Help, my first Exige problem

[cirvy]

I've got a steering wheel judder/wobble that gets quite noticeable at around 80mph. It is also quite noticeable under braking. It's been evident since I picked the car up 3 weeks ago, the car is 2 years old & has done 9000miles.

I've done a 4 wheel alignment, & had the wheels balanced, all at my local Lotus main dealer. Sadly, it's made no difference.

Any thoughts??

[mike_knott]

Could be a couple of things (wheel bearings, rust, pad transfer, etc.)

Does braking suffer or does it just judder while still stopping well. If so, try braking heavily a few times from motorway speeds to see if it is a 'substance on disc' problem.

What pads and discs are you using?

Mike...

[MrSimba]

Have they checked the wheels are true and not buckled?

Could have hit a pot hole in the past?

[cirvy]

Hi Mike

STD pads & discs ( it's a 240 pp car ). The braking is strong, but you can feel the vibration through the pedal as well as the steering wheel.

[macgtech]

Sounds like it could be a warped disc (or two) - worth checking. Jack the car up, take the wheel off then spin the hub with a dial gauge next to the disc, it should quickly tell you if the disc is warped. You could also get a straight edge and run it round the disc on the discs surface to see if its warped if you don't have a dial gauge?

[snuffle]

worn Track rod end?

[CooperS]

For me i chased through new pads, discs, track rod end, wheel balance and trueing.... finally got rid of the noises and vibrations at 80+.... then sold the car

[The Bandit]

More than likely its the tyres, 48s are a pain to balance properly and seem very sensitive.
Are they new?
Quite common apparently.

[Exige77]

As Bandit said maybe the 48's.

They can be ballanced perfedctly but the first time you brake hard they sometimes move round the rim slightly and become unballanced again.

Once they settle they won't move again.

Might be worth a re-ballance ?

Ex77

[B@W]

The Bandit said:

More than likely its the tyres, 48s are a pain to balance properly and seem very sensitive.
Are they new?
Quite common apparently.

This probably ^

I've never had a set of 48s's stay in balance for long

[cirvy]

Cheers guys. From this & other forum threads, it sounds like it's got to be the AO48 tyres. Sounds like it's an ongoing problem ( seems strange to me that Lotus would keep fitting these tyres if there's an inherent flaw! ).

Now, do I bother trying to get them sorted, replace them with same, or bail, & get some 888s??

[nsm3]

I put T1-R's on mine, as the car was only used on the road.

Sorted out vibration, got rid of humming noise (thought it was a bearing), lasted at least twice as long, cheaper and were great in the wet.

You sacrifice some directness in the steering (initially feel slightly vague), but soon adjust to that.

I think the 888's are much like the 48's ?

[aceofspades]

have you lost any balancing weights ? i've lost them from new wheels once.

also i recently a new set of wheels fitted with tyres and balanced at a major outlet, and once on the car i got a huge judder from the wheel from 70mph. took the wheels to my local tyre place (very small outfit) and it turned out the balance was ridiculously off on the rears. the local guy guessed that the fitter in the other place did the front tyres first but forgot to reset the machine for the different offset on the rears, and wound up doing more harm than good.

that latter issue was with R888s btw, my first ever set. i've never had a problem with A048s vibrating.

[reado10]

cirvy said:

I've got a steering wheel judder/wobble that gets quite noticeable at around 80mph. It is also quite noticeable under braking. It's been evident since I picked the car up 3 weeks ago, the car is 2 years old & has done 9000miles.

I've done a 4 wheel alignment, & had the wheels balanced, all at my local Lotus main dealer. Sadly, it's made no difference.

Any thoughts??

Out of interest, swap the fronts with the rears and see if it changes it at all.

[mikeyb13]

Brilliant. Thats the proof that its not always best to ask for solutions online. Get someone that knows the cars well to have a drive of it.

I had a similar problem in mine. Replaced most of the above to try and fix it and it made no difference. Turned out it was a wheel needing rebalanced.

Edited by mikeyb13 on Monday 11th April 00:14

[otolith]

reado10 said:

Out of interest, swap the fronts with the rears and see if it changes it at all.

I think I see a flaw in that plan...

[Arun_D]

otolith said:

reado10 said:

Out of interest, swap the fronts with the rears and see if it changes it at all.

I think I see a flaw in that plan...

Yep!

[cirvy]

Problem solved. Turned out to be warped discs. All renewed & wheel wobble has gone.

Thanks for the input guys.