Damn. Bent something

[audinary]

I've been dead careful in the snow, not careful enough, though.

I "found" the kerb on my way home in ridiculous Essex snow last night, steering felt fine afterwards so I thought I had got away with it.

However, negotiating my way to work this morning, above 45 mph theres a serious oscillation from the front n/s, which causes the front passenger seat and the rest of the car to vibrate badly. It's more of an oscillation than a vibration, not the sort of thing you'd get from throwing a balance weight or similar.

******. Means I need to spend money.

I'm hoping I've just bent a wheel or something. The steering feels fine, the geometry looks ok without going under the car and probing further, and you only notice it above 40.

I'm hopefully getting it on the ramp later and looking at it with a Mercedes-Benz Teknishun (sic).

Any pre-emptive ideas? Cheers.

 

[jcb]

if it is not a steering issue and just a speed related balance issue you may have bent the wheel enough to throw it out.
I had a MIM's alloy that on the surface looked straight but it had actually had the rim bent off the plane of the hub so it went round with a wobble.

worth getting the wheel balance checked before you start paying for 4wheel geometry.
most places will check it for free or biscuits for the boys if you go to the lower end of the tyre fitter market (Budget/National etc.. the shiisters at KwikFleece took £18 off me to remove and refit a tyre, the chaps at National did four and balanced them all for £25!)

 

[audinary]

Cheers JCB, firstly my heart goes out to you on your current car problems, hope it all starts looking up soon. And thanks again to take the time to share other peoples woes to! That's why I love this forum.

I must admit that bent rimmage was the first thing that occured to me, and will be good news if it's the case, I still have ye-olde corroded Avuses as spares, and a replacement wheel should be eBayable.

I would say that a bent rim feels the most likely to me. The chaps here suggested a lost balance weight, but I'm pretty sure that would cause a higher frequency vibration than I have.

Even better, I can put it on the wheel-balancer in our workshop, they owe me a few favours....

 

[audinary]

Well, can't see anything untowards under the car.

Span the wheel up on the balance machine to see how true it is... and it isn't. It's not bent locally but the whole wheel has a noticebale buckle. I also noticed that there were no balance weights, so have sorted that out, gratis and for nothing.

Haven't road tested it yet, just about to do 20 miles home on the a12, but I'd be very suprised if the balancing has done anything.

Looks like I'll be swapping wheels over for a bit.

 

[S4twiggy]

its a t*&t when this happens thats why my car has been parked up for a while, no matter how good the quattro is it will still slide so kept her grounded for a bit. hope its summin simple to fix.

who's praying for rain and sun??? lol

 

[DEEJAY TQS]

very true but the quattro system is a big bonus in this weather, but all cars have the same contact points on the road and will still slide ,4wd or not, mine has got me out of the s**t a few times when other 2wd vehicles have got stuck,think i might start charging people for toeing them out, we have had about 6inch of snow today, and there is no sign of it stopping,its still coming down heavy now

 

[jcb]

it does make me laugh when I drive past X5's and Vulva XC's struggling up a snow covered incline!

still watch those kerbs!!