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Steering shake

PaulHere

PaulHere

PCGB Member
Member
After having new front tyres fitted I'm now getting steering shake between 60 and 70mph - I've had my front wheels balanced three times (at two different places) and it's not cured it - it was rock steady before.

I'm wondering if it could be a mix of worn suspension and steering rack components and/or worn suspension causing it rather than imbalanced wheels?

Does this sound reasonable?
 
I've now owned a 924S, a 968 and a 924, and common to all of them was a virtual impossibility to fully get the wheels balanced. All of these cars had some elemnt of wheel wobble, no matter how many times I tried to get them balanced. Exactly why this should be so is another matter of course, but I suspect that this range of front engined Porsche cars are simply hyper sensiteive to wheel balance.

You might have more luck with "on-car" balancing, although its more expensive, and you have to remember to mark the wheels so they always go back on the same way. It eventually sorted the issue (well almost) on my 968.

JH
 
Paul, didn't you mention in last PP that you fitted some 'old' tyres out of your garage after some track day running? Might that be a problem.

I know that in theory if they're balanced that should be fine, but maybe they're not running true when you get to 60-70mph (I wonder what rpm - and hence road speed - they balance wheels at???)

Phil
 
Paul,
did they use an air wrench,because it is possible to tighten up one nut too much and make the wheel run out slightly.You could have a slightly eccentric new tyre but it could equally be the front wheel bearings just need adjusting.

Regards,
Colin.
 
Paul, you have hit the nail on the head with the suggestion about wear in the ball joints and bushes. The bushes were the only thing I never changed on my 240,000 mile 924 lux, and it used to shake so much that my fillings rattled, between 70 and 85 so naturally I suffered the shaking.:ROFLMAO: Remember that when the vehicle is raised the suspension is forced to deflect more than normal to raise the wheel, and this could be the last straw for "Y" reg suspension bushes.

My latest Turbo, whilst high in milage (176,000) has obviously been well maintained in this respect, as it doesn't suffer from wheel vibration to any noticeable degree; the suspension is taut, the steering is pin sharp. In fact it's better than my other Turbo (64,000) which has all its original components, and feels slightly more spongy. To comment on another post about pulling to the left, it doesn't do that either.

One other thing to contemplate; with the light alloy that Porsche use for their wheels, is it possible that the rims are indeed being distorted during tyre fitment either on the tyre changer or as 'Vitesse' suggests, by the great big hairy air wrench. BTW Porsche alloys (infact all alloys) should be tightened initially by hand brace and then torque wrench. The Le Mans and the Turbo wheels should be 90lb/ft. I am using 90 lb/ft for the Boxster S wheel fitted to the Ebay special. The driver's hand book should give figures for the 8 spoke wheels.
 
I've been meaning to replace my 924's bushes for some time, in a last desperate attempt to cure the shake & rattle. Must get round to it, that steering shake has been there for ages [:mad:]
 
Thanks to John H, Phil, Collin, John B and Dan for posting - it's given me a few things to think about [:)]

The first thing I'm going to do is see if the tyres I had fitted are seated on the rims properly.
Then I'm going to buy myself my own torque wrench and re-do the bolts - I found that they air gunned them in and only used a torque wrench when I enquired about it [8|] My owners manual says 'for light alloy rims 94 ft lb'
Next I will buy some 'Advanced polyurathane suspension bushes' that are in the latest and very useful Porscheshop catalogue (page 19) they are listed as: (for the 924 2.0)

-Front lower wishbone inner rear bush £9.40 ea
-Front lower wishbone inner front bush £11.60 ea

I presume I need 2 of each.
Will I need to get the car on a service lift to replace these, or can I do this myself?
I also have no idea if my car has a front anti roll bar! If it has they also do a:

Front anti roll bar outer bush 24.5mm £9.80 ea

In fact a tracking alignment also wouldn't hurt.
So much to do!

[:)]
 

ORIGINAL: 924nutter

......... it used to shake so much that my fillings rattled, between 70 and 85 so naturally I suffered the shaking.:ROFLMAO: .
Click to expand...

...or got through the 70-85mph zone and out the other side as quick as you could [;)]

Phil
 
The 924 should have an anti roll bar, but it is thinner than the turbo, 20mm o.d. springs to mind. I think the 24.5mm bush is for the turbo. I can still get anti roll rubber for my series one turbo which has a different roll bar connected to the wishbone by a drop arm each side, so you ought to be able to get the bush from an OPC if you can't get one in P.U.
 
ORIGINAL: pae
ORIGINAL: 924nutter

......... it used to shake so much that my fillings rattled, between 70 and 85 so naturally I suffered the shaking.:ROFLMAO: .
Click to expand...

...or got through the 70-85mph zone and out the other side as quick as you could [;)]

Phil
Click to expand...


many a true word spoken in jest [:D]
 
Who, me, officer?
ORIGINAL: danmason


ORIGINAL: pae
ORIGINAL: 924nutter

......... it used to shake so much that my fillings rattled, between 70 and 85 so naturally I suffered the shaking.:ROFLMAO: .
Click to expand...

...or got through the 70-85mph zone and out the other side as quick as you could [;)]

Phil
Click to expand...
...or got through the 70-85mph zone and out the other side as quick as you could
Click to expand...

many a true word spoken in jest [:D]
Click to expand...
 
Had a word with a chap at a ATS garage today and chatted to him about mt sterring shake problem and he said it was likely to be my driveshaft - or more specifically a worn universal joint.

Is this worn UJ likely to make my steering shake?
 
It's worth checking that you are getting a full "dynamic balance".

Most of the machines do both static" and "dynamic" ~ the former being much easier for the operator to do.

"Static" makes sure that the wheel is balanced radially only ~ ie it's not heavier at any point (like the vavle). You add weights to correct this, but on either the inside or outside rim. It will make sure the wheel doesn't try to hop up and down as it goes along.

"dynamic" also looks for imbalance across the rim ~ "wobble". This obviously demands that you put weights at both inside and outside rims as necessary. If they don't have good stick-on weights they won't risk going near the outside rim.
 

ORIGINAL: slim_boy_fat

ORIGINAL: 937carrera

I suggest you stop talking to your chap at the ATS garage..........He thinks your car is FWD [:-]
Click to expand...

PMSL
Click to expand...

PMSL Stephen? I've run this through google and still have no idea what this means [:)]

ATS recommended I go to a place called PTS (which sounds like thier performance centre) apparently they have a rolling road.

I've now invested in a torque wrench and will be making sure the bolts are tightened just so in future [:)]
 
Paul,

PMSL = P155ing My Self Laughing. More here http://www.artinet.co.uk/support/help_chatabs.html

........and now they are recommending you go to a place with a rolling road to check front wheel balance ? I'm afaraidI wouldn't use them to clean my windscreen [:-][:-]

I have a very similar problem on my roadgoing 924GT. The first area I will check is to make sure that the front hubs are not distorted or have anything between the rear of the wheel and the hub face. I had a similar problem on the 2.7RS race car a few years ago.

Good that you've bought a torque wrench, they are so cheap now in comparison to when I started working on cars
 
I cant believe the bloke at ATS thinks there are drive-shafts on the FRONT wheels. Perhaps he thought it was the new 911 and you reversed in!
 
The ATS man could have a point.There is a small universal joint connecting the steering column to the rack and this does wear.So the normal "shimmy"that is generated by road surfaces can be exagerated by play in this joint.Forgot about that in my other contribution.
 
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