Hey everybody,
first thing is I read post about "shaky Steering wheels" from GLH (I think?) and also from PhilipB82. So a lot of what read would will be reduntant for me to explain my similar problem. After research rotors would be a best start.also sunday 7/31 I am getting my alignment done.

1) new tires april 2016 Shaky but reduced the amount shaking

2) checked rotor's, one side clean , back side extremely dirty (fingers were black).

Would the alignment be best first?

If I had to buy new rotors what would be the best kind.

finally I'm trying to find the best place for a oil change.

 

1. When you got new tires were they balanced?
2. How did you check the rotors? You pulled the wheels off to look at pads too?

Brakes are designed to wear out (all that energy has to go somewhere), so there's going to be lots of choices for pads and rotors. Are you a DIYer or are you going to pay a shop for the job? I recently did front brakes on my 2004; I bought Centric rotors and Akebono pads from Rock Auto for $185. Rotors on these cars aren't meant to be turned on a lathe - if yours are worn or warped replace them. Sorry for the sideways picture - took with my phone and can't figure out how to put it upright.

There are DIY videos on YouTube showing how to replace the front brakes. Here's one:

If you're doing this job yourself and want parts quickly then your local parts store can supply them. I think NAPA is a good choice. This is also a good time to flush brake fluid, a commonly overlooked step. Jaguar calls for DOT 4 fluid.

 

Cheeto, when you say that the steering wheel is shaking, is it only when you are braking, when braking and driving, or only when driving? If the wheel is shaking while driving (braking or not), then your problem is not the brakes but something else. The X-Type is definitely sensitive to having the alignment correct. Just a little bit off on the toe and it will shake to beat the band and make you go through front tires like you wouldn't believe (this will be noted by excessive wear on the inside edge of the tires). If this is the case, I would start with an alignment and see how things are. If this doesn't correct things 100%, then I would next get the tires road force balanced and also have the rims looked at to make sure that they are straight (the factory rims on the X-Type have experienced more than their fair share of bends which will lead to the wobbling).

If your steering wheel shake is only occurring when you are braking, then yes, brakes is where you want to start. When I did the brakes on my X-Type, I went with some PowerStop cross drilled/slotted rotors and some ceramic pads on all 4 wheels. Cost me under $200 for all the parts and did it in an afternoon with time to spare. I felt the braking improved slightly on the car, but it would give a slight whirring sound when braking either first thing in the morning or under hard braking (like, clear the seats of anything not buckled in place braking). But, I could live with the sound for the braking performance that I had.

One thing I swear by is the use of pad adhesive. It gets applied between the pad and the piston or pad and caliper. This ensures the pad cannot vibrate during use which is what leads to all the squealing that you hear some cars make. A cheap product and a simple 4 ounce bottle will last you the rest of your life (I'm going on 10 years, done about 20 vehicles and still have half a bottle).

 

hey thanks for the advice swinging and thermo

So thermo the shaking actually happens when I break at any speed, but also when I drive highway starting at 50 mph.

With the ties I had 2 cracked rims that were unable to hold air, So I was assuming that with new tires and rims they would balanced them properly. I could be wrong.

tomorrow I will get the alignment done and update soon.

 

If your rotors were dirty on one side I would say you have a sticking caliper or guide pins. Check this out.

And.

 

Cheeto, the steering wheel starting to shake at above 50 mph is a common issue with the X-Type. This is normally because of 1 or more rims being bent/oblonged. Just because the tech put a new tire on the rim and it balanced does not mean that it is round and straight. I had to specifically ask the shop to do a "trueness check" of the wheel, at which point I got a "you want what done to the rim?" It was at this point that they said they didn't have the tools to do that (kinda surprised me as I would think this would be a fairly basic check). we did end up proving that 2 of my rims were slightly bent by simply spinning the rim on the wheel balancer by hand and watching the rim move slightly. This is where a road force balancing machine will help correct for some of this.

While unlikely, but it is possible, you may even have a tire that was not installed properly. What I mean by this is every rim has a high and low spot. Tires are manufactured to account for this. There are marks on the tire to relate the high and low spots to the high and low spots on the rim. That way, you can put the high spot of the tire with the low spot of the rim. This will make the tire roll exactly circular, not egg-shaped.

You have 2 options when it comes to trying to figure out which wheel is your problem child. What you can do is to lift one end of the car off the ground (if not all 4 wheels at the same time) and then put the car into neutral (ensure it is properly blocked so it doens't move on you). From there, release the e-brake. Now, what you are going to do is to spin each wheel, watching the tread of the tire from both the side and inline. What you are looking for is the tire to not have a hump in the tread when looking at it from the side (you will physically see the tire move up and down) or the tread of the tire swaying side to side when looking at it head on. Do this to all 4 tires. Only the front tires will affect the wobble in the steering wheel, but this will give you an idea if you can move a straight rim from the back to the front. Having a wheel that is not perfect on the rear of the car will not affect how the car rides. You can then position the tires to put the most round tires on the front of the car to minimize any play in the steering.

The other option is to simply rotate the tires on one side of the car and see how the shaking is affected. If it gets better/goes away, you know the tire that is now on the rear of the car on that side has an issue. You can then rotate the other side's tires and again see how the shaking is affected. You can then atleast figure out which rims are your problem children and then have a rim repair shop look at the rims closer to determine what the next step would be.

 

Hey Thermo,

Since you are doing a great diagnosis of this problem could I please ask you a few questions? I bought a new (2007) diesel 2.2 and I have some of the symptoms you describe:

Steering wheel shake only on high speed braking, reduced but not solved with new front tires.
Tire guy tells me 2 of my rims are buckled, but only a little bit, so balancing has them sorted for now.

I have bought a full set of disks and pads. Do I need to worry about the slightly bent rims?

Thanks
Alex

 

It'll never be right with bent rims IMO. You might search for a company that can straighten them. You might also look for replacement rims.

 

Revere, like swingwing says, until the rims are either straightened/fixed/replaced, you are going to have the wobble in the car. You can make it not as bad with a good alignment, road force balancing and any other tricks out there. But, it will still be there.

NOw, with this being said, is the wobble there when you are just cruising down the highway (at any speed)? If yes, then like I mention above, the rims are the source of the problem and anything you do to the brakes is not going to fix that issue. If you are only getting wobbling when you apply the brakes, then the rims are probably not your issue (atleast at the moment) and doing a front wheel brake job should resolve the wobbling. The big thing that I will tell you is when you bolt the wheel back on the car, make sure you properly torque the wheel to the car. The big thing is making sure that all the lugnuts are set to the same torque. To have 1 lugnut tighter than another puts stresses into the rotor which will help promote warping of the rotor as you will have part of the rotor being pushed inwards towards the center of the car as another part responds and will flex towards the outside of the car. With repeated heat cycles of the rotors, this stress will start to allow the metal to move and result in a rotor that no longer spins like it should (ie, warped rotor).

With all this being said, if you put the bent rims on the back end of the car, then the rims are no longer a part of the problem with the steering wheel.

 

Thanks Wing and Thermo!
I'm only getting wobble when I brake at speed. Normal driving no wobble.
I'll get the discs and pads done when I get a chance.

 

Changing all disks and pads fixed the juddering!!!
She drives like a dream now and stops smoothly. Only thing left is the gearbox fluid so that she shifts smoothly as well.