Hi to alls
There are slight vibrations in the steering wheel of my 1964 Jaguar MK2, which is equipped with power steering that works very well.
What could be the cause of these vibrations ? Wheel imbalance, Tire issues, Wheel alignment, Worn steering components, Engine vibrations ??
What is the most common cause of such vibrations
Thanks for your advice.
Regards
Gérard

 

The first (and easiest) place to check is the state of the tyres: bumps, blisters or separation of the tread or some other cause of out of roundness. Roll the car forward after the first look as the fault might be where the tyre touches the ground. If the car has stood for a long time, flat spots can develop on the tyres, but they usually go away after driving a few kilometres. After that, check the wheels are running true and have the wheels balanced. Generally, Mk2s are not nearly as sensitive to wheel imbalance as some other cars of the same era.

 

I agree with Peter, have the tires / wheels re-balanced first.

 

true story...

bought a nice, used 2007 british sports car a few years ago. the original(!) tires had all flat-spotted due to sitting for several years. so i bought a budget set of new tires and had them professionally installed and balanced.

at any speed over 60mph the steering wheel would begin to shake. it was an unacceptable shake and would not decrease as speed was increased. i took it up to about 100mph, which was as fast as i was willing to go.

i tried everything i could think of to find out what the problem was. rebalancing (several times), re-aligning, i even bought a couple of used front wheels and had one straightened (unnecessarily as it turned out). this went on for almost a year.

eventually i took it to a tire shop with a "Road Force" balancer that applies weight to the tire similar to that while driving. he called me an hour or two later and said the tires weren't round enough for his machine to work properly. so i bought a decidedly non-budget set of Pirelli tires....THAT fixed the problem.

so i'm now of the opinion that new tires, can be so out-of-round these days so as to cause unacceptable vibration at legal speeds. at least that's what i've taken from this experience. or maybe i should say that i'll be avoiding BUDGET priced tires on any sensitive sports cars that need new tires.

 

Do you have wire wheels or steel wheels.
Steel wheels are easily balance correctly at any tyre shop but wire wheels need a set of cones to balance them correctly. It is down to the way the edge of the wheel sits against the edge of the balancing equipment. Wire wheels need to be set on the cones to make them run true.
https://www.flexolite.co.uk/products...42mm_hubs-sbc1

 

Following up on Cass' question on the wire vs. steel wheels. If wire wheels, I would check for broken spokes and make sure the spinner is good an tight. If you can jack the front of the car, can you wiggle the wire wheel. The splines on the hubs and wheels can become worn to the point where the wheel wiggles around a bit.
At what speed to you feel the vibration? In my experience, an out of balance wheel will not be apparent until you reach something around 55mph/90kmph. Unless it is very much out of balance, it will shake the most around 70mph/120kmph. A bent wheel will usually rock the wheel back and forth and be most apparent at lower speeds (20 mph?).
Old tires could also be internally failing with belts breaking.
I would start with a competent tire shop.

 

My experience with modern tyre shops is that they have little or no knowledge of balancing wire wheels and do not have the cones to do the job anyway. I purchased a set of cones several years ago which I take with me whenever I have the wheels balanced and I have to explain how they should be used. I have several friends with classic cars with wire wheels and they all borrow my cones when they need their wheels balanced.

 

If the ideas mentioned above don't help, it may be worth checking the toe. Excessive toe-in can cause front wheel and steering instabilities.

 

Hi to alls
Thanks for the advices.
Questions :
How to choose the cones matching with the wire wheels features ?
How to be sure that theses cones will mount on the balancing equipment (in France for instance) ?

Regards
Gérard

 

There are two sizes of cones for wire wheels. 42mm cones are for smaller wheels fitted to the MGs, Healy's and Morgan's. The larger 52mm cones will fit all the Mk2 Jaguar derivatives.
At my tyre shop they have two wheel balancing machines and unfortunately the machines have two different sized spindles so my cones only fit one of the machines. I just hope they do not upgrade this balancing machine in the near future to one my cones do not fit. Once you have the cones just go to the tyre shop and see if they fit. If they do not move on to the next until you find a shop with a machine with the right sized spindle. Balancing machines are pretty universal so you should find one they will fit.