I've been having these issues since I bought the car and I want to get to the bottom of them both.

When going over a a small, gradual bump (not like a pothole or speed bump) like a dip in the road I get a feeling that comes through the steering wheel. The best way to describe it is it feels like something has too much play in it that shouldn't be there. Also, the weird thing about it is that it's much more pronounced when it's colder outside. In the summer, after leaving it in the parking lot all day at work for instance, it drives much smoother and doesn't have this issue at all. But in the winter especially, or even when it's not been in the beating sun all day, the issue is there.

I'm not sure, but I think this might be linked to my highway vibration issue. This is another weird one. Basically some times my car will vibrate and sometimes it won't. Most times it's an intermittent vibration that comes and goes every few minutes while at highway speed. It can be felt through the steering wheel and you can see the passenger seat back vibrating if there's no one sitting in it.

Now let's go over what I'm fairly positive the issue is NOT. I've had a lot of work done on the front suspension. The strut mounts and bearings were replaced last winter when I had the front left wheel bearing replaced. A few months later I had a CV joint replaced on the front right that had worn out. Then last week I had both of my front lower control arms replaced. After the control arms, the car was aligned. I told them to check to make sure the tires were balanced and was told they determined it wasn't necessary. Also, I'm running a new set of Continental Extreme Contacts that I just had put on last November.

As you can see, there's not much left in the front end that could be causing this. I had the wheel off the front right last weekend and the sway bar bushing was solid with no play in it either. I didn't check the left side but I can do that. Looking at other car forums I saw someone with a similar vibration issue on one of the BMW sites who solved his issue by replacing his sub-frame bushings. I'm leaning toward that as my issue but I will go in to see if any of my tires are somehow out of round or unbalanced and maybe have a road force balance done for good measure. However, I'm certain that the looseness issue is due to something that needs to be replaced.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this with their car? Any advice is appreciated

 

Evan, this might sound interesting, but when the car is wobbling like you are talking about is occurring, try turning the steering wheel slightly to make the car slowly change lanes. You may find that the wobbling will change slightly as you make this "turn". If this is the case, you may have either a bad tie rod end or the inner tie rod is starting to go. This might be something to look at.

 

Hey, I am having very similar issues, I have vibration in the steering wheel at speeds over 60mph, it's a constant light vibration that does not get worse as my speed increases. (60-105)It's hardly noticeable with both hands on the wheel, yet very evident when I let it track with no hands. It tracks perfectly straight though. The control arms were replaced and it has brand new Sumitomo's and was aligned recently. I'm going to get it on a lift and inspect soon here so I will keep you posted!

 

Thanks Chris, I will try that the next time this happens and let you know. Do you think that would explain the looseness/clunk feeling as well?

Mugatu - Thanks, let me know what you find with your car.

 

Evan, it very well could. If there is a little bit of play in the ball joint of the inner tie rod end, that would cause the one tire to remain stationary for a moment and then once the slop was taken up, it would hit with some force and give you a clunk.

Mugatu, not to question the alignment shop, but did the get the right alignment specs? Jaguar changed the alignment specs after a year or two of building the X-Type. Also, I have found that the alignment is very sensitive on this car and if the alignment even gets a little out (especially on the toe), it will cause a shimmy when you hit about 60 mph and continue up. On my car, it calms down significantly once i get up around 70-75 mph. If you want to see the new specs, PM me and I will send you the TSB that details the new specs. I just need an e-mail addy to send it to.

 

Mugatu, your issue sounds similar to what I had. I noticed a vibration in the steering wheel and and my butt, as well a very low frequency rumble between 50 and 70 mph. My issue was a drive-shaft vibration, very common on the X-Type.

Get the car on the lift, have someone run it up to speed, and VERY gently put your hand on the driveshaft. Don't grab it out it'll rip your arm off.

Does the shaft vibrate? Does it match the frequency of what you feel at highway speeds? Mine did.

I replaced my driveshaft with a refurbished one. Vibrations improved greatly, but not completely gone. I'm thinking my refurb'd driveshaft isn't perfect.

I have a write-up of all the steps I took to troubleshoot somewhere on this site, including new Michelin tires, balances tires, alignment check, driveshaft removal, wheel tire removal (and running up to speed), etc... replacing the driveshaft seemed to do the most good.

 

Chris - Your theory sounds spot on to me and explains both of my issues. Are there any tests I can do to check if the tie rod inner ball joints are bad?

rclangelan - Was your vibration intermittent or always present? With mine there are some days I can drive on the highway without feeling it at all; other days it never goes away. But most days it will come and go in 1-2 minute intervals which I find odd.

Aside from that, I'm still perplexed as to why warmer weather/sitting in direct sun for a few hours makes the car drive so much better.

 

No, mine was VERY consistent and always the same speed range (regardless of RPM.) I missed that your issue is intermittent. May not be the driveshaft then.

 

Evan, you might be able to lift a front wheel off of the ground and then with the aid of a friend, try to turn the wheel from the outside (hands on the side of the wheel and then try to turn the wheel like the car was making a turn) and then see if you can see the boot over the inner tie rod end changes shape any. You might be able to feel the slight gap if you try and move the wheel back and forth quickly. Go ape sh!$ on the wheel. You are not going to be able to hurt the car doing it with your hands. You start using tools, well, different story. But, try to rock the wheel back and forth. May see something loose. Just keep all parts of the body from under the car when doing this unless you are beyond sure that the car is not going to fall off of the jack stand. Other than that, not sure of any other checks that you can do.

 

Thanks Chris, I will try that today after work and report back.

Also, I went to a friend's cabin yesterday which involved driving down some rough "roads" (they were in such bad shape I'm not sure they can be called roads). Anyway, there was rough pavement everywhere as well as potholes, hills, bumps, and missing sections of road. I was really able to hear the clunking while driving on that.

rclangelan, I'm just hoping it's not the drive shaft, I don't need another major expense with this car!

 

I didn't have a chance to test that out yet but I will later today

 

I have this exact intermittent wheel wobble. It is the intermittent part that has been driving me crazy. If it is a worn or loose part, should it not wobble all the time?

Please post the fix if you ever figure out the cause.

TIA,
Marc

 

I'm leaning toward Chris's suggestion of a worn inner tie rod end. Does yours also seem better when it's warmer outside?

It's a busy week at work, but I will try to do the test later today. I also have an appointment tomorrow morning with AAA for them to check my brakes. I'll see what they think about the vibration while they're at it.

Chris - is this something easy to replace?

 

Don't forget the sway bar bushings too....mine were worn slam out

just reread your post and saw you replaced one? see if you can move the sway bar with the front off the ground--mine would clunk back and forth when I did--also did you do both wheel bearings and strut bearings/stops?

I also have installed a refurb driveshaft--now I have the whirr of a turbo on cold days--old one was clacking bad after the rear locked up when the transfer case died...

 

I had one wheel off the ground and tried to move the sway bar and it wouldn't budge. I haven't replaced any sway bar bushings, but it seems that they are still good. I'll try to get the whole front end off the ground and then see if the bar has any play, but I suspect it will be fine.

And I forgot to have AAA check the tie rod inner ball joints today. I was so taken aback that they wanted over $450 to resurface all 4 rotors and bleed the brakes. I'm not going to pay $160 to have two rotors resurfaced when I can buy four new ones for less. Pep Boys has a brake component sale right now so I can get 4 of their PowerStop rotors with a 2 year warranty for under $150.

Anyway, I should have some time within the next few days to jack up the front end, mess around with it, and see what the problem is

 

Yeah thats crazy on the brakes--I got drilled/slotted rotors and ceramic pads for all four wheels for around $350 at Rock auto--only bad part is you need the piston retractor kit (actually had one in the tool box) for the rears--can do both front brakes in less time than one rear haha--they actually look pretty good behind those arubas

 

I installed the drilled/slotted eBay kit with the ceramics about a year ago and now the front rotors are warped. I'm pretty annoyed that there is already warping. I'm leaning toward 4 new solid rotors all around as I've heard the drilled/slotted don't really have any practical application except for looking cool, plus they warp easier.

Or I could just get a new set of the eBay rotors from the front and save myself the hassle of dealing with the rear pistons.

It would be $110 for just the front rotors in the same drilled/slotted pattern with a 1-year warranty. On the other hand I could pay about $150 to get a set of 4 solid rotors with a 2-year warranty from Pep Boys (which I believe also covers warping, unlike the warranty on the eBay ones)

Hard to decide...

 

Evan, I have had good luck with mine. Granted, I take a few things a bit to the extreme with my car. I think the most important is making sure that you torque the lug nuts evenly. This makes sure that the forces inside the rotors remain neutral and will minimize the chance of warping. I torque all my lugnuts to 100 ft-lbs using a torque wrench. The other thing that I would tell you to avoid (if possible) is running the tires through deepish water holes right after braking. The water hitting one side of the rotor will cause one side to cool faster than the other, leading to warping. After that, it is more just a lucky pick as to whether you get rotors that warp or you get ones that won't.

 

It's back at AAMCO for at least a few days now so that they can address the transmission whine that has been there since it was rebuilt the first time. I told them about this looseness and said I was leaning toward the inner tie rods as the cause. They will check these out for me while they have the car.

As far as the rotors, I'm thinking of just getting this:

Front 2 Premium Performance Drilled AND Slotted Zinc Plated Brake Rotors M140516 | eBay

That is the part of the same kit I bought last year that I would need to replace. I'm thinking at this point I might as well leave the rears alone instead of dealing with those pistons again. This way they would still all match. Then once I get the new lug nuts I asked about in another thread, I'll install the new rotors and get everything torqued properly with a torque wrench.

I'll update this once I get my car back from AAMCO...

 

Chris, you mentioned my issue could be either the tie rod ends or an inner tie rod. I found these ends on eBay from the same seller I got my control arms from:

Jaguar x Type Front Tie Rod Rods End Set 2002 2008 | eBay

I was wondering though, how would I determine whether it's the ends or the inner tie rod? These ends seem cheap enough that I could just install them and see what happens, but I'm assuming replacing these would involve another alignment as well, plus labor if I can't do it myself in the driveway.

The inner tie rod sounds like something a shop would have to do, so I'm hoping it's just these ends. I will try to jack the front end up later today and see what is going on