wheel balance or wheel alignment, or something from left field, solved and sorted :)

unfamilia · April 3, 2006

went for a nice weekend away down the freeway... well what a mistake.... at 90kms an hour there was a shuddering throught the front wheel (passenger side).

after driving 500kms i noticed the new tyres only on that wheel had lost those little nipple things from new... all other 3 still had them.

Went to the local bob janes and watched him do a 4 wheel balance and all were spot on... no buckles or anything...

for the drive home i swapped the front wheels to the back and the shudder was still present... and the other near new tyre lost its nipples from the front passenger side tyre.

Now normally i would assocciate a shudder with a balancing... but i have booked in for a 4 wheel alaignment on wednesday... the car has only 16000 kms on it.. i thought it could be the toe or the front passeger side wheel is out of alignment..

any thoughts?

Edited November 7, 2006 by unfamilia

Northy · April 3, 2006

is there any reason that you cant post in the right section....

unfamilia · April 3, 2006

maybe because i thought the wheel and tyre section was stictly for wheels and tyres, not suspension issues or looking for peoples opinions

my apologies but it was a touch and go decision where to post.. different forums have different rules.. now i know for future reference..

a bit harsh on your comment though. I know how you queenslander hate us mexicans

rolla02 · April 3, 2006

since putting the 17 x 7 on i have not driven down the freeway... well what a mistake.... at 90kms an hour there was a shuddering throught the front wheel (passenger side).

Have the new wheels got Hub Rings ??? :(

Ask Bob Janes.

Try putting your old wheels on and see what happens. :)

It won't be you alignment that is the problem.

Just my 2c worth.

CTS03 · April 3, 2006

went for a nice weekend away and since putting the 17 x 7 on i have not driven down the freeway... well what a mistake.... at 90kms an hour there was a shuddering throught the front wheel (passenger side).
after driving 500kms i noticed the new tyres only on that wheel had lost those little nipple things from new...

It could result from brakes, most probably the handbrake. My experience has been described in the UK forum:

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=48913

unfamilia · April 3, 2006

well i have had the smell like burning pads once in a while... i dont drive the car much as my other half drives it daily...

The rim are using the hub rings...

will check the rear handbrake this week but hopefuly its just an alignment issue..

If its the rear pads and rotor, i reckon toyota will void the waranty claim due to now non standard wheels and tyres (sold the stock ones, ugly hard to clean things.)

leasaunce · April 3, 2006

this is abit off topic,

do they normaly test drive after the wheel alignment???

(cause i went to couple of different shops to do my wheel alignment, and only K-Mart took it for a Test drive and DAMN! they took it about 10mins with my AC on )

Conquest · April 3, 2006

this is abit off topic,

do they normaly test drive after the wheel alignment???

I don't know if it's common but the last place who did mine took it around the block a couple of times, guess it was a pretty major job since the steering wheel was at 90 degree lock while the wheels pointed straight ahead.

Wheels don't like going over gutters But in my defence it wasn't my fault, some old lady ran a red light and shunted me into the kerb...

unfamilia · April 5, 2006

well, was the alignment as with thte new wheels, the offset change and wider tyres accentuated an existing problem with camber and alignment in front passenger side... all good now.

Handbrake also checked, a bit loose not tight or engaged.

All done for free! Got to love knowing tyre guys and mechanics.

CAP · April 5, 2006

For a balance there's no need to test drive the car but for a wheel alignment it's best they do, to ensure it is in fact centred and doesn't pull left/right when driving straight.

unfamilia · April 9, 2006

well has all been fine till i was driving today... wobble came back after a run down the freeway, did what i had to do then driving back it came back at 100kmh.... this has me baffled now.

Any sugestions?

Conquest · April 9, 2006

Just a guess but if it was driving fine earlier then maybe you've lost one of the balancing weights.

rolla02 · April 9, 2006

well has all been fine till i was driving today... wobble came back after a run down the freeway, did what i had to do then driving back it came back at 100kmh.... this has me baffled now.

Any sugestions?

Try putting your old wheels on and see what happens.

ChArMs_RT142 · April 10, 2006

Since this topic is up i want to find out something im having a prob with.

Recenlty i got new tie rod ends for my corona the mechanic had to do 2 wheel alignments!?! for some reason i still have a problem with the steering it drifts to the left and also when i go around a corner and correct steering it still thinks its turning then it corrects its self does anyone get what i mean ?

Can it be fixed?

BigBum · April 11, 2006

Since this topic is up i want to find out something im having a prob with.
Recenlty i got new tie rod ends for my corona the mechanic had to do 2 wheel alignments!?! for some reason i still have a problem with the steering it drifts to the left and also when i go around a corner and correct steering it still thinks its turning then it corrects its self does anyone get what i mean ?
Can it be fixed?

Was the problem occuring before you got the new tie rods? Because I used to have this problem too due to uneven tyre wear on the inside of the tyres. Maybe check your tyres.

ChArMs_RT142 · April 11, 2006

Since this topic is up i want to find out something im having a prob with.
Recenlty i got new tie rod ends for my corona the mechanic had to do 2 wheel alignments!?! for some reason i still have a problem with the steering it drifts to the left and also when i go around a corner and correct steering it still thinks its turning then it corrects its self does anyone get what i mean ?
Can it be fixed?
Was the problem occuring before you got the new tie rods? Because I used to have this problem too due to uneven tyre wear on the inside of the tyres. Maybe check your tyres.

No it wasnt a problem with it the mechanic just told me to get new ones coz the rubber was worn ;)

i changed a tyre which was worn on the inside but not the out side! on drivers side is abit better but not like how it used to be .b4 i could let go of the steering wheel and it go straight not it wont lol

unfamilia · May 5, 2006

well the headaches are gone...

have had the rims tested and no buckles or anything... they are ture and straight, even the hub face was 100% flush.

Took the car to a race car suspension specialist as toyotas answer was "it must be the mag wheels, that means its not covered by the waranty".

Turns out since new my rear torsion bar rear end was incorrectly installed at an odd angle making the rear push to the right. the rear camber is +1 on one whell and -1 on the other, can be fixed with non standard metal camber discs as a permanent fix, have just adjusted until the disks come in, now only +1 still and +0.2 on the other.

The front end was just as bad, toe in on one wheel and toe out on the other... the last wheel alignment i had done did not pick this up as it was an older machine, but did pick up the camber issues on the front.

The last alignment also made the steering wheel crooked as it was a 2 wheel alignment, it needed so much adjustment that the steering wheel went to 1/4 right (at least that explains why wheel shuddered more when turning left at high speed).

After all this the nice set up guy explained 2 of my 4 tyres had a manufacturing fault... same batch number compared to my other 2 which are from a newer batch number.... they are not 100% true!

2 tyres have 4-5 mm variance in their circular pattern causing highs and lows in the tread pattern...

This causes similar conditions to a flat spotted tyre and kicks in at 80-90 kmh and gets worse at higher speeds.

Contacted the tyre shop and they will be replaced by the manufacturer at thier head office, as they are worried that the 2 tyres are from the same batch number...

They have said either a full new set or just 2 that are affected. May even be reimbursement for all my wheel alginments but i dont care about that as toyota couldnt even bolt the thing tgeter right in the first place.

It pays to check everything but it always pays to pay an expert to solve your problems if you cant.