Steering wheel shaking above 50mph

Big Chris · 5 Mar 2013 at 21:34

Getting a fair bit of steering wheel shake/wobble around 50mph in my Mk1 Focus. The most obvious cause would be wheel balance, but I had two new tyres fitted and the wheels balanced in Oct last year and it's been fine since, until a week or two ago.

Nevertheless, I took it back to the place I had it done and they checked it over, the chap said one of the front wheels needed a tiny bit of attention but not enough to cause significant wobble to the steering wheel. He sorted it anyway but it hasn't made any difference.

What else could be causing this? I've tried heavy braking and it's not pulling either way which perhaps rules out warped discs?

jamoor · 5 Mar 2013 at 22:20

possibly dodgy discs or some bushing or something worn out.

Wizardskills · 5 Mar 2013 at 22:28

Could be a number of things. A pot hole could have knocked a wheel out of alignment or you could have a had a suspension bush fail etc...

Big Chris · 5 Mar 2013 at 22:32

I'm assuming these are all things I need to get checked pretty sharpish then? Are suspension/steering bushes expensive to sort if they are the culprit?

G J · 5 Mar 2013 at 22:50

The tyres are mishaped or oval? Seems abit suspect just after a tyre change.

Django x2 · 5 Mar 2013 at 22:55

Just because your wheels were balanced, doesn't mean they still are. Weights fall off you know. Hell, my wheels are massively imbalanced but that is because of severe kerbing believe it or not.

Spartacus · 6 Mar 2013 at 02:15

Django x2 said:
Just because your wheels were balanced, doesn't mean they still are. Weights fall off you know. Hell, my wheels are massively imbalanced but that is because of severe kerbing believe it or not.

Yeah, but he's already said he's taken it back and had the balancing checked again and it didnt fix the problem

K.C. Leblanc · 6 Mar 2013 at 06:33

Did they just check the wheel balance, or did they check the wheel alignment (tracking) as well?

Mr Jack · 6 Mar 2013 at 07:05

I assume you've checked your tyre pressures?

Big Chris · 6 Mar 2013 at 11:28

Tyre pressures are all bang on, that was the first thing I did. They balanced the wheel again they said was slightly out but didn't do the tracking this time although that was done in Oct last year when they fitted the two new front tyres.

However, there's a lot of wobble coming from the steering wheel and I've not hit any potholes etc around the time it started happening.

If this is steering/suspension bushes, is it dangerous to drive at the moment? What sort of ballpark are we talking to fix?

Imy · 6 Mar 2013 at 11:33

I had that issue on my MK1 Focus - it was a buckled alloy. Got it swapped to the back and was a lot less noticeable.

The Running Man · 6 Mar 2013 at 11:34

How bad is the shaking ? is it a slight vibration or more heavy than that?

Could be many things.

Big Chris · 6 Mar 2013 at 11:36

It's a pretty heavy shake, like 1/2cm either way and you can hear/feel the juddering in the car too.

I've not smacked anything or had an incident that could've buckled the alloy to my knowledge.

The Running Man · 6 Mar 2013 at 11:38

Sounds more than an unbalanced wheel unless the wheel was really unbalanced!

Id check that all the lug nuts are done up properly before u go anywhere on the wheels.

Id also take it to a mechanic and get them to diagnose it NOT a tyre fitting shop. Could be anything from knackered steering rack to bushes or wheel bearing tbh

Big Chris · 6 Mar 2013 at 11:50

It's booked in for an annual service end of this month, is this something I need to get checked asap though? Is it dangerous to drive potentially if it's steering/suspension bushes?

The Running Man · 6 Mar 2013 at 12:10

I can't say that it is or isn't serious but I'd get it checked out asap because you don't know how big an issue it could be...

robgti · 6 Mar 2013 at 14:33

I had the same problem and turned out to be one of the rear wheels was not balanced.

Vibein · 6 Mar 2013 at 15:16

I had this on a focus, new tyres, balanced and tracking all round fixed the issue.

Was a mismatch in tread on the rear tyres

Big Chris · 6 Mar 2013 at 15:28

2 new tyres were fitted in Oct of last year, all 4 wheels were balanced and the fronts tracked. The car has been fine since then until about 2 weeks ago. The balance has since been checked again last week and they only found 1 wheel to be slightly out, which they rectified but it hasn't solved the issue.

The tyres on the front match, as do the rears, and I've only done about 1k miles since Oct of last year. Tyre pressures are also correct on all 4 wheels.

DVD Cinema · 6 Mar 2013 at 15:43

It is possible their balancing machine is out, as I had this once. Though your wheels seem worse than a bit out. Have you tried swapping the fronts to the back?