Exige 240PP - Wheel Vibration

[Dave_S]

Hi All,

Anyone had any experience / issues with low speed (30mph)and high speed (80-90mph) wheel vibration on their Exige? I am experiencing both at the moment with the non-vibrating spot around 60mph. There is also a droning noise, which is worst at lower speeds. Wheel balancing has been checked by 2 difference companies, who agree there are no issues. Wheel bearings have also been checked and the very slightly noisy nearside bearing replaced, with no change to the symptoms...

With only covering around 3500miles I am at a loss to what it could be, all the discs appear as new and pads look ok.

The dealerships I have been in contact with simply say that with covering so few miles its unlikely to be anything serious, but haven't expanded on what it could be! I am off overseas up until Le Mans and need to get it sorted for a smooth, enjoyable drive down!

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

Cheers

Edited by Dave_S on Friday 16th April 06:50

[nsm3]

I had the low speed droning noise on my car - it turned out to be the rear A048's. Replaced the rears, still there - had the car checked for bearings etc, nothing.

Came second replacement time and I fitted T1-R's (please dont start a tyre thread/argument over this!) - noise gone.

[Stephanie Plum]

We've just had this problem with a JC Elise with has Exige wheels and suspension, plus 48s so almost identical set up. Endless rebalances and new tyres and still no improvement.

Took it to Sincs last week where they did a geo and reblanaced the wheels on their super duper high tech wheel balancing jobbie, and problem gone. The slightest of rumbles while the tyres are stone cold, but as soon as you get some heat in them it goes.

We even had an engineer from lotus down and he said TADTS whcih I don't buy - this is a Lotus and they are supposed to be about balance and ride. People do say that different tyres help.

[Stu_00]

Stephanie Plum said:

We even had an engineer from lotus down and he said TADTS whcih I don't buy - this is a Lotus and they are supposed to be about balance and ride. People do say that different tyres help.

Sorry Novice here, what does TADTS stand for?

[LivinLaVidaLotus]

They All Do That Sir

48s are supposed to be one of the worst tyres to get balanced right, especially on standard kit.

[Stu_00]

LivinLaVidaLotus said:

They All Do That Sir

48s are supposed to be one of the worst tyres to get balanced right, especially on standard kit.

Ahh yes that technical term !

[cyberface]

Stu_00 said:

LivinLaVidaLotus said:

They All Do That Sir

48s are supposed to be one of the worst tyres to get balanced right, especially on standard kit.

Ahh yes that technical term !

I had the wheel vibration problem when I swapped the winter tyres back to A048Rs on my last Exige - I think I wrote about potential wheel buckling problems in a thread on here, because the road conditions around my way were so damn poor that I seriously thought the problem was caused by unavoidable potholes bending the wheels.

Same speed range and heavy vibration as the OP.

Turned out that it was simply that balancing the A048Rs was hard - the tyre shop that swapped my tyres on the rims didn't do a good enough job, but Lipscomb's balanced the A048Rs on the OEM rims and the car was smooth as you like after that.

[Dave_S]

Thanks all for the responses, at least I am not going mad... I think that a full Geo is a good idea and then see where I go from here.

Fingers crossed I can get it sorted for Le Mans.

[cyberface]

Dave_S said:

Thanks all for the responses, at least I am not going mad... I think that a full Geo is a good idea and then see where I go from here.

Fingers crossed I can get it sorted for Le Mans.

Assuming it's the same issue as mine, you don't need to touch the suspension geometry as it's just a question of finely balancing the wheels - the A048R tyres being a bit of a bugger to balance (that's 4 Bs!) especially if you've done a few trackdays on them. Lipscomb did mine in a day IIRC, they had my car for a week but only because I could only drop off and collect on Saturdays. So I really don't think you'll have a problem for Le Mans.

(of course, by all means get the geo done to your liking while you're at it... but what feels like a serious suspension problem (I thought one of the wheels was falling off, or the rim was badly buckled!) was really just simple balance. Perhaps special balancing kit is required, so if you're in the SE then go to Lipscomb, I suspect any well regarded Lotus main dealer or suspension specialist / motorsport outfit would be able to sort them out though)

[Exige77]

Another vote for Sincs "Superdoopper" balance machine. Works very well and worth the money.

48's are well known to be a bugger to balance and sometimes move round the rim slightly when first on and you have to do the balancing again !!!

Ex77

[And9s]

I had exactly the same thing at about that milage. Got the wheels re weighted at the garage i bought it and everything has been fine since, 15k miles later.

panic over.