Vibrating steering wheel

MooShop

My gf told me about a problem she had going to work in her 06 focus on Monday. She said once she hit about 100kmp/h that there was a very bad vibration up through the steering wheel. Coming home from work Monday and going to work Tuesday, she didn't feel it again but coming home from work on Tuesday she reported the same problem again.

So, I had a look at it last night, admittedly not knowing a whole lot about cars! I checked all tyres for any bulges or visible degradation, nothing of note I could see, they all looked good. I checked all wheel nuts and all tight and secured OK. Then I took it for a spin myself.

Since she said the problem occurred around 100kmp/h, I drove it fairly hard down the road, was driving really well and had no issues. On the return trip I decided to keep it at 100kmp/h and after about 2km the steering wheel started shaking, after a few seconds the whole steering column started shaking violently, seemed to worsen as I slowed. Once driving slower towards home it was OK again. I pulled in and checked the front wheels and noticed the front passenger side alloys and nuts were extremely hot, far too hot to touch, whereas the front driver side was fine.

So from this I'm assuming it could be a seized/partially seized caliper or possibly a warped brake disc? I think I would rule out a bearing as there was no screeching noise you'd expect if a bearing was on the way out.

As stated above, my knowledge of cars wouldn't be great so looking for some advice/opinions on here. Also could anyone recommend a good garage to go to to have this checked out, preferably South Dublin (Sandyford area).

PN14

Any chance she would have been driving in muddy conditions lately?

May be that med accumulated on inside of wheels and when it dried fell off unevenly causing vibration. This used to happen a bit at work when on building sites. Take off wheels scrape off mud from inside of wheels so both sides are the same and vibration gone. Used to only affect cars at a certain speed range above this or below this very little vibration.

Could also be one of the weights they use for balancing the wheels could have fallen off causing an imbalance and then vibration.

As in your own post sticking/warped brakes etc could also be issue but u'd have other issues reduced MPG, burning, smell at end of jorneys.

bear1

Could be a wheel bearing, the tracking could be off, wheels may need to be balanced.
You could have a suspension issue also.
The reason the alloys were hot was because as you stated you were driving it hard so the wheel area will heat up. Ever go through a puddle and notice steam coming form the wheels?
Does the car make any noises apart from the vibrations?

DubDani

Could be a buckled tyre. I had that a few weeks back. Slight vibration in Steering at first, getting worse at higher speeds.

Took the tyres off found one that was buckled. Hardly visible, but I could feel it when running my hand over the tyre. Changed the tyre and all was gone.

CiniO

For me it looks like seized brake calliper on the passenger side.

It blocks, keep braking when you are driving, and probably as disc is bit warped it causes vibrations.
Once it heats up from constant braking, effect is worsened.

I would rather exclude tracking as a reason as unaligned/untracked wheel don't cause vibrations.
I would also exclude wheels imbalanced, as if this was the case, it would always vibrate at certain speed - you say that's not the case, as you've driven at 100km/h and it didn't vibrate.

Wheel bearing - possibly it might be gone as well, but hard to tell.

I would start looking at caliper and brake disc on passenger's side.

The Bishop Basher

The alloys and nuts shouldn't get hot, even when driving hard.

Sounds like you've diagnosed the root of the problem..

Can't recommend anyone in the Sandyford area but any decent mechanic should be able to check the caliper and un sieze it or replace it if needed. If it is the caliper you'll also need new discs and pads on the front.

MooShop

PN14 wrote: »

Any chance she would have been driving in muddy conditions lately?

No, the car is only driven on main roads really.

bear1 wrote: »

The reason the alloys were hot was because as you stated you were driving it hard so the wheel area will heat up. Ever go through a puddle and notice steam coming form the wheels?
Does the car make any noises apart from the vibrations?

Well considering it was only one wheel that was extremely hot, I'd rule this out. All the other wheels were slightly warm, as you'd expect from driving but the problem one was red hot. No other noises apart from the vibration.

CiniO wrote: »

For me it looks like seized brake calliper on the passenger side.

It blocks, keep braking when you are driving, and probably as disc is bit warped it causes vibrations.
Once it heats up from constant braking, effect is worsened.

I would rather exclude tracking as a reason as unaligned/untracked wheel don't cause vibrations.
I would also exclude wheels imbalanced, as if this was the case, it would always vibrate at certain speed - you say that's not the case, as you've driven at 100km/h and it didn't vibrate.

Wheel bearing - possibly it might be gone as well, but hard to tell.

I would start looking at caliper and brake disc on passenger's side.

Think this may well be the issue alright.

Could it be sorted without having to replace disc/caliper? What sort of cost would we be looking at it they needed to be replaced?

Thanks for all the replies guys!

MooShop

Swanner wrote: »

The alloys and nuts shouldn't get hot, even when driving hard.

Sounds like you've diagnosed the root of the problem..

Can't recommend anyone in the Sandyford area but any decent mechanic should be able to check the caliper and un sieze it or replace it if needed. If it is the caliper you'll also need new discs and pads on the front.

Thanks, any idea of what that might cost?

The Bishop Basher

I'm not sure about Focus parts but imagine you'd get front discs and pads for under €100 and fitted for a bit more.

You may need to throw in a new caliper but they can usually be unseized and reused.

Have you tried jacking it up and turning the wheel by hand ? Is there any resistance ?

Does the pad rub off the disk at one point in the rotation or all the way round ?

MooShop

Swanner wrote: »

Have you tried jacking it up and turning the wheel by hand ? Is there any resistance ?

Does the pad rub off the disk at one point in the rotation or all the way round ?

No I didn't try this at the time. She is going to take it to a garage near us after work tonight to see what they say and we'll take it from there.

Thanks for your advice!