Firstly I would like to say a big "HELLO� to everyone as I am a newbie!
Aaarrrrr I hear you say but please no instead channel you thoughts into this…Mainly a track car my pride and joy has developed a steering wheel wobble between 75-90mph. I noticed it on route to Donnington a few weeks ago. After flying off on the Craner Curves that day at 90mph (I didn’t lift, honest) and ending up in the gravel I thought it wise to have the wheels realigned and balanced. I also added 1 degree of negative camber to the front. Unfortunately on my last outing the wobble is still there although the front end grip is noticeably better. My first mechanical mod on the standard car worked, very chuffed indeed!
I must also confess to not only being new here but only buying my Exige in July and actually only taking up track days this year…Yes I�m that new and with a limited mechanical knowledge to boot but I�m one of you now and I�m willing to learn. I totally love my car, it�s the nuts so if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated. Good to be here�����������
Presume you are running Yoko A048’s as ‘wobble’ is typical for these tyres assuming balancing ok although a wobble throughout a 15 mph range seems a little unusual. Most peeps seem to get it at 85 / 90 mph. Dealers seem to be turning a blind eye to it however guy on Elise Talk had his tyres dealer changed after doing 1000 miles.
kimbo
Another one here Both on the Exige and with the VXR I had before, although it seems to vary a bit depending on the road surface. Sometimes (albeit rarely) I don’t get it at all. Why the 048s do it when I’ve never experienced it with any other (properly balanced) wheel/tyre combination I have no idea.
Another one here Both on the Exige and with the VXR I had before, although it seems to vary a bit depending on the road surface. Sometimes (albeit rarely) I don’t get it at all. Why the 048s do it when I’ve never experienced it with any other (properly balanced) wheel/tyre combination I have no idea.
The tyres are not perfectly round. Like Pesky my replacement r888’s do not present the same ‘problem’.
If the front wheels bolts are over tightened it can cause a high speed vibration retorque to 79ftlb…I had this vibration on my my car and after re setting tq. never came back…
If the front wheels bolts are over tightened it can cause a high speed vibration retorque to 79ftlb…I had this vibration on my my car and after re setting tq. never came back…
Cheers Frank. Was going to give that a go then realised my torque wrench only goes to 80NM.
i find it very unliklely (bordering on absurd) that Yokohama would design a tyre that has this characteristic
unsurprisingly when I had my wheels balanced the shake (80-90mph) disappeared
make sure you have the rears balanced too as off-balance rears can present themselves via a shake in the steering wheel (that feels like the fronts are responsible)
the fix only lasts about 6 months for me then returns… haven’t been able to work that out yet…
i had wobble at about 65mph, when i dropped it into the garage for its service they noticed it as well, they got them re-balanced and its been fine ever since.
HTH
It is a tire issue. I had my wheels off and re torqued them without lowering the car much. I drove 450 miles in the last 2 days at 70 to 90 mph and my shake was gone. My tires are out of round with about 1/4 inch of runout so I do not expect it to remain perfectly smooth. Yokohama should be replacing out of round tires under warranty, has anyone pressed the issue with a Lotus or Yokohama tire dealer yet?
i find it very unliklely (bordering on absurd) that Yokohama would design a tyre that has this characteristic
unsurprisingly when I had my wheels balanced the shake (80-90mph) disappeared
make sure you have the rears balanced too as off-balance rears can present themselves via a shake in the steering wheel (that feels like the fronts are responsible)
the fix only lasts about 6 months for me then returns… haven’t been able to work that out yet…
happened on my n/a S2 and my current S
Well, Yoko obviously don’t do it on purpose! You don’t have to believe it, but the fact is that by changing to Toyos, the problem has disappeared for a number of peeps. The Yokos don’t do it when new, & re-balancing when worn often doesn’t cure it - neither does changing the bearings/ball joints/toe links, however, changing to Toyos does
Mmm interesting stuff Mr Pesky, the tyres (yep A048’s Kimbo) have only done about 1500 miles most of which have been on track days. To be fair they’re not too far off needing a “legal” road change (which I was advised to leave for better grip, never mind ) so for now I think I’ll go with the your advice and change to the Toyos. I’m off the road while having a few jobs done so next month it’ll be but as a point of consequence which give the better grip…Toyo or Yoko?
I had this problem on my old s2 exige with the standard wheels. You could balance them, take them off the machine, put them back on and they showed out of balance! The dealer also had bentleys and allegedly had a very expensive balancer for th bentleys, after balancing on this the issue disapeared. I later swapped to 888R and the problem never returned.
Gav