Steering wheel vibration 70-80 mph help?!

crazy4oldcars

2 questions:
Have you run thru any deep water recently, as in deep enough to reach your rotors? It would have to be after getting the brakes really good and hot. That and braking like crazy and then parking it are the only easy way to warp rotors. They have to cool unevenly from damn near red for it to be a problem.
If you can (no clearance issues) have you tried running without the spacers to see if the problem goes away? Like you, I'm doubtful it's your problem, but anything you can totally eliminate is a plus.
Good luck!

Kirk B.

AstatenateZ

No! My cars way too low. I won’t drive it if it’s raining hard enough to flood. And I don’t drive hard in the rain my hatch area is gutted and with my camber and stance driving in the rain is sketchy enough lol but I have driven car (not too hard) then washed it. But I don’t think the brakes went from really hot to cold water. But I guess it’s possible.
But I have to admit I have driven it pretty hard and done some pretty tough braking and parked it. So it wouldn’t surprise me if they were warped. Again, I’ll try the bedding process but unsure if that’ll help if they’re truly warped. Just not sure how warped rotors would cause the judder while driving w/ NO brake pressure applied. But suppose it’s possible.

Yes I can pull front spacers off and check to see if it helps! To rule it completely out that was going to be my next thing on the list to rule out.

40 to 332

You mention that you have after-market 19" wheels ... but no hub rings. If all else fails, you may want to consider purchasing a set of hubcentric rings and then install the wheels with the rings in place and check for vibrations ... perhaps first with the spacers removed, and then with the spacers installed. Although not always necessary, the rings can help center the wheels during install. Also, I assume that you have the correct type of lug nuts for your wheels.

AstatenateZ

... well sir you were right! I had an assumption. I have no clue why it just randomly started doing it. Maybe the last couple times I mounted wheels it didn’t seat right causing me to just notice it. The first couple times after spacer install I may of just got lucky and they seated fine. But now with aluminum hub rings. No more vibrations. Only at high speed 75/80+ braking from slight rotor warpage.


To everyone else, thanks guys! I’m pretty mechanically inclined. But I like to have opinions from others! Love this forum with my old Z and my current Z. Always helpful! Wheels are re balanced. Hub rings got my wheels centered. Alignment is good. And only vibrations I have is from my rotors being warped. But the vibration is a lot less when I brake. So I’ll be replacing those in spring! Stay tuned for the install as well. It’ll be posted on here as well!

40 to 332

Glad to be of help.

crazy4oldcars

Yeah, I don't think you could drive it spirited enough on the streets (without getting arrested ) to get them that hot. Maybe something like the Tail of the Dragon.
Not saying they may not be warped, just that it would more likely be a direct than something you did.
I'm just all caught up in this, like, "Enquiring minds want to know!". Lol.

Kirk B.

SouthArk370Z

Sounds like you are checking out all the usual suspects and have a pretty good plan. Keep us updated, please.

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Liquid_G

Maybe I'm grasping at straws here. But could this be a wheel bearing issue? Spacers i've heard put extra stress on wheel bearings. Don't know if thats actually true or not but was one of the downsides i've always heard mentioned.
Since you've had wheels balanced already, and since this happening on braking and off braking (just at speed) Wondering if it could be bearing play?

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AstatenateZ

Thought of that but no weird noises or humming like when wheel bearings go bad! That’s true right? There’s normally a humming noise and weird vibration that starts at a lower speed that just the 65-85mph zone I’m feeling. I wanna say my moms car had a bad wheel bearing / hub at one point and I drove it. Like anything about 35mph and it had a vibration and got worse as you went faster. Also a loud humming noise that also got worse as speed increased.

AstatenateZ

UPDATE:

Got aluminum hub rings installed on wheels. No more vibration from 65-80. No more vibrations at all. 40, 65, 85 , 100+ it’s gone! Not sure why it did it all of a sudden I never had hub rings with or without my spacers. Just came up this past couple weeks or maybe i didn’t notice it. Who knows. But the vibration is gone. I mean normal road vibrations just from crappy roads. That’s all. Vibration is still there when I brake at higher speeds so I will be doing new rotors and pads in spring! But thanks guys!

SouthArk370Z

Glad to hear you got it fixed and thanks for the update.

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crazy4oldcars

Good deal! Glad we were able to fix it for you! (Tongue-in-cheek attempt at humor, lol)
Mine threw a weight the other week, and I had to get them rebalanced. It's annoying to not be able to use the car's full potential.

Kirk B.

Tractionless

The day I put spacers on at 81k miles mine started just as the OP describes. So I guess it can be either it made wheel bearing issue more pronounced or the spacers are unbalanced from the get go. If it's the latter I guess there isn't a solution.

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Jayhovah

What style of spacers are you running? I am on generic 25mm hubcentric bolt-ons and I have no ill effects.

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Tractionless

Same as you but +20's off amazon that others have used. Even ground all the lattice off the brake rotor hub from the wheel so they're perfectly flat.

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