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Hi, on my partners focus, her steering wheel will tend to shake a bit when driving at speed, she had the balancing done a while ago but it didn't help. Could it be a buckled wheel? If so, how can I check which one needs doing?
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It could be a buckled hub, or an unbalanced tyre if they're a cheapo make.
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When you say hub what do you mean?
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The hub is the part the wheel bolts to. Unlikely to be the problem I think, although it could be a suspension bush. If the wheel is buckled it would have shown up when you had the balancing done and hopefully the technician would have said something if it were that bad. Have you had the rears balanced as well?
Edited by Chris M on 19/02/2009 at 21:26
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I'm not saying it is, but it could be a caused by one or a combination of the following.
Wheel not circular.
Tyre seating diameter of wheel not concentric with pitch circle diameter of mounting holes.
Tyre tread not circular.
Tyre tread diameter not concentric with bead diameter.
Loose lump of rubber inside tyre.
Any tyre fitting depot worth their salt should be able to test for wheel and tyre inaccuracies and advise you accordingly.
Edited by L'escargot on 19/02/2009 at 23:09
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It could still be down to balancing, take it back to where you had the balancing done and ask them to look at it.
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I had a wheel on my old Focus that was buckled badly enough to make the steering wheel shake at certain speeds. You'd be surprised just how many garages missed it and it wasn't deemed bad enough to fail the MOT either.
Jack the car up one corner at a time, give each wheel a spin and see if the tyre looks circular as it spins.
The distance between the back of the front brake disc cover and the inner edge of the wheel is roughly a hand's width so if it's buckled on the inside edge like mine was, you should also be able to feel any flat spots by carefully putting your hand into the wheel from behind and a bad flat spot should be obvious if the wheel doesn't spin freely and catches on your hand as it turns.
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Thanks for the advice, ill get it to the tyre place and get it checked out. Only had the fronts balanced as yet
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All sorted, I closely checked all the tyres and also took it for a spin (I don't usually drive it) Three of the 4 tyres were pretty bad, front left was worn down alot near the limit and the back two were not worn as bad but the sides were so perished that I could bearly read the brand etc. The front right was near new
During the drive it was pulling to the left so went down the tyre palce, Got new tyres, Full tracking and balancing and its now completly cured.
Thanks for the help
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