On my 98 XK8, the steering wheel shakes at 70mph and above. The shaking is not noticeable under 70mph. I have only driven the car 1,200 in the few months, and this is the first week I've been able to drive above 70mp since I have owned it (due to a bad front right wheel bearing).
I assume the shaking has been present since I bought the car. Car has 155k miles. I have just replaced right front upper control arm bushings and the right front bearing was very loud, and replaced, as I was afraid to drive it past 55mph with the bad bearing. Car has since been aligned and rotors turned. The tires have been balanced on two separate occasions, swapped tires/wheels, and even put on a spare set of wheels, shake is still there, no change. The front lower ball joint rubber is torn. but does not appear to show a noticeable movement when jacked up. I can feel the shake in the steering wheel only, not the seat or body of the car.

Any thoughts as to what causes this shake? And better yet, how to fix it?
Thanks for any input. I learn something new about this car every day.

 

Hi MR. CJ I had a steering shake at 70mph after just buying the car.The dealer said It might be because it had been standing for a while.Anyway after a few weeks of pretty much driving it everyday it disappeared. Again I stopped using it for a week and its back I hope it will go again with use.

Cheers Al.

 

I have it too in spite of complete front bushing replacement, alignment, and road force balancing. I also have a noticeable 30 mph vibration that feels like a flat spot on the R front tire after sitting all night. That thump gets much better after a few miles. I have Pirelli EOM tires and think they may be the root of all evil, will finally know in another year when they're replaced. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to replace them until they wear out.

 

Consider checking the inner and outer tie rod ends, particularly given the high mileage. In addition I believe it is recommended to replace suspension bushings in pairs. As a final thought, check the ride-height at both left and right front wheel wells.

Hope this will be helpful.

 

+1 to replacing bushings in pairs.

 

Check the subframe bolts to the fulcrum pin. Well know mfg. Defect. Not a cheap fix, but with a reputable mechanic, it runs about 1500 vs. The jag dealer who wants 3700 for the sframe and then ads on bushings, labor, etc.

 

For a while after I first bought my car, which I drive only once a week or so, I was very unhappy about how the tires seemed out of balance all of the time.

When I drove it for a few miles (5-10) the vibration went away. After a while I realized that the sort of tires that these cars use are subject to flat spots when sitting for a while, and much worse when the weather is cold.

That sounds like what is happening in your case.

 

You are right it is worse when its cold.A good run up the motorway at 65mph before the shakes set in helps to warm the tires up and after a while the shake hopefuly disappears might take a few runs over several days though.

Cheers AL

 

Mine (2003 XK8, 19" rims) does the same thing, although I can begin to notice it at much lower speeds. At 70MPH I can see my hand shaking on the steering wheel. After 2-3 miles in warm weather (80F), it goes away. After 5-10 miles in cooler weather (60F), it goes away. It gets worse the longer the car sits in one place. I shudder to think what it's going to be like after taking it out of winter storage

 

how about listing your make/model of tires suspected of cold weather flat-spotting?

 

Is there room to roll it back and forth every week or so? Might help.

 

I don't think that it is specifically related to any particular brand of tire. That is not to say that it may not be better or worse from one brand to another, but I think it is a property of low profile tires in general.

I had a Mitsubishi with low profile tires as a second car before my Jag, and I had the exact same thing happen with different brands of tires on that car as well.

 

thanks for the suggestion, but it's a bit of a drive to where I keep it stored. I did inflate the tires to 50 PSI so maybe that will help.

Mine are FEDERAL 595 Drift Competition (they came with the car. I've no idea why "drift competition" tires were installed, but they seem to perform well overall)

 

They are a date stamped Product for a reason... They deteriorate with age,,, lack of use and climate conditions...

The wifes car is an 2005 built end of 2004,,, had 22,400 miles on the car and the tires were NEWer ,,, so I thought... After closer inspection they were the original ones. The date stamp was 37-04,,, meaning that they were produced in the 37th week of 2004,,, Tires are really no good. For a fact at least in Florida if a dealer gets a car in on trade and plans to resell it if the tires are over 5 years they have to be replaced,,, Even if the thread is perfect...

Sitting sucks,,, things tend to flatting out and get wide,,,

Anyone who has ever had a pretty secretary,, knows that after a few years,,, No matter how good they look sitting down and sitting still,,, when it comes to getting up and moving it can be a horrible site...

 

Next time you get the wheels balanced, ask them to check for bent rims. My '06 XKR came from the dealer with 2 bent rims and getting them un-bent - at $140 a piece - made a world of difference.

 

How do they check for bent rims and how do they then rectify them?

Graham

 

There may be more scientific methods, and, if there are, we are sure to hear about them, (there are probably machines that can measure the wheels with a laser within a fraction of a millimeter) but in my case they took the tire off of the wheel and put it in the device that balances them, and spun them, and you could easily see the bend, or in my case, what they called a "pothole ding".

The place that I was referred to said that they had some high tech machines that could repair them. Apparently it worked, because the wheels no longer had the "ding" in them and the vibration was gone when I got the wheel back. (except for the flat spots in the tires from sitting still for a while)

 

Kevin,

Thanks for the additional info.

If I were setting up a lab experiment, it would be to rotate the wheel in a fixed horizontal axis and measure both displacement from a constant radius and lateral distortion from vertical using two clock gauges set at right angles. (similar to the method for checking a new rotor is set vertically)

I was expecting some machine based on this principle but when you could see distortion as it was spun on the balancing machine, it had to be a very bad 'pothole ding'.

The 'high tech' machine to remove the 'ding' must involve applied heat and pressure because pressure alone would set up stress within the metal with the potential for future fracture. Be interested to hear from anyone who knows the repair process...............

Graham

 

There is a guy here locally who specializes in this and Does all of Braman Motor Cars vehicles,,, The Jaguar,,, Benz Dealerships,,, He is not good BUT GREAT... His name is Mike Wesson (last name ?) his company is First Place Wheels in Jupiter/Tequesta Florida 33469 or 33458,,, I will see if I can find his card...

He helped me polish all the Aluminum on my FJ1200 came out fabulous...

 

Here you go. There are several videos on the topic.

ACU-TRUŽ Bent Wheel Repair - YouTube