Wedge Steering wheel wobble at 55 mph TR7

[Got_All_4]

I haven done much to track this down but at 55 mph I get a steering wheel wobble and it goes away around 60. Put the car up and pulled and poked at the bushings and wheels and couldn't get anything to move. Rotated the wheels thinking maybe out of balance. Exactly the same. What else should I look for?

 

[tdskip]

I think this is fairly common actually. Very narrow mph vibration that then goes away. Others will weigh in here. (for the record my TR8 doesn't do this but I remember reading about it)

 

[TR3driver]

I'd look for the hubs and/or brake rotors to be out of balance or not running true. If you call around, you might be able to find a shop that can balance tires on the car (but I wouldn't bet on it).

Don't have a wedge, but on my TR3 I have found brand new rotors that were badly out of balance, plus both old and new hubs that did not run true.

 

[bnw]

55 is usually a tire balance issue.

 

[DanB]

Yes, the infamous TR7 wheel wobble. Some have fixed by having tires balanced, some by replacing wheels, others have never been able to completely get rid of it. There are several threads on the TR7 forum, www.triumphTR7.com, that are totally devoted to this problem. I have heard of machines that balance the wheels and tires on the car and that might work. There may be something about the wheels being hub centric instead of lugbolt centric that makes it necessary to mount the wheels a specific way. I am not really sure about any of it. My car is broken right now (engine) but it has the wobble but I have not worked on fixing it yet.

Dan B

 

[tr8todd]

Here is the list of possibilities. Wheel balance, warped hub, wheel bearings, wheel bearing/hub retaining nut loose, tie rod ends, steering rack, ball joints, loose/worn subframe bushings, lower control arm bushings, out of round lower control arm mounting holes in subframe, loose sway bar, bad sway bar bushings, missing clamps on sway bar, damaged strut tube or top mounts, steering column bushings and knuckles. I'm sure there are other possibilities, but these are the ones I see over and over. 45 MPH shimmy is notorious on TR7s TR8s, BMW 2002, 320i, Ford Capri, and every other car that used the sway bar as a lower A arm locator for the lower control arm.

 

[Got_All_4]

I rotated the tires thinking / hoping that if the problem went away that would be the fix. Still exactly the same. I did pry around put the car up and down and watched the bushings and could not produce any movement. The wheel bearings are tight.
I was told years ago about harmonics in the 14" wheels. Going to 15" or larger wheels is suppose to cure that. Anyone hear of that? Not that I want to do that ether.
This is now going to take some time. As of today I have one of those ski boots on my right foot for a broken metatarsal. Would like to get it done for the TRF party coming up soon. My son is comming home for a day this weekend and we can poke around some more.

 

[Dale]

My TR7 did the same thing. When I finally had to get new tires mounted and balanced, it went away and hasn't returned.

 

[Got_All_4]

I use to use Michlen XZX on my wifes 240 Volvo. Always had problems with the belts shifting. Tire tread looked great but the tires were shot. Rotate the tires and streight as an arrow it goes. I stopped using them and never had that problem again. So you can be right.