I am experiencing wheel wobble at freeway speeds. At around 60 the steering wheel wobbles, but you can drive through it. At about 70 it quits. I assumed it was a tire out of balance. So I rotated the the backs to the front. No difference. I then put a different set of tires on the car. Same issue. Then I switched yet another set of tires from the race car. Same issue. Unless I have 4 sets of tires that are out of balance I'm a bit perplexed. The entire front end has completely new everything. Any thoughts on where to check?

New:
FreeMotion roller bearings on the arms
Bilstein Sport Shocks
Turbo Tie rods
New tie rod ends
New lower ball joints
New upper polly bushings
New wheel bearings
New Rotors
New Calipers
New bushings on the sway bar

(Everything is new)

I assume you had the front end aligned after putting all those parts on? Just asking.

Yes

Crap, you are not making this easy to figure out.

Get all four balanced by a good tire shop and you will be good to go.

Adjust the front wheel bearings. Sounds like they are loose.

Letting the car sit to long on your tires, maybe you have flat spots!

This happened to me. Running with them also damaged them. They weren't all that loose to begin with. Cheap easy repair.

That usually doesn't translate into vibrations at certain speeds but rather the car "darting" left or right on its own.
But it can't hurt to check ...


Do you have wheel spacers?
One thing that i have noticed is that if the wheel spacers aren't 100% clean, they will act as if the wheel isn't balanced and give you vibrations at certain speeds.

Steering rack?

On my 911 this turned out to be a form of bump steer cured by an elephant racing product. The car had been very lowered by a po. You don't mention ride height, so this is another thought.

Tighten the wheel bearings and then tighten them a little more than you would like. This assuming that they are in good condition and well greased to begin with.

Well, first thing we need so we can help you is the production date of your car. 914s built after late '72 have hubcentric wheel mounting, earlier cars use the lug bolts to center the wheels. If you have the wrong wheels on the car, you'll have balance problems. Make sure the tires are round, and that the wheels are balanced on both the inner and outer planes. If those things don't help, come back for more. BTW, rear wheel balance can, in some instances, mimic front wheel balance on cars with this kind of suspension.

Good luck!

The Cap'n

I am having the same issues as Lotus. Now off to check all the fore mentioned items

Kind of a long shot, but you could also consider having the tires trued (shaved) to be sure they are actually round when mounted on your rims. However, not many tire stores still offer that service.

You might also want to ensure the four Allen bolts on your steering column dash bracket are nice and tight.

not a solution to your problem
but I don't like tight wheel bearings
I've seen tight wheel bearings fail at the track when everything gets hot and expands.

and I've seen them weld to the spindle, destroying the spindle when they fail...

if your using your brakes or creating lots of wheel heat then tight wheel bearings are your enemy

on a caually driven street car I'm sure they won't cause harm.
plus a gradual failure can be identified in the annual repacking

brant

BINGO

Thanks for all the input.
I will attempt to answer the questions put forth here.

The ride height is pretty much stock; maybe just a bit lowered but not much.

The steering rack was cleaned and re-greased during the restoration and appeared to have no slop.

There are no wheel spacers.

The steering coupler was in good shape, but will inspect again.

This is a late 73 with hubcentrics.

I will check the wheel bearings but they feel firm with no movement when on the lift.

I suppose there is always the chance that three sets of tires could be out of balance, but wow, I think that would be unusual.
I will have the alignment checked again this next week after I have examined all the components again.
Click to view attachment

I have seen more than a few steering racks that have to much wear of the pinion gear but only in the area when the car is going straight.

I have been down your path, sorry to say.
After chasing and replacing all of it, it came down to rebuilding the rack and all was good.

When you get your tires balanced, look for a shop that has the correct 4 lug fixture so you are balancing off the lug location instead of the center of the wheel.
I learned alot about that chasing my wiggle.
It makes a huge difference.



rich

I would go through every nut and bolt and make sure they are all tight, including the control arm bolts. I have seen alignment shops simply forget to tighten stuff.

Hubcentric rim rings ? Had a couple of vehicles with after market rims needing these!

What was the solution? Inquiring minds want to know...

hmmm, I've got the same thing, I thought it was down to balancing the tires but now I'll have to run thru this list...

thanks you guys - what a great source of knowledge!

td

have you ever had your wheels checked for 'trueness'.

k

You also might want to be sure the nuts that secure the strut cartridges are tight.

I lost the last bit of shimmy when I changed out to new front rotors...

Anyone figure this one out because i am the exact same boat with almost exactly the same new parts on my car. I tried the tighter wheel bearings and no help.

72 2.0

You might have to look around for a shop that can do this but try having the tires balanced on the car. Our '70 had a similar problem and was solved by doing a spin balance with the wheels mounted on the vehicle. You can actually watch the fender shake as you spin the tire up, the same tires had been balanced a couple of times by good shops and needed the weight amount changed and placed slightly differently on the rim. Just mark the wheel location to the rotor to get it back on in the same spot if you remove the wheels for any reason.

LotusJoe
I have a 73 and had the same exact issue! I had balanced two sets of rims, new tires, alignment, etc. What it turned out to be was that the hub protrusion on the hub centric front wheel was 1 mm taller than the depth of the bore out on the back side of both sets of rims! After more years than I'd like to admit, i found that the rims weren't seated absolutely flush with the entire wheel, depending on which bolt was tightened first. 1/4" wheel spacers came to the rescue and the ride smooth as glass. I can't believe the clown car setup I was riding previously didn't show up except at 65 mph. It may be an issue with the 73 hub centric tooling being a bit too tall on the fronts. Note the rear on a 73 is not hub centric and seats fine. It's been a while since your post, but I hope this solves the mystery for some others down the road!

I've been experiencing similar problems. Car tracks very well at all speeds when traveling in a straight line. I have a rocking sensation that presents itself mainly when traveling at speed in corners and on ramps. The car has been aligned, wheels are balanced and true. Bearings are adjusted properly. Anything else that could be the culprit before I dive into replacing the steering coupler? Thanks.

What is your suspension set up?

From previous owners info:

"19mm thru body sway bar,911 Boge struts,turbo tie rods,new balljoints,polybronze bushings,911 20mm rotors and M calipers."

Thanks.

So a 5 lug set up with a 19 mm through body bar and you are experiencing a "rocking motion". Is this feedback through the steering wheel or is it through the seat...meaning a feeling with the handling of the car. This post was about steering "wobble". So I'd assume feedback through the column?

Which is it?


I have a stock through body sway bar and you need to be careful about the suspension geometry and the preload on the bar. Assuming you want to drive the car mostly on the street.

I had this issue before and I had the tire shop balance the front wheels on the car. Only one shop in my area did this. 5 point tires in redwood city.
Good luck

Old school: car on ground- grab wheels 3&9 and push pull and see if you feel any movement. Sometimes take 2 folks, some tiny clunks can only be found by holding some part of steering gear. Do the same top n bottom.

Really odd question but do you get up to speed at the same patch of road? Road grooves?

I had a bus which had very slight shake intemittantly - figured out that slightest wobble in both front wheels that when they synced up it would shake steering wheel - you could just slightly veer and it would go away...
Good luck

I agree with other who have said to check every nut and bolt. Had a similar issue. Ball joint to strut was loose. Have you tried hacking the front up and trying to move stuff around? Might reveal where the problem is. Good luck! Post up the solution to expand our knowledge!

I put Lotus Joes car on a lift and checked all of it for play. none to be found.

I have a 73 and the rims didn't seat fully because the bore out for the hub centric front wheel was 1/16" too shallow. Everything was tight with the suspension, and the wheels and tires balanced multiple times. When the wheels get bolted on they are slightly off resulting in a wobble from 60 to 70 mph. If you get it on a rack, see if the wheel is seated to the rim all the way around and you cant slip a piece of paper in there. A set of wheel spacers for the front wheels and longer studs worked for mine. Good luck!

I have a 73 and the rims didn't seat fully because the bore out for the hub centric front wheel was 1/16" too shallow. Everything was tight with the suspension, and the wheels and tires balanced multiple times. When the wheels get bolted on they are slightly off resulting in a wobble from 60 to 70 mph. If you get it on a rack, see if the wheel is seated to the rim all the way around and you cant slip a piece of paper in there. A set of wheel spacers for the front wheels and longer studs worked for mine. Good luck!

OK underneath the car and everything looks good - nothing loose. I was thinking I might raise the front end slightly to see if the geometry had gotten to low. Are the change lever and adjusting screw for the torsion bars supposed to be loose when not under load? I have a midrise lift (love it) as i went to adjust the height I could easily turn the bolt by hand and could also slide both change levers laterally. Is this normal when there is no load on the suspension? Seems odd that that lateral movement seemed to mimick the swaying motion I was feeling on the road. All thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

If you drive over a set of railroad tracks, or like, does the steering wheel shudder back and forth? You might be experiencing bump steer.

Disconnected one drop link as others have advised. Indexed the adjustment screws so I had maximum adjustment available. Reset ride height (was a little to low) reattached drop link. I was surprised how much lighter the steering became. This is a GT clone and I'm running 225's up front. Big improvement. Majority of swaying has also been eliminated. Not sure if it was the ride height, preload on the sway bar or both but things are much improved. Thanks for the help.

Will get the car aligned this week to be safe.