Steering wheel vibration 70-80 mph help?!
 

Okay posted in Wheel / tire even though it could very well be brakes as well...

So just a quick run down, my car has always had aftermarket 19” wheels, 10mm spacer (w/ extended studs) F and 25mm spacer R (bolt on) both Z1 and both hubcentric 66.1 for Nissan vehicles. I had a non hub centric spacer up front at one point and steering wheel vibrated from like 55-80mph. well ever since i got the Z1 hub centric it went away but now it’s coming back?!? Not sure why...

I have a steering wheel vibration on some roads it’s worse than others. Some roads it goes away completely for a little bit. It’s only from 70-80 and then goes way below 70 and above 80mph.

I definitely have warped rotors, at 60k miles idk how that’s possible, 1 owner (older lady) and then myself. I’ve never really done crazy driving b/c of how low I am. But when I brake medium to hard at highway speed 65-70+ I get a shake that is worse the faster I’m going. If I’m braking at 90-100 it’s a pretty bad shake / vibration. So I’ll definitely be replacing rotors to slotted rotors and pads when my brake pads wear out.

I’m pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the Z platform. This isn’t my first one or even my first modified one. I know the basics to look for, can anyone point me in the right direction?

I know it can be a # of things,
1) Wheel weights came off causing unbalanced wheels (very possible as the vibration comes and goes at speed)
2) wheels aren’t torqued properly (already checked and ruled this out)
3) Wheel hub centric Z1 spacers (not sure why it would just now start after being installed a little bit)
4) brake rotors being warped (?) not sure if it can cause the car to vibrate when NOT applying brakes
5) struts being blown I have seen vibrations (I have Tanabe coils and all 4 corners have upgraded stiffer springs and checked out) no fluids leaking from struts or seem soft or anything. Still stiff and new feeling.
6) tire issues (they’re new tires maybe 1-2k miles on them, but possible I guess)
7) alignment (I had an aftermarket camber arm fail less than a month ago and replaced with OEM and had an alignment less than a month ago) steering feels tight. Doesn’t walk either way (unless the road is angled toward one side) so I can pretty comfortably rule that out.
8) I’m not 100% sure what my Wheel hub bore is, or if it has hub rings on my aftermarket wheels, or if it’s not 66.1 I may need hub centric rings on the wheels paired with the hub centric spacers maybe?

Any other ideas or opinions on what of above it could be? Thanks in advance!!

Im lazy to read...have your 2 front wheels balanced problem solved hopefully.

Ok read some. #1 is your issue right there.

Wheels unbalanced? Correct?

Bingo! # 1!

I believe so. Sir
Have the wheels checked if it bent too. But with that speed you feel vibrations its the wheel balance is the issue.

Ok I’ll go ahead and have all 4 rebalanced! And see if that fixes it!
Just from about 65/70 to 80/85mph it does it, anything over or below and it stops. Some roads are worse than others. When braking it does it the worse especially at higher speed braking. So I know I have a rotor warp issue as well (that I’ll be replacing) just wasn’t sure if Wheel weights were the cause of it or rotors sticking from them being warped. But thanks guys!

If it was the rotors, it would just shake faster as your speed increased, and it would probably pull one way or the other at speed. I agree with everyone above, it's most likely a wheel balance issue.

Kirk B.

Thanks for that! My wheel / tire guy always hooks me up so shouldn’t cost me much to have them re balanced! And he wouldn’t of accidentally forgot any weights on mine. I believe he uses the high quality weights on mine as well. With the good sticky stuff that don’t come off. But upon inspection I noticed the front left wheel has NO weights on it at all. Which I know from past experiences that a wheel and tire can balance out with no weights but it’s very seldom.

So I’ll have them re balanced within a couple days and report back! I’ll be replacing rotors anyways just b/c I know they’re warped and it does have a tendency to pull one side (to the right) but I always assumed the road curves off that way for rain. So I’ll have to find a road I know is 100% straight and check. I’ll be replacing rotors probably spring time anyways! (Which is only Feb - March) for me. Im in the south we don’t have much of a winter. But thanks guys! I guess if I get rebalanced and it’s still doing it. I’ll replace rotors in spring and go from there.

Rotors seldom warp. If you still have some vibration on braking after balancing, you more than likely have some deposits on the rotor. Going through the bedding procedure will probably fix it.

The whole 3-4 , 45-10mph brakes , then 5-10 , 60-15mph in succession stops?

Yup. Just make sure you don't stand on the brakes while stopped at any point during the bedding process or the 15 minute cool down period after.

That's probably overkill, but, yeah. The few times I've needed to do it, 3 or 4 60ish-10 runs fixed the problem. Let brakes cool before coming to a full stop.

Okay got it 60-10mph 3-4 times and. Then drive it for 15 mins and let them cool. Got it. When I get off I have an industrial road by my work I can do 3-4 60-10 brakes and then get on the interstate to my house 10-15 mins drive at about 65-70mph so should be plenty of time for it to cool down and i won’t be on my brakes. This just burns off the built up deposits correct? Then why couldn’t I use a brake cleaner? Doesn’t properly clean off the burnt on deposits or what? Sorry never really had issues with brakes before and I have the sport package.

Also for an update, I went and had all 4 wheels re balanced only ONE (front) wheel was out. By a good bit. So I was like okay perfect, that’s the problem. Got on interstate. From 65-80 and it’s still doing it. About a 5-7 mile trip on interstate some parts of interstate was worse judder and some of it went away almost completely. And when applying brakes at 75-80mph it still judders until I get below 65mph and then it stops juddering.

So checked / rebalanced all wheels, still a judder just enough to be annoying, from 65-80mph anything 90+ it goes away. Anything below 60/65 ish it also goes away. Any braking above 70mph + also still causes steering wheel to judder / shake a little worse. Still doesn’t pull either direction, no burnt pad smell, so don’t think it’s a stuck caliper/pad. Rotors definitely seemed warped but gonna try the bedding method first. Any thing else it could be?

Ruled out unbalanced wheels , torque on lug nuts, going to try bedding process for rotors to see if that helps my judder when braking at least. If not still gonna go ahead and order new rotors + pads in Feb/March. Ruled out strut / coilover issues as they’re riding perfect and upon inspection with wheels off they appear just fine. I guess my spacers are a possibility but the fact I’ve had spacers installed theyre Z1 66.1mm hub bore made for Nissan front & rear and it didn’t start doing it (or got worse) within the last week or 2. Seems to me that’s not it either.

Not sure what else to look for or why the rotors being warped (if they really are) would cause it to do it when not applying brakes. But car definitely judders when NO brake pressure is applied and gets worse when brakes are applied.

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.