Front end vibration gurus

Discussion in 'Technical' started by Roadeater, Oct 4, 2012.

  1. Jordz

    Jordz Fashionably Late

    Dunno if anyone has suggested it yet, but it might be the tyres or rims. Have you had them changed recently?
     
  2. Brock32

    Brock32 Active Member

    Ok what about aerodynamic factors?

    Take off your 'gorgeous' front bar and go for a drive.

    If not then try and change your wheels and tyres... :)
     
  3. Medallion Man

    Medallion Man New Member

    right, its worth checking this if you have spacers.

    I don't know what your previous or current front rims are but mine are after market and need a 5 mm spacer (they came with the car) and is not hub centric, this causes a slight vibration because its difficult to get the wheels perfectly alighted on the hub (because the spigot rings don't reach).

    I can get them just right if I'm careful but after any heavy breaking the vibration comes back..
     
  4. Roadeater

    Roadeater Warrior of the Wasteland

    Valuable point, yes, I am running 5mm spacers until I get my brake upgrade (they clear larger brake setup but not stock). These are specifically machined to 5x114.3 tolerance. Here is the kicker:

    Exactly the same vibration without the spacers on the previous set of rims.

    I'll start with the bearings.
     
  5. geron

    geron National Petroleum Equipm

    Had same issue with stock rims about 4yrs ago. Used to think it was bearings or something wrong with suspension. Checked everything including wheel alignment and all good...

    Long story short, It ended up being as simple as TYRES out of round.

    Front were almost new Falkens. Somehow they became out of round and car used to vibrate at 110kms. Filed a customer complaint with Jax tyres. They informed me that they were aware that these tyres don't balance very well and had informed the manufacturer earlier.

    Concluded that we need to go to a better brand of tyre.

    So moved the Falkens to the rear and fitted the BFGOODRICH to the front. Problem GONE.

    What I learned from this exercise is when purchasing the cheaper branded tyres there's the risk of out of round problem. I thought in this day and age you have got to be kidding me, but there it is.

    So from that point forward, I have used Michellins (wifes car), Pirelli (yes on my daily KE Laser) and BFGOODRICH. Next i will use Pirellis on the Z.

    The Laser had a BIG vibration problem. Changed to Pirellis from Jax Tyres and this car, honestly, is silk on the road at any speed, just like the Z is now.
    Recently fitted another two Pirellis on the Laser at the front and just perfect. No on car balancing, no special treatment. Just a simple balance.
    For the Z in the future, I will go with Pirellis. BFGOODRICH are also very good.

    Will never use DUNLOP tyres. Vibration issues have been verified with a close friend who had Dunlops and changed over to Bridgestone Potenzas. Vibrations gone.

    Peter

     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2012
  6. beaver

    beaver southern zeds

    If the

    front bearings were worn enough to cause a vibration through the steering column, they would be making quite a racket, enough for you to be able to hear them imo. I doubt its the bearings, could be, but a long shot.
     
  7. michandy

    michandy Active Member

    one more idea

    I had similar with mine, Have you checked your camber?. mine was just the regular saggy 20 year old springs, so I put front and rear camber arms on and set to about "0" camber problem went away.
    Worth a look. Hope this helps, Andy :cool:
     
  8. Roadeater

    Roadeater Warrior of the Wasteland

    I will probably get yelled at for writing this, but...

    Long story short; I've changed camber arms on one side of the front (rears done too) but I got lazy and haven't yet done the front left because I was waiting on parts (6 weeks so far from AMS :mad:). I have the AMS front camber arm ready to go in, I should get my ass off the couch. Maybe the front left is the problem? :confused:

    Worth a look. Thanks Michandy!
     
  9. black baz

    black baz black 'n blue Bazemy

    you are BEARING up very well, Roadie ...... stick with it ...

    but, please, do not BEAR your rear end ....
     
  10. Roadeater

    Roadeater Warrior of the Wasteland

    Plenty of that going on yesterday while I worked over every facet of camber/ride height adjustment, a plumber had nothing on me. :rolleyes:

    ...AND THE WINNER IS:

    MICHANDY!

    My thanks to all who took the time to actually read my posts and offer relevant advice. :rolleyes: No, seriously, thanks to everyone for the help.

    Adjusted cambers all round to within a bee's doodle of each other and drove to work this morning vibration free!
     
  11. kakaboy

    kakaboy New Member

    I think you need hub centering rings . If you have aftermarket wheels the centre hole is probably bigger to accomodate many hub centre sizes . The problem is the wheel doesnt get centred due to not fitting onto the hub centre properly , being oversized .

    I got some rings made up for an ELgrand I had and all goodafter that :D

    or not :p
     
  12. Roadeater

    Roadeater Warrior of the Wasteland

    Alrighty, you may also be onto something there, kakaboy. Off the record ... I "may" have also installed some hub centric spacers with a raised centering ring. So a combination of factors, possibly?

    At the end of the day there is absolutely no vibration now, I'm frik'n chuffed! :D
     

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