Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: D on 10 September 2012, 23:11:38
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whilst driving at lowish speeds(20 - 40) on a smooth road surface. Almost like a judder or driving over rumble strips or a finely pebbled surface. Whats going on? Wheels are all balanced and fine. Very odd! :-\
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When I had this on a Ford, one of the tyres had developed a bulge and the tread had twisted. They were cheap tyres though! :'(
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Sounds like either a deformed tyre (as above) or balancing issue. Although you say they have been balanced, the Omega is very sensitive to wheel balancing IME ;)
It's also possible that a weight has fallen off ;)
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Is it constant? Just on that stretch of road? Or random? ...?
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Pretty constant I would say. Tyres are relatively new and 7+ mm tread depth. No bulges or deformations. Balanced recently on a hub balancer, so I doubt its the balancing.
Also it is predominantly at low speed, even 10-20mph, so can it still be balancing?
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Difficult to tell without feeling the frequency of the vibration. If its in time with wheel speed it has to be wheel related.
Other one to look for is buggered wishbone bushes allowing the wheel and hub to flap about. But that's a slower less harsh oscillation than judder/vibration from a wheel.
If its rpm related look for a miss fire. (well It has been known to be mistaken)
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Its not harsh like a balancing shake/vibration. Its quite subtle, can just feel it through the steering. More so at low speeds. Almost like driving on a cobbled street but not as intense if you can imagine.
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Bit like a slight tank slapped on a bike, except the steering wheel oscillates rather than the handle bars on a bike.
Like someone's tugging at the road wheel back and forth about 4 or 5 times a second.
A flap, in effect...?
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Check wishbone bushes as previously mentioned also get 4wheel alignment check
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Bit like a slight tank slapped on a bike, except the steering wheel oscillates rather than the handle bars on a bike.
Like someone's tugging at the road wheel back and forth about 4 or 5 times a second.
A flap, in effect...?
Not really. I would say a rumble or vibration through the wheel. It doesnt feel like the wheel is moving side to side. If you have ever driven over the cobblestone lanes in London, it feels like that. Just more subtle. I will get the wishbones looked at as well.
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Bit like a slight tank slapped on a bike, except the steering wheel oscillates rather than the handle bars on a bike.
Like someone's tugging at the road wheel back and forth about 4 or 5 times a second.
A flap, in effect...?
Not really. I would say a rumble or vibration through the wheel. It doesnt feel like the wheel is moving side to side. If you have ever driven over the cobblestone lanes in London, it feels like that. Just more subtle. I will get the wishbones looked at as well.
ok, not that then. ;D
Er, dunno. Someone else have a go...
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Sounds like balancing to me, I know they have been done recently, but I would try the back wheels on the front. It may be a waste of time, but if you don't try it you will never know.
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Sounds like balancing to me, I know they have been done recently, but I would try the back wheels on the front. It may be a waste of time, but if you don't try it you will never know.
Agreed... Just because it's been done recently doesn't mean it's right or a weight hasn't come off ;) For the sake of 10 mins it's worth swapping wheels to check ;) I'm thinking it may get worse as it could well be a rear out of balance giving the vibration :-\
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are they genuine vx wheels or after markets? i only ask as i had tsw fusions on a vectra of mine and it would always have this small amount of wobble through the steering wheel that would not go away even with hub spigot rings to make sure the wheel sat solid on the hub and rebalancing. i ended up getting my sri wheels back on. also could try putting a wire brush accross the hubs to make sure the wheels are sitting on flush and clean surface. :y
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all it takes is for a weight to have dropped off to throw the balancing off, worth getting it checked
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I had a problem very similar to this (though at higher speed) on my xr3i back in the day. Between only 60-75mph the steering wheel shook like buggery. Went to a tyre place and the technician knew immediately what it was - a nail in one of the rear wheels. I couldn't believe the rear wheels were responsible for the shake but he whipped the rear wheel off, removed the nail (and showed it to me), plugged the hole and the problem had gone. ;D
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It's a very low speed range, which is a bit unusual IME. :-\
But if it's in time with wheel speed within that road speed range, then on the front it can only be wheel related.
If on the rear the same but also consider drive train issues.
If at low rpm, it's not uncommon for misfires to shake the car. Although a bit far away from the description to be that.
Struggling tbh. :-\ :(
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Speed is indeed too low for wheel balance to be the issue, IMHO. Tyre structure problem or buckled wheel perhaps but the description hints that the vibration is at greater than wheel rotation rate.
That would prompt me to look at the wheel bearings, propshaft UJs and central support bearing, I think. Rotating the wheels will be a good step towards eliminating a wheel / tyre problem, though.
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Speed is indeed too low for wheel balance to be the issue, IMHO. Tyre structure problem or buckled wheel perhaps but the description hints that the vibration is at greater than wheel rotation rate.
That would prompt me to look at the wheel bearings, propshaft UJs and central support bearing, I think. Rotating the wheels will be a good step towards eliminating a wheel / tyre problem, though.
My thoughts exactly, hence the question. Thanks for all the suggestions.
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Oddly enough, after replacing drop links today, the vibration seems to have disappeared. Placebo effect? I don't know, but I sure as hell couldn't feel it on my drive home today.