intermittent steering wobble...
#31
So, if I understand this right, as you torqued up your wheel with the bad lug nut it would pry the wheel away from the rotor and would leave the wheel eccentrically mounted on the hub. The result was similar to the wobble from a bent wheel? How did this lug nut fail? Do you think it was over-torqued at some time or did it not match the others? I think I know how you feel now that you've solved your problem; Happy, relieved, but wishing you'd found it sooner! Just don't be hard on yourself about it taking so long to solve. Think about all the people that didn't see the problem and they're paid professionals. Congratulations!
#32
Lug nut did not fail. All nuts checked and same.
Somehow the mounting hole in alloy wheel became thinner/deeper by 1/4in.
So the end of lug nut put thru that faulty hole was sticking out 1/4in and pushed on the rotor, making round indentation and damaging it + making wheel unevenly torqued.
I still have no idea how this can happen. But it did....
Next time i take this wheel off i will make a picture of sticking out nut in faulty hole and picture of damaged rotor mounting surface.
ps. just checked, how many times i tried balancing wheels (and each time wheels was put on differently, ruining more and more rotors..).. It's came to 15 times in year of owning. Each time is about 40$. Darn.
Somehow the mounting hole in alloy wheel became thinner/deeper by 1/4in.
So the end of lug nut put thru that faulty hole was sticking out 1/4in and pushed on the rotor, making round indentation and damaging it + making wheel unevenly torqued.
I still have no idea how this can happen. But it did....
Next time i take this wheel off i will make a picture of sticking out nut in faulty hole and picture of damaged rotor mounting surface.
ps. just checked, how many times i tried balancing wheels (and each time wheels was put on differently, ruining more and more rotors..).. It's came to 15 times in year of owning. Each time is about 40$. Darn.
Last edited by Lynzoid; 07-16-11 at 06:54 AM.
#37
Hello guys. Just to append.
Turns out my problem was totally different. Well, stuff above about defective mounting hole is all correct, but...
I took my wheels off to replace brake pads last week, and after i put them back on wobble was back.
It was dreadful. Balancing didn't help (as usual).
Anyways, cpl of hundred buck and cpl of days later - the VERDICT!
Central holes is my alloys are worn to 60.55mm (instead of 60.1mm). This gap (0.45mm) wouldn't allow proper centered installation of wheels. Each time i took them off i had a gamble as how they will be mounted back on - centered or off-center.
Temporary solution - i took duct tape, measured thickness. Turns out i have to wrap it twice around hub protrusion to make this 0.45mm gap filled. Then i put on wheels and tighten them while still jacked.
Problem solved.
I will ask my metal shop to grind out some more metal from the holes and then make aluminum spacers.
That's it.
Had alot of ppl stumped around here.
Turns out my problem was totally different. Well, stuff above about defective mounting hole is all correct, but...
I took my wheels off to replace brake pads last week, and after i put them back on wobble was back.
It was dreadful. Balancing didn't help (as usual).
Anyways, cpl of hundred buck and cpl of days later - the VERDICT!
Central holes is my alloys are worn to 60.55mm (instead of 60.1mm). This gap (0.45mm) wouldn't allow proper centered installation of wheels. Each time i took them off i had a gamble as how they will be mounted back on - centered or off-center.
Temporary solution - i took duct tape, measured thickness. Turns out i have to wrap it twice around hub protrusion to make this 0.45mm gap filled. Then i put on wheels and tighten them while still jacked.
Problem solved.
I will ask my metal shop to grind out some more metal from the holes and then make aluminum spacers.
That's it.
Had alot of ppl stumped around here.
#38
I just.finished fighting with this problem on 2 gs400s both had 220k one was my wife's and one was good friend. We replaced ball joints.inner and outer tierods. Rack bushings. Control arm bushings still had shaking especially when you hit a change of pavement on the highway. It ended up being anworn out steering rack
#39
A round planar wheel once bent can never be made round or straight again. It is also risky to try and beat a cast aluminum wheel back into sort-o-round. You get micro cracks that can link up over time and cause a catastrophic failure. Find a ma & pa garage with a tire spinner and spin each wheel to make sure they are true. Take any rim you beat into shape to the junk yard. You can buy salvage rims that were taken off another car. The best dealers on these salvage rims won't accept anything that has been beaten into round. Get them painted to match and see if that doesn't solve your problem. Also, wheel offsets put huge stresses onto your axle shaft bearings that they weren't designed to handle so you may have prematurely worn them out. Lastly, bent wheels shake the crap out of bearings and bushings so getting straight wheels on your ride will prevent you from damaging what you have already "fixed". Make sure you personally visually check the rims for straightness. I had three chain tire stores tell me they were fine causing me to look for gremlins elsewhere only to discover that the jerks were lying to me. They never checked. They just slapped the tires on and got me out of their shop. The Lexus dealer discovered that 3 out of 4 rims were bent and that was causing my shimmy gremlin as I had originally suspected. It took them all day to confirm that was the issue. The mechanic was out of ideas and decided to re-check the supposedly checked rims. Problem solved.
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k311in
GS - 2nd Gen (1998-2005)
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03-30-09 12:11 PM