-
Hi Guest!
You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
There are some perks with a member upgrade!**Upgrade Now**
(PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
Wheel wobble
- Thread starter Morris
- Start date
Share this page
tomshobby
Yoda
Offline
I agree, unless it would be a shimmy from loose steering components, a wobble as the wheel rotates would have to be from the tire, wheel, or hub.
Wobble while driving or wobble on the wheel?
If wobble is on wheel when you spin it, isolate the problem and check the run out on hub.
in SA we had a shop selling lookalike minilites , problem was first batch had a pcd of 100mm and since the wheels don't center on the hub but on the nuts it meant that unless you were really lucky most of the time you had a bit of a runout.
another story on my side, I fitted larger studs but did not have time and so got someone to do it. They did not do it on rotary table and just drilled the existing holes larger for the new studs, needless to say you cannot just drill a big hole bigger in a drill stand , thus I have a vibration now at 60 mph.
If wobble is on wheel when you spin it, isolate the problem and check the run out on hub.
in SA we had a shop selling lookalike minilites , problem was first batch had a pcd of 100mm and since the wheels don't center on the hub but on the nuts it meant that unless you were really lucky most of the time you had a bit of a runout.
another story on my side, I fitted larger studs but did not have time and so got someone to do it. They did not do it on rotary table and just drilled the existing holes larger for the new studs, needless to say you cannot just drill a big hole bigger in a drill stand , thus I have a vibration now at 60 mph.
Offline
My two cents: I had a wobble/vibration between 45mph and 70mph on my TR3. Checked, changed, and adjusted just about everything, including changing the tires and rebalancing.
Then discovered the wheels themselves had a "sideways" wobble: raise the wheel, spin the wheel, and hold finger pointed to about 1/2" from rim. As it spins, watch the wheel move "in and out" from the finger, showing the wheel itself was bent at the hub. Fifty plus years of hitting curbs and chuck holes had bent those original steel wheels.
No way to fix it safely. If you heat the wheel to straighten the bend, the steel is weakened.
New wheels - problem disappeared.
Tom M
Then discovered the wheels themselves had a "sideways" wobble: raise the wheel, spin the wheel, and hold finger pointed to about 1/2" from rim. As it spins, watch the wheel move "in and out" from the finger, showing the wheel itself was bent at the hub. Fifty plus years of hitting curbs and chuck holes had bent those original steel wheels.
No way to fix it safely. If you heat the wheel to straighten the bend, the steel is weakened.
New wheels - problem disappeared.
Tom M
Lets just start, what do you mean with wobble? can you see the wheel move side to side when you spin it or do you feel it when you drive? i.e. how did you isolate the passenger wheel.
have you tried:
swap left and right wheel and see if wobble moves to the other wheel, if it doesn't then we know it is on the hub.
I assume you have checked that there is no play in the bearing or tie-rods, i.e. grab wheel at 12 and 6 and if there is play then normally bearing, play at 3-9 normally steering related.
Is the steering arm still tight on the hub, steering rack tight on it's brackets?
Can you check if there are any runout on the huh, axial and radial. I've used a very simple method where I tape a pencil to trestle and put it against the hub , turning it I could see whether the point stop touching. you will have to do it on the wheel mating surface (flat surface of the hub - maybe between the edge and studs and then check that the studs are concentric, i.e. get the pencil / gauge to touch the side of the stud and see if they are the same distance from the rotating center.
Are you running drums or discs?
Also check that the mating surface is flat, could it be that one of the bolts holding the disc is actually standing proud?
have you tried:
swap left and right wheel and see if wobble moves to the other wheel, if it doesn't then we know it is on the hub.
I assume you have checked that there is no play in the bearing or tie-rods, i.e. grab wheel at 12 and 6 and if there is play then normally bearing, play at 3-9 normally steering related.
Is the steering arm still tight on the hub, steering rack tight on it's brackets?
Can you check if there are any runout on the huh, axial and radial. I've used a very simple method where I tape a pencil to trestle and put it against the hub , turning it I could see whether the point stop touching. you will have to do it on the wheel mating surface (flat surface of the hub - maybe between the edge and studs and then check that the studs are concentric, i.e. get the pencil / gauge to touch the side of the stud and see if they are the same distance from the rotating center.
Are you running drums or discs?
Also check that the mating surface is flat, could it be that one of the bolts holding the disc is actually standing proud?
OP
Morris
Yoda
Offline
There is both play at 12-6 and 3-9. The car rides smoothly for the most part. There is just a vibration around 60 mph. It's the play at 12-6 and 3-9 that concerns me the most. I have replaced the bearings, hub, tie-rod ends, king pins, and bushings. I have swapped wheels and tires around (I rotate them every oil change).
Offline
OK - now try the "finger point" test I described earlier. You still haven't checked if the wheel itself is bent.
Tom M.
The wheels on my '69 Sprite are slightly out of round, even when put on a balancer. Most of the time this is completely imperceptible. However, when two of the wheels get into sync with each other, I'll start feeling a wobble. Eventually as you go through turns and one wheel goes faster than the other one, the wheels lose their sync and the ride smooths out.
There should be no play in 3-9 or 12-6 position, I think you have a wheel bearing problem, Are you using the normal ball thrust bearing with the spacer in between or angular contact bearings. I suspect that at the given torque the bearing are not pre loaded as required so your bearing nut might be bottoming to early?