out if you managed to resolve the issue.  It is annoying the crap out of me.

I had the same problem on the Stagea, brand new tyres, standard rims and it had noticeable shake from 90 kph and quite bad at 100 kph. Took it back to have the tyres checked, all was OK. Still shake, shake, shake. I put up with it till I had to do a trip to Melbourne and back in 3 days. Enough was enough.

So I took it to a friend of mine who runs a huge tyre shop and we tried the wheels on 3 different balancers. All 3 showed different results, but 2 were pretty close, so we used them. Back onto the Stagea and no shake since.

My best suggestion is to take it back to whoever balanced them last time and ask for them to be checked. If you can find an on car balancer in your area maybe give it a try, they will pick up any fitment issues.

I have had the same problem with other cars, so it's not a Skyline problem. Hop onto any specialist car forum and you will always find some guys with vibration

problems.

[LittleB]

YAY! Happy news! I took the beast back to the tyre place and they performed an 'on-car' wheel balance (front wheels - left wheel was out so they 'rotated it on the hub') and VIOLA! - the vibration has gone.... HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!! Hope this helps all other peeps with 'bad' vibrations