Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Craig_R on 17 August 2006, 12:17:46

Title: Long Trip
Post by: Craig_R on 17 August 2006, 12:17:46
Hiya People

Well I just returned back to the south after going back to my home town of Middlesbrough.

Its a 500 mile round trip so i wanted to check some things out when driving.

On the way home to the north after about 10 mins or so i was getting a vibration through the car very anoying but it seam to only happen at about 80 MPH once 80 was broken it did the same vibration at most speeds.

On the way back down south I decided to try and not break the 80 MPH limit and crused at 70 to 75 most of the way and it was smooth all the way so much nicer to drive i had acouple of points with the vibration but they passed and vanished.

Driving at 70 MPH all the way back gave me great MPG by the computer an avarge of 44 MPG
But I was on LPG all the way back so i am guessing i was not getting 88 MPG but more like 70 odd as i know you get less MPG on LPG than Petrol but looking at the price of LPG to petrol was 40.9 For LPG and 99.9 for Petrol.

So all in all i am happy apart from the slight vibration for time to time was wondering if the Front discs are warped which i think they are cud cause vibration

Craig

Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: evanh on 17 August 2006, 12:38:04
Probably a buckle in one of the wheels or else they just need balanced
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: markrl on 17 August 2006, 12:44:38
Probably a slightly out of balance wheel. To confirm this swap the front pair over with the rears and see if the problem moves or disappears.
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: TheBoy on 17 August 2006, 13:10:30
Agreed, I would go for balance first. Use a good balancing place, as Omega does seem to be fussy wrt balancing...
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: TheBoy on 17 August 2006, 13:11:06
Propshaft problems can also cause this sort of vibration, but less likely...
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 17 August 2006, 14:19:16
Wheel balancing I would say.

Its not Omega wheels being hard to balance, it seems to be more to do with how the balancing machines are used and if they are any good. Some simply take a central reading and try to balance it out with two or even one weight. Reality is on wide(ish) wheels you need a balance reading at two speeds and on both edges and correct it with two weights.

Its short cuts by the fitters mainly.
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: TheBoy on 17 August 2006, 14:23:23
Quote
Wheel balancing I would say.

Its not Omega wheels being hard to balance, it seems to be more to do with how the balancing machines are used and if they are any good. Some simply take a central reading and try to balance it out with two or even one weight. Reality is on wide(ish) wheels you need a balance reading at two speeds and on both edges and correct it with two weights.

Its short cuts by the fitters mainly.
Additionally, it seems, some fitters don't use small enough weights (or the machines aren't good enough)...
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 17 August 2006, 15:11:53
I suspect the machines are not upto the job.....
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 17 August 2006, 17:52:19
If you do go for the wheel balancing.....its worth making sure they take all the old weights off first!

Seems logical thing to do.....but i had my fronts rebalanced due to steering wheel wobble at 50mph.
It improved but not entirely gone.
So I took it back a few weeks later and asked them to have another go....different fitter this time...and he was shocked as one wheel had 90g of weights on it!
So it seems some fitters just keep adding weights to get it right and others remove them all and start again.

Been fine since  :)
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: Salty on 17 August 2006, 18:03:43
I check after to make sure they have removed the old weights for that very reason TD
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: Craig_R on 18 August 2006, 11:04:04
Thankyou Very Much Everyone Ill get it checked

Does STS in Watford Do Wheel Balance ?

Craig
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: TheBoy on 18 August 2006, 11:38:03
STS, being a tyre fit company, can do balancing...
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: nigsey1600e on 18 August 2006, 21:18:31
i am now on my second omega and both have had a wheel balance/vibration  problem at 80/90mph only i was wondering if this was perhaps a design fault as no amount of wheel balancing would/will cure it :-?
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: Martin_1962 on 19 August 2006, 10:11:57
Quote
i am now on my second omega and both have had a wheel balance/vibration  problem at 80/90mph only i was wondering if this was perhaps a design fault as no amount of wheel balancing would/will cure it :-?

No - none of mine did that so check your front suspension components
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: tunnie on 19 August 2006, 11:07:22
If the vibration is though the steering wheel = front wheels

Vibration though your bum (the seat) = rear wheels
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: Markjay on 20 August 2006, 16:33:44
If you have ever seen a lead wheel-balancing weight at the side of the road then you know that they do come off sometimes... And that goes for both the traditional hammer-on weights, as wheel as the modern alloy-wheels stick-on weights. So it is also possible that there was nothing wrong with the original balancing, you may have simply lost a weight...
Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: Markjay on 20 August 2006, 16:39:01
Incidentally, for some reason many independent fitters don’t seem to balance the rear wheels as they say it’s ‘not needed’ (though I must say that this never happened to me at national-chain type fitters).

Well the difference between the front wheels and rear wheels balancing is that the with front ones you feel the vibration through the steering wheel, while the rear ones you don’t… but the damage to the tyre thread and potentially bearing and other suspension components is just the same front and rear. All four wheels (and the spare!) need to be balanced on the car.

However, rather then starting an argument with self appointed professionals, I usually simply say that I intend to rotate the tyres back-to-front every 5k miles so will need all four balanced

Title: Re: Long Trip
Post by: STMO123 on 20 August 2006, 19:33:12
Mines exactly the same--at exactly the same speed, but stops at about 90