Hi there all...
New to the site, Had a few jaguars over my time, Currently have a 2007 S-Type 2.7D with only 69000 miles ;-)
It has 19" XF alloy wheels and 245 40 19 tyres...
Im getting a steering vibration after 60mph ((and its not un balanced wheels)) had 3 different sets and still the same...
Ive read that INNER TIE RODS can cause this? they look and seem fine but?????
Any ideas?

 

Yes, I have a bit of a hunch - a friend in Austria has the same issue with his S-Type, but he has not solved it yet - but he thinks along the same line as me, because I had this issue with the X-Type I bought in Sydney/Australia: At speeds above 85km/h (your 60 miles/h equals 96km/h) everything was shaking. No, it was not unbalanced wheels, That X-Type 2.1L is a FWD - I swapped both front drive-shafts for new ones, this solved the problem. If it would have been sufficient to just swap the bearings of those shafts (in case they are available separately), I will never know. So my hunch is that it might be your rear drive shafts (as the S-Type is RWD)...

Cheers, Peter

 

Could be a whole host of things. Steering vibration is usually caused by the front axle and body vibration from the rear, so I wouldn't give up on the front end just yet. A bit more information would be helpful though. Was it OK before and it has suddenly started? Has anything been changed recently? Is there any new damage from say hitting a pothole etc. I would be looking for a damaged tyre, buckled wheel, damaged or worn suspension or simply out of alignment first.

The other thing that wouldn't suit me are the XF wheels which usually have a noticeably different offset (about 49 mm vs. 60 IIRC) which might amplify problems as the scrub radius changes from how the engineers wanted it to be. The tyres also have a slightly greater diameter than the S-Type was designed for. Pirelli says:

The behaviour of the car may also change: increasing the tyre diameter will obviously raise the chassis height and the centre of gravity as a consequence, with the direct effect of increasing roll and oscillations.

Might not be a big hitter but the CoG is now 0.5" higher. another change in the wrong direction.

 

It would be prudent to check and make sure that the rims are true and have not been slightly bent by contact with a pot-hole or curb. A slightly bent rim can transmit vibration the mimics an out of balance wheel...

 

Thanks for the reply’s.. ok it was exactly the same with 3 sets of wheels, all been balanced etc… but I will have to say it’s marginally better with the XF wheels on, yes they do have a much lower offset which is what I wanted, fill out the arches more… nothing has been changed though, everything looks and feels right at the front but again I have heard even the slightest of wear on the inner tie rods it can cause a vibration…

 

Inner tie rods pretty much never seem to come up as problems on these cars, so I wouldn't hold my breath on that one but you never know. I guess it is an easy change. The lower suspension arm (C2C39683) maybe more commonly found to be worn. Also, a sticky caliper is something to check for.

Is the alignment correct? Is there any uneven wear patterns on the tyres. Without starting from a correctly aligned car, searching for problems is tricky. It might just be the alignment.

 

Consider the front wheel bearings, too, if all else checks okay.

On my '02, one of the front wheel bearings was starting to make a little bit of noise. I replaced both sides, which took care of the noise, but within a couple of months I noticed a slight shimmy in the steering wheel. Never had that before. Nothing else obviously bad in the front end, so I plan to replace the bearings again in the near future. Can't say for sure yet if the new bearings were the cause, but the timeline seems suspect.

 

thanks for that, will give that control arm a very good prodding,,, think the bearings are ok but will have a tinker with them too...

 

Ps would it not be easier to replace the whole hub/bearing assembly? You can get a pair for about £120.00….

 

That is the usual route. The part numbers are here: https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.../brand/jaguar/

 

Here is a crazy idea...: I was just removing my wheel and putting it on again (to check the torque again on several nuts after I just removed everything - the relevant bit here: I did remove the brake disc) - and there are those 2 "locking washers" , which are kind of securing the brake disc,. You do not find those washers in other cars. It is very easy to loose those and forget about them... Thus the question is: Do you still have your 2 "locking washers" on every wheel? If not, it is imaginable that the lack of them may cause the wheel to be mounted slightly out of centre... - well - maybe... If you lost those "locking washers" check on the net for "bearing retaining ring" - I found them that way, and I will order some cheap, as I replaced them myself... If that if the cause for your problem, it would be an easy fix...
Cheers, Peter
PS: Just found even better washers with the term "Lock Washers Internal Tooth"...

 

Update: Because I lost a few of those "lock washers internal tooth" I ordered now some, but not generical: I found (after a long search), the originals - at least I am fairly sure, that those are the parts: Quite expensive, Ford parts, they are called Febi Bilstein clips, has lots of part numbers, one of which is 18399. The price is madness - it was AU$45 for 10 (incl. postage, which is half of the cost). Cheers, Peter

 

Those clips are nice to have, especially on cars with big discs as they hold them in place while trying to get a heavy caliper back in place with new pads. They don't act as a true locator so it won't make any difference to balance or vibration.

AU$45 is a bit painful. I added exactly those Febi-branded ones to one of my recent parts orders and they are about AU$0.65 each here!

 

@neilr: When I search for those Febi-clips all over the world, I also saw some in Germany - and I just checked again: Either (like many many German business) they refuse to ship anything to a location outside of the EU, or there was another German seller, who asked for AU$40 postage to send 10 clips. On the other hand - for all I know - it is meanwhile kind of impossible due to import-form-filling-harassment and import-taxes to get anything from outside of the EU into the country... Sad world! I am originally from Germany by the way...

 

Have your wheel road force balanced. The machine wilt measure wheel runout and tell you how well the wheels are balanced. Balanced on other bslancers doesnt always get you good enough. Also they will tell you the how much out of balance you are. Anything over 25lb will give you a wobble at high speeds. I had this problem and was rebalanced several time with two sets of tires but it still wobbled. Then I got road force balanced and saw my wheels were warped. These tires are such a low profile the bend easy. Also one another car I have regular balancers never worked but the road force guy got it first try. I only use road force balancing for all my cars now

 

Yeah I’ve heard about that roadforce balancing, I’ve been trying to find a place around near me that does it ((unsuccessfully so far)) I’ve changed one of the wheel bearing assembly’s so far… drivers side… corr they certainly corrode themselves in there so I’d say only a matter of time before it was due replacement anyway as the bearing grease was almost non existent… passenger side next time…

 

About the balancing of the wheel, WHILE the wheel is on the car: Yes, I heard about it too, but same here in Australia: Could not find anyone, who does it - but that was 2 years ago, when I had that problem with the X-Type, and in hints-sight that wouldn't have been the solution anyway... (it was the frt drive shafts on the FWD X-Type)
I assume when you talk above about having swapped the wheel bearing, you mean the rear wheel bearings? I just replaced the front ball joints (on my S-Type), hence I had the frt, wheel hubs in my hand anyway: One of them was hardly turning at all. I sprayed WD40 in there (by the sensor opening) like mad and then I turned the bearing high speed by holding an angle grinder with a wire-brush onto it. Then I drained it all all that rusty fluid (WD40 with rust from the bearing) and filled it again with WD40 - about 4 times. then I drained it again and used a syringe to put ball bearing grease in there. It's definitely better now.

 

@ wilcoes1984
Have you solved your vibration problem meanwhile? I have another idea what the issue could be. 2 questions first: Do you still have those original "Febi"-washers, which came with the car when it was new and which I mentioned above (2 for each wheel)? And where do those 19" rims come from? Are they officially signed off as being suitable for the S-Type?