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Lotus in the Peak
26th - 28th June 2026

Steering Wheel Vibration / Shake At Speed


Ian C

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Posted

I'm getting a fair bit of steering wheel wobble when I go above about 50mph. I can hold the wheel and stop it, but when I let go it vibrates/wobbles quite fast, even on smooth roads. I've recently had new R888 tyres fitted. I've been back twice to have them balanced. I also made sure the yellow dot is lined up with the tyre valve. It's doing my head in! How can I cure this? Could it be an alignment / geo issue?

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Posted

If the wheels have balanced ok and were not out of balance when you had them checked, then take each wheel off and clean the wheel hub and wheel - where they touch, as you may have something stuck that means the wheel doesn't seat ok.

 

Torque the wheel nuts in stages, in a criss cross pattern, spin the wheel when done, and see if it runs true.

 

If the tyres are balanced ok, its either the wheel not seating correctly, or a buckled wheel.

Posted

Try another place for balancing as the machines can go out of calibration...

Posted

My mk1 MR2 is really sensative to the wheel nuts being done up so the wheel is perfectly centered.

Posted

If it's only happened since the new tyres were fitted, and you've not hit any potholes, then as already said it has to be either the balancing or fitting of the wheels at fault. I would ask another tyre depot to check them for balance.

Posted

Rebalance, 888's are usually spot on, can't say the say for 08's from my experience.

Posted

Agreed as above

08's were a ba$€$¥d, the improvement when 888's fitted was massive for general road driving, 0 wheel wobble at any speed, In fact better than the missus's bullet proof Skoda.

Wheel / nut refit and if that doesn't fix it, ask for tyres to be removed/ checked refitted as this is only other difference.

From previous

Posted

RIght, I bought some Team Dynamics wheels and 888s on eBay which were delivered on Friday. I've put the front ones on and just been for a spin. The shake is reduced but I'm still getting some when I let go of the wheel at 60mph+, even on smooth straight roads.

 

Now I have the original wheels off the car I will get the wheels checked to see if they are buckled and get them rebalanced.

 

I'm feeling very paranoid and I can't remember if it's normal to get ANY vibration at speed when you release the wheel. The fact that I have different wheels on and I'm still getting some vibration when releasing the wheel, could it be normal, am I going mad?! Or could there be something else wrong with the car?

Posted

If it isn't the wheels it could be a worn steering rack or a suspension bush, but it would seem odd that that happened exactly when you had new tyres fitted.

Posted

Well that's the problem, I noticed it when the tyres were fitted but it could have been there before.

Posted

I took the original wheels to 1st Class Alloys in Lichfield to get them checked over. They are not buckled and there's no other damage. They then re-balanced the wheels, they were way out.

 

Anyway I think I now know what the issue is. It seems the tyre has moved on the rim. When the tyres were fitted a couple fo weeks ago the yellow dot on the sidewall was in line with the vale. Now it's moved about 45 degrees around. So it would seem that's my issue! The tyre is slipping on the rim, causing it to become unbalanced.

 

I haven't had chance to put the wheels back on yet. Should be able to do it on Thursday. Then I shall mark the position of tyre in relation to rim. If it slips again the tyre may have to come off and the rim cleaned. It could be too much soap on the rim is causing it. Looks like I'm close to have a wobble free drive.

Posted

When i was doing sprinting i found that my tyres slipped around the rim, really sorry i didn't think about that earlier (although a bit suprised it has happend on the road) drive1.gif

 

It only happened to me for a short while after fitting the tyres, presumably due to the lubricant they put on to help fit the tyres. I had it on the front (presumably due to braking) and rear (presumably due to the standing starts & spining tyres to warm them).

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