hosrom_951

Could a front wheel bearing cause vibrations in the steering if EVERYTHINg up in the front is new (except tires but balances at Pirelli)? Does the steering shaft have any bushings or need any replacements in its life? because right now, im suspecting the steering shaft since everything si changed.

Laust Pedersen

Wheel vibration is caused by imbalance (static and/or dynamic), out of round tires or bent rims. Bad bushings and/or connections don’t create and only amplifies the vibrations.
My point is that it may be worthwhile to find and correct the actual source of the vibration.

It is my experience that many tire shops have outdated balancing equipment and some don’t even know how to fully utilize their own equipment.

In other words, shop around for a really good tire shop with good (new?) equipment and knowledgeable people.

Laust

Danno

Front-end vibration has always plagued these cars. Some samples more sensitive than others. Some people have found that balancing the wheels on the car was the solution. This takes into account the brake-rotor and lug-nuts as well..

hosrom_951

Like i said earlier, the front passenger side wheel bearing is new, but needs to be adjusted. ALL new struts, mounts, bushings, seals, tie rods, control arms, rack, hoses are new (except pads, disks and tired are 1 year old). i will shop around to find a GOOD wheel balancer (tire shop), but i just wanted to make SURE that its mostly tires/balancing related.

Laust Pedersen

A good check question is to ask the tire installer to tell you the difference between static and dynamic balancing.

Static imbalance is the tendency of the heaviest portion of the wheel to go slowly to the bottom (when the wheel is freely rotating on an axis).

Dynamic imbalance is best explained by a disc not being perpendicular to the rotation axis. It can be perfectly static balanced, but at speed it will wobble.

Out-of-round is obviously a tire/rim combination not being totally round or concentric with the rotation axis and is easily measured. It can also be corrected by shaving off some of the tread. A certain amount of out-of-round is tolerated (I don’t know how much).

If there still are balancing problems then measure the out-of-round on the car, since the hub and/or rim features that ensure concentricity may be damaged.

Balancing on the car, as Danno mentioned, will detect all of the above in addition to disc, hub, bolt and nut imbalance. Although it may be a little difficult to debug where the problem lies using this method alone.

Laust