Can anybody suggest why I am still getting the following symptoms?

MY99. The steering wheel vibrates badly at all speeds, but is more noticable at motorway speeds. Two separate dealers have been unable to even feel the above however the shaking is so bad you can see the wheel shaking at these speeds. The vibration increases when you lift of throttle at these speeds (ie, engine braking).

The tracking is ok and the wheels are properly balanced.

The engine sounds more 'thrashy' at higher revs, and the exhaust now 'booms' in the cabin where previously it did not.

I have also been getting smells of oil, burning rubber, burning paper, burnt clutch at various times.

Very confused and frustated Blobster

 

Try swapping the front wheels to the back and see if that improves it at all. My brother had a similar problem and it turned out to be a defective tyre, which didn't show up when it was tracked and balanced. Hope this helps. Cheers, Olly

 

try the same above mate or if rhat doesnt work change the rotation of the wheels at front.so that both the front wheels have different rotation.had similar problem on a golf once this did sort it.first change the wheels from the back then try the latter.

 

Thanks guys, have already tried that, but it seemed to make the problem slightly worse.

Blobster

 

drive shaft couplings ?

 

Had a similar problem on my car the other week (MY97). Got to work after suffering the vibration, which was intermittant at different speeds and checked the brakes. The drivers side front was almost on fire! and the others were relatively cool.

Got home later and stripped front brakes down. Found one of the pistons had seized on the caliper which had seriously cooked the back of the disk. Fixed this by chocking the working piston and lightly pressing the brake pedal until the piston pushed out. I lubed it up, and worked it in and out a few times.

All put back together and no problems since. Just waiting for new disks to come now......

Hope this helps.
Ian

 

Thanks again chaps.

Definately not the brakes. Rear brakes are ok, front ones are 6 month old Brembo 320mm upgrade from the group buy.

Driving to work today and the vibration is so bad it's become a wobble. And as mentioned earlier, worse when you lift off the gas and let the engine slow the car.

Keep the suggestions coming.

Blobster

 

hi mate try jacking your front wheels up and seeing if you havent got any play in the wheels side to side. it may be the hub which has a bit of play in it

 

Light at the end of the tunnel.

Have been advised that possibly the alignment (geommetry) is out, maybe due to tyres being near the end of their life.

Can worn tyres have such an effect on AWD? If it is the alignment wouldn't it require something more severe to knock it out of shape - such as hitting a kerb or pothole? Or am I going to have to get alignment adjusted for every set of tyres used?

Blobster

 

The alignment specialist says there is no way, the wobble I'm experiencing could be caused by incorrect set-up.

So back to square one.

Blobster

 

Sounds similair to the problem I have had for the last 6 months. Mine doesn't sound as bad as yours though. At about 60mph I start to get a vibration but only on part throttle. On acceleration it only lasts till about 75 then goes BUT, if i'm hard on the power right through this speed range there is no vibration at all! I've checked bushes, tyres, swapped wheels, inner and outer cv joints and can't find anything at all. I was told by a respected garage just to keep driving until it gets worse so they can pinpoint it! Trouble is it hasn't got any worse.

 

Try checking your front discs for warping. I know they are new but that doesn't mean they can't be defective. I had an old nissan 4x4 that had bad front discs, I thought it would shake to bits slowing down coming off the motorway.

 

Mine is not a braking issue.

 

Markwrx check your engine mounts for pliability

 

Blobster,

I'm getting a similar problem on my own car (MY99 RB5). I had the front wheels balanced (this is the 3rd attemp). Before I just used some local fitters, but our company has a partnership with a very good garage and they sent someone out (they have a mobile tyre fitting van) to rebalance them and take a proper look.

He said that the tyres have a very slight bulge in them that may cause a bad vibration. He has a clear screen on the balancing machine, so he can check if the tyres are OK. He said my wheels are perfectly balanced and a normal machine with a solid hood wouldn't spot that type of fault.

I know you've swapped your tyres around, but there's no reason why more than one tyre couldn't be affected.

If you know another local Scooby owner it might be worth swapping wheels to see if it goes away. At least that would rule out buckled alloys, badly worn tyres or wheel balance.

Stefan