Vibrations at high speed?!

[Darren888]

Hi, I’m not mechanical so apologise in advance. Any one ideas of what may need fixing on my s2 elise, horrendous vibrations from passenger side front wheel at speeds above c.90mph, garages won’t obviously test drive at those speeds so it’s becoming a real pain. All I’ve had done so far is get all the wheels balanced. Could this be the tracking?? Or is there something common in elise that causes this fault? Bushes maybe but which ones?! Any help is appreciated. 

Thanks Darren.

[Steve J]

Wheel bearing possibly.  Check for movement when wheel jacked.

[richbk]

Hi Darren . What tyres are you running on ?

track focused tyres can move on the rim causing vibration and endless rebalancing ?

you are fairly close to oak mere at Northwich, maybe pop over and see Paul in servicing. Mention MLOC as they know a lot of the members here and he may offer some advice or simple diagnostic. I sure wouldn't be traveling at those speeds( on track of course) with vibration from 1 wheel. 

Final thought, have you checked the wheel bolts for correct torque , simple but obvious.....

[handbag]

I'd swap the front wheels over and test again, just to rule out that it really isn't wheel balancing as I've had terrible trouble in the past getting the standard wheels balanced at some tyre fitters.  It only needs to be a little bit out to cause a lot of vibration.

[NightHaunter666]

I had a very similar issue, a violent vibration shaking the whole car, came on occasionally whilst cruising at a steady 70-80mph, disappeared again when i backed off to 50, and was fine going back to 80 again. I believe it was linked to another issue, corrosion in the brake calipers preventing the pads from sliding properly. Now the brakes are sorted out, the steering is as smooth as silk. I've got the AP racing big brake kit on my S2 111R. I suspect even a slight imperfection in the disc brushing against a sticking pad at that speed was causing the vibration. 

I reserve the right to be wrong.

[Darren888]

On 23/04/2018 at 21:04, Steve J said:

Wheel bearing possibly.  Check for movement when wheel jacked.

Doesn’t appear to have any excessive movement. But thanks for the suggestion. 👍

[Darren888]

On 23/04/2018 at 22:49, richbk said:

Hi Darren . What tyres are you running on ?

track focused tyres can move on the rim causing vibration and endless rebalancing ?

you are fairly close to oak mere at Northwich, maybe pop over and see Paul in servicing. Mention MLOC as they know a lot of the members here and he may offer some advice or simple diagnostic. I sure wouldn't be traveling at those speeds( on track of course) with vibration from 1 wheel. 

Final thought, have you checked the wheel bolts for correct torque , simple but obvious.....

Not track focused tyres just yoko ad07....think I’m going to end up at oakmere again. Went in for MOT at oakmere late last year and I mentioned the vibration but they didn’t notice anything, obviously they couldn’t test at c80/90mph. Thanks 👍

[Darren888]

On 24/04/2018 at 11:20, handbag said:

I'd swap the front wheels over and test again, just to rule out that it really isn't wheel balancing as I've had terrible trouble in the past getting the standard wheels balanced at some tyre fitters.  It only needs to be a little bit out to cause a lot of vibration.

Tried but with no luck. Thanks 

[Darren888]

5 hours ago, NightHaunter666 said:

I had a very similar issue, a violent vibration shaking the whole car, came on occasionally whilst cruising at a steady 70-80mph, disappeared again when i backed off to 50, and was fine going back to 80 again. I believe it was linked to another issue, corrosion in the brake calipers preventing the pads from sliding properly. Now the brakes are sorted out, the steering is as smooth as silk. I've got the AP racing big brake kit on my S2 111R. I suspect even a slight imperfection in the disc brushing against a sticking pad at that speed was causing the vibration. 

I reserve the right to be wrong.

Sounds like a real possibility, I’ve had both the pads and disc replaced recent enough. Just don’t know if the calipers need replacing also or the brake disc fitted were faulty? Thanks for this suggestion going to explore further, much appreciated!!!👍

[fentuz]

Check the wheel bearing for play and run out. Many years ago I had similar experience asked to garage to check, they said it was all good but the issue remained... went to top gear and checked with Martin and Kevin at the time and it was out... original garage in sheffield had not checked with a dti...
It was changed and it has been good since then