So I still have this sporadic steering wheel shake. It happens at 25-45mph sometimes , and other times no shake until 65mph +/-. Sometimes the shake is there at 65-70 , but after slowing down and getting back to speed at 65mph+ the shake is mysteriously gone.

The shake comes and goes intermittently on my 20 mile trip back and forth from work each day. Sometimes the shake is at 45, sometimes nothing until 65+. The shake does get a little worse as the speed increases the times when the shake is actually occurring. It is all coming/being felt from the steering wheel. No shaking vibrating of the seat or of the car body - just the steering wheel jerking side to side shake.

I got a full front alignment and 2 new tires in the rear ( same Continentals as the front ). They said they also did a full balance on all 4 tires when they mounted/rotated the two that I bought. It was not a Road Force balance , and wondering if a RF Balance might be necessary ? The same steering shake was there before the new rear tires were installed. I also had the outer tie rod replaced at the same time ( reason for alignment too ). The rest of the front end was inspected by the shop and everything else was super tight. Still have the shake though.

Could a RF balance fix this type of issue, or I am going down the wrong road ? Would a RF Balance tell me if the rim is possibly bent ? Any other ideas ??

 

I have a similar (not always present) problem with my 2002 X Type. BUT, the "tic" only happens at lower speeds.

The steering wheel slightly rocks side to side (about 1/8") like a metronome at low speeds (<25 mph), but clears up at higher speeds. My front tires are have decent tread, but worn. One shop said it might be nylon spacers in the rack & pinion but after my car sat with him all day for a check-out, he neglected to even look at anything on the car (but this is another story for a different time).

Will be interested in seeing what you find out. May just be tires for me......

 

Just thinking out loud...but it looks like the wheel goes through a very flimsy looking bushing; could it be a worn bushing between the cabin and firewall?

After that, I'd look at motor mounts, but the wheel doesn't look like it is directly affected by those...

 

I suspect that its a front UJ, probably an inner one.

 

myexcursion, I just battled this, try rotating the wheels front to rear and see if things change. I did a lot of work to try and eliminate this wobble (lower ball joints, outer tie rod ends, wheel bearing, struts, strut bearings and front tires). Even after all this work, I still have the wobble (granted not quite as bad). While I was having the tires put on, I had the shop check the runout on the front rims. While they didn't have a depth indicator to do it properly, there was enough of a bend in the front rims that you could see the tread of the tires wobble slightly in the same spot on each rotation. It is sounding like you have the same thing.

I noticed with my car that the wobble got worse when the car was under more load (ie, going up a hill or trying to accelerate). If I eased off of the gas, the wobble would ease up and then I could apply a little more gas to maintain speed.

 

Sounds very similar. Would a road force balance be able to make something like a runout feel better ( i guess depending on how bad it is would also be a factor ), or do you still need to replace the rim all together - what do you think ? Were you able to finally get yours fixed ?

 

myexcursion, getting new tires and the front end work did make things better, but not 100%. A road force balance is not going to help anything. I will end up either getting new rims or getting a new car (not sure which is going to happen first, the new XJ's are looking awefully tempting).

 

Thermo - say it ain't so... you must stay the way of the X ! lol.

I just got back from a place not too far ( Al's Hubcaps ) that specializes in rims, wheels etc... They do onsite while you wait rim repairs, powdercoating, road force balancing etc... I was next to an AMG55, BMW435, and Audi S5, so I figured their reputation must mean something. They took the 2 front wheels off and just from eyeballing it, you could see the inside of the rim was bent in and had a pretty large flat spot. The other one was a little out also, but not as obvious. They fixed both rims and road forced balanced the tires for 150 OTD ( I thought that was a pretty decent price ). The 20 mile ride home, 5 miles city/15 hwy, was SO much better. No shake at all through 65. At 65 there still is a little bit of shake but almost 80% less than before. Seems to disappear past 70.

The installer said that one tire was giving a rough time to balance, and should think about replacing it in the future if want to get rid of any little shake that might be left.

I'll report back the next few days as I drive it some more and see how it behaves - but so far so good !

 

myexcursion - had a similar issue with shaking. eventually the front left tire kept loosing air it wound up being a bent lip on the inside. I took it to a rim shop in Yonkers. The wheel was bent in 9 places overall! He was able to fix and RF balanced. Much better, would like to get passenger side done too as I think the wheels are somewhat delicate.

 

Yeah -- NY roads, no nice way to say it , other than they suck. Went up to Maine a few weeks ago and you could tell the instant you leave/enter new york just by the roadways ! It's embarrassing how badly taken care of they are.

 

Sounds like the rank n pinion. That ended up being my problem solver. I found one on ebay with a life time waranty for $166 total. BUT it will cost way more than that on labor. Hope that helped.

 

Been reading through the threads on Jag wheels trying to decide what to do. Local guy told me he's having a heck of a time balancing the two rear wheels. So it may be time to either fix them or replace them. Want to keep the Original 17 inch Caymans. So far All Factory Wheels seems to be the most reasonable. Any other thoughts or suggestions? Fix or replace? A really warm hello from Tampa Bay to you all.