wobbly wheels!

[phurn]

the girlfreind was following me home earlier and said that my rear wheels were wobbling all over the place! i have to admit the back edn did feel abit livelier than usual.... what on earths happened there then? its due a grease up within the next 250miles, but i cant see how that would cuase both wheels to wobble such a visible amount.


ideas gentlemen?

[alex_holden]

Are the wheel nuts tight?

[PAULJ]

Check the tyres for bulges, That will do the same.

[phurn]

wheel nuts all tight, the tyres do look a little low, not low enough to wobble i wouldnt have thaught though. the back axle did take a good whack when the roads where iced up though, spun into a curb going round a roundabout with no grit on it =/

i thaught i was damn lucky to get away with just a flat tyre. maybe i wasnt so lucky?

[faversham999]

worn shocks

[phurn]

=[ what sort of price am i looking at for a set of shockers?

[alex_holden]

Did you put the wheel that hit the kerb back on again? Perhaps it is bent.

[phurn]

nope, used the spare, all 4 tyres are less than a year old so bulges seems unlikely. both wheels are doing it too apparently.

[bmcecosse]

It's absolutely not anything to do with 'shocks' (dampers - surely) - but possibly something has been bent in the curb bashing incident. Jack it up and spin the wheels to see where the problem lies.'

[phurn]

yeah that was my plan tomorrow, just seeing if anyone had any insights that might explain it. i hope i havent bent me axle!! though id have thaught my back end would be bobbing up and down if i had? that or somethign would have snapped from the strain by now....

[bmcecosse]

Indeed - yes- hard to imagine the axle has bent.

[phurn]

hmmm would a knackered uv, or infact a lack of grease in said area make it wobbly? as i say its due a grease up in the next 250 miles.... i finally got my new fan belt on today, s son as i solve one proble another rears its head. after this ive got a wonky door to solve. least i know whats cuasing that problem.... some clever **** welded the bottom hinge onto the a post in a truelly awfull position.

[les]

A worn uv would have no bearing on a wheel wobble and I'm not sure why you would consider grease or lack of it to be a possibility! I would suspect your kerb hitting episode to have caused this, you may get a clearer picture after spinning the offending wheel/wheels.

[chrisryder]

my best bet would be that you could have bent your 'U-bolts', the horse-shoe type things that bolt the axle to the springs. the side impact could have bent them and now they don't restrain the axle so well.

it's a peculiar thing for side impact on one side only to affect the wheel on both sides, so it is most likely axle movement i'd imagine.

you will find if you jack the car up and rest the axle on axle stands, you wont notice any play in the u-bolts, but that's because all the weight of the back of the car is on those bolts! if u support the body (my personal preference is a very long very thick block accross the back of the floor (between fuel tank and very back of car) with axle stands under. this takes the weight off the axle, and you can see if the whole axle is loose on the springs.

there's my two penneth anyway.

[phurn]

that sounds most plausible, and, luckily for me, not an expensive fix! fingures crossed thats what it is then!

[Alex'n'Ane]

Hopefully. Except the mounts on the axle can and do corrode, allowing the axle to twist and move about on them.

[d_harris]

It might be unlikely, but have you bent the flange on the end of the driveshaft slightly?

[bmcecosse]

Indeed I think that must be the problem - must have been a serious bang !

[chrisryder]

but how would that make both wheels wobble?

[phurn]

well it was a big enough bang to knock the tyre clean off its rim! as it goes ive jacked it up, span it around and can find no odvious answer... but ive pumped the tyres up as they were a little low, tightened everything i could find and it feels less hairy at the back.. (aditted one side was down to 17psi.... i kept meaning to top them up but im always in a rush)

ill get the gf to follow me round the block later, provided thats fixed i can move on to the newly discovered hole in the floor! if its not one thing its another.....