Shaky steering wheel

jayhassett89

So i have a fiesta mk4 (00 reg) and i noticed that when it goes 90kph+ the steering wheel is a bit shaky (not the whole car, just the steering wheel), now the owner i bought it off had a run in with a kerb so the tracking was off, i had that done and it rid most of the shaking, but still a little remains. Then i noticed the alloy on the left front (the one that hit the kerb) is a little bit bent in on one side, so its a tad out of shape.

Would this cause the issue, or was the tracking not done completely right?

Any ideas, maybe its just shaky at those speeds :P

cheers

Avns1s

Yes any buckled or bent wheel could / would cause the shaking.

You didn't mention if you got the wheels balanced?

Goreygal

I had this and was told by the tyre place that if tracking and rebalancing didn't work then that would mean the tyre rim was dented in some way and would need replacing ... a common "pot hole" injury so yes a kerb run in could do it.

In my case it needed both tracking and rebalancing and luckily that sorted it.

mgbgt1978

Put the buckled rim on the back of the car and if you still have the vibration then get the front wheels balanced.
Shouldn't be too expensive and should sort out the wobble.

jayhassett89

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

Put the buckled rim on the back of the car and if you still have the vibration then get the front wheels balanced.
Shouldn't be too expensive and should sort out the wobble.

That's a great idea, never thought of that, ill do that tomorrow and if it works there is a breakers yard that has cheap replacement alloys so I can fix the issue completely

Thanks for everyone's feedback, very helpful

sundodger5

if the wheel is buckled and it cant be cured by balancing then putting it on the back only masks the problem.
the unbalanced/buckled wheel will put extra stress on wheel bearings, bushes and suspension components.
a 14" wheel that is only 40gr out of balance puts the same amount of force as hitting the wheel with a sledgehammer at 60mph. thats why it shakes.

jayhassett89

sundodger5 wrote: »

if the wheel is buckled and it cant be cured by balancing then putting it on the back only masks the problem.
the unbalanced/buckled wheel will put extra stress on wheel bearings, bushes and suspension components.
a 14" wheel that is only 40gr out of balance puts the same amount of force as hitting the wheel with a sledgehammer at 60mph. thats why it shakes.

Wow, that's eye opening, did not realise that sort of damage could result from issue, ok I reckon ill change them around this evening so that the steering issue is resolved and then get a whole new alloy tomorrow