Vibration at Speed

[decgraham]

Hi All,

We went away for a classic car rally trip to a few Paradors around Barcelona last week and had a major problem after travelling 200 Kms. I was getting serious vibration through the steering and the car was vibrating. I stupidly drove over a low curb a couple of weeks ago so I think I've done some damage that didn't show up until a long high speed drive. It drives fine at 50 / 60 Km/h but the faster I go the worse it gets. In fact it got worse as the journey went on, and I had to drop my speed down and down. After driving around 550 Kms when we arrived at the Parador in Vic-Sau I decided to call for a Gura (car transporter) to take it back home, first time the car has let me down in 24 years :sad: I'm waiting for it to be delivered as it had to go on a big car transporter as the small Gura will only operate within a radius of 200Kms. It was sent to a car depot to be loaded with other cars. The only good thing was my Insurance covers the transportation. I checked online and the cost from Barcelona to Denia would have been €760.00.

If anyone has an idea of what the problem might be I'd appreciate the input. Once I've got the car back I'll get it up in the air and check the rear end as I think that's where the problem is.

ATB

 

[Slayer]

Possibly it needs wheel realignment after the curb incident?
Sorry to hear this and hope it gets fixed without any major issues :thumb:

 

[Gwsinc]

Hard to say without seeing it but if simply a vibration it’s unlikely to be anything too serious. If it’s coming from the front and getting worse over time and speed, then could be as simple as wheel weights slowly falling off, a misshapen tyre or worst case the bearing is going after impact.

Anything bent or ripped bushes etc would probably result in a more consistent issue with steering problems as well as vibration.

Should be reasonably easy to diagnose with car in the air.

 

[AndyS]

This happened to me a long time ago..... turns out it was a de-laminated tyre.
We couldn't see anything wrong when on the car, but we jacked the rear up and spun the wheels at speed and you could see the gap between the tyre and arch changing while shining a torch into the gap.

Once the tyre was deflated and off the rim it was clear as mud!

 

[Pickled Piper]

Damaged tyre and or bent wheel. Shouldn't be too difficult to diagnose.

 

[decgraham]

Well I think the problem is solved. Thanks for the pointers guys, much appreciated. The rear tyres are cream crackered. The LHS is worse that the RHS. Had I got the LHS rear off I would have seen the problem. The problem was the jack kept slipping and I was knackered after removing 3 wheels. I have now bought a decent scissor jack which sits on a nice square base.

New set of tyres ordered and will be fitted in a couple of days. Then its off for a spirited drive and fingers crossed all is OK.

While the cars up in the air I'm checking everything at the rear end.

So my car didn't let me down.... it was the tyres :lol:

ATB

 

[AndyS]

Wow - well that’s a bit like mine was, but a lot, lot worse!
That must have been shaking your fillings out

Glad you found the issue though.

 

[Leosayer]

Glad it's the tyre and not something else. That first pic is scary.

 

[decgraham]

Hi All,

Just to close this post, I had new tyres fitted yesterday and then took the car for a "spirited drive" all back to normal, no vibration at "speed" happy as Larry. :lol: Set of tyres a lot cheaper than a gearbox

ATB