1999-2009 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
 | [Main 95 Bulletin Board | BBFAQ |
Prev by Date | Next by Date | Post Followup ]
Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
Re: Wheel wobble w/ new tires... HELP.... Posted by CrNiFe [Email]  (#408)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from CrNiFe) on Fri, 21 May 2004 06:44:23
In Reply to: Wheel wobble w/ new tires... HELP...., egsAero, Thu, 20 May 2004 15:38:33 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Interesting - I searched this board and the Swedish Wrench site and saw a few messages about vibrations. (This is a copy of my post there, and you can see Jordan`s response to it.) A while ago, I had a 1995 900S on lease, and it had had a collision with a curb under slippery conditions, left front side sustaining damage, which had apparently been repaired completely. After running it for a few thousand km, I changed the tires, and bought two new rims, and rebalanced the tires twice, and still had a steering wheel shimmy at 105 km/h (65 mph). Along with mysterious problems on the left side, including with my A/C unit, at the end of the day I determined that it was the left front wheel bearing which had been overlooked and not replaced after the accident, and when it was changed, everything settled down nicely.
That sets the context for my new problem with my 1999 9-5 Wagon - one of the tires had a blister at the tread edge indicating impact damage to the cords, and the rim had a matching scar. I changed the tires from the original V rated Michelin MXV4 Energy with 75k km on them to National Ovation H rated. The wagon had a steering wheel vibration, much smaller than the 900S, but suddenly it became much worse at speeds of 105 to 120 km/h. Immediately I thought of my wheel bearing problem, so I got my friendly mechanic to test drive it with me. There was no noise while following either right of left curves at speed, and certainly none of the whining associated with bearings brinnelling.
Here`s what we found - all my 16 inch rims were warped to out-of-round from the previous owner`s five years of driving on pothole infested roads in Hamilton Ontario (Canada`s Pittsburgh). Changing to newer stiff tires altered the dynamic response at those speeds. We checked and changed the balance weight positions on each wheel carefully, and now the shimmy has been eliminated. I guess the moral of the story is that our beautiful SAAB alloy wheels can`t be abused... eventually these rims lose their shape under hard driving on bad roads. I will move my rims over to winter service eventually where it will matter less.
If you have a vibration,check the roundness of your alloy rims before spending $$$ on replacement of wheel bearings and suspension. My wagon`s previous owner changed the right transaxle shaft, the flywheel and the right side ball joints in his quest to solve this problem (and may be why I picked up the car at a discount....). That road damage to the tire should have been a clue, eh!
My tire guy is really reliable, and mentioned that there is a way to do a special balance process. Looks like I won`t need it but you might.
posted by 65.95.5...
, Fri, 21 May 2004 06:44:23 <-- Viewing This Message
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
