Car Shudders

[mcyates]

I've noticed that my car shudders/vibrates badly while passing over larger road imperfections (expansion joints, potholes) and the steering goes all light. This is on my 182, i've driven my brothers 182 on the same roads and his handles them perfectly. This is dangerous as the car vears off when its shuddering and the sheering becomes all light and not that responsive.

These shudders only last for about 1 second but it puts the s***s up me!!

 

[thedoc]

have you checked your tyre pressure?
could be dodgy tyres?

 

[mcyates]

i've checked the pressure and they are all 30psi, i have a slow puncture on one of the tyres but i don' think it will be that.

 

[thedoc]

Its never something that simple is it !!

 

[mcyates]

well i've pumped the tyre up and it still does it.

 

[thedoc]

sorry my friend - thats as far as my technical knowledge goes, tyre pressures.. best wait for someone with more knowledge to come along..

 

[mcyates]

thanks anyways.

 

[Christopher]

describe the shuddering and i can help you out.

under what circumstances does it occur?

 

[Munson]

Mine is less able to handle surface ripples and potholes smoothly like it did when new, but thats because my fronts are near the wear markers. I believe yours are too mate?

 

[fizzy_drink]

Shockers?

A concrete block in belgium saw the end of my front-right shock absorber, on another car I had...

Instanty, it lost grip on all bumpy surfaces...

So... I'm thinking that the shuddering is actually your car bouncing... as the spring(s) isn't being damped efficiently?

 

[LegoHead]

i think my dampers might be buggered too, cos if i go over bumps i get loads of wheelspin, as the car bounces off the road, not good.

 

[mcyates]

yes the front two have about < 1 mm left. I noticed this about 6 months ago, I told them at renault but they didn't find anything wrong. Hopefylly it will just be the tyres.

 

[mcyates]

describe the shuddering and i can help you out.

under what circumstances does it occur?

right,

I'm doing 70mph on the motorway and i hit a little pot whole, i drive over it and the var vibrates, as if the wheels are bouncing, The cars steering goes very light and the car veers either to the left or to the right and seems to slide and shudder / vibrate when i hit potholes on corners/bends.

Thanks in advance

 

[Munson]

Get some new boots

 

[Friction]

yes the front two have about < 1 mm left. I noticed this about 6 months ago, I told them at renault but they didn't find anything wrong. Hopefylly it will just be the tyres.

not into laws then?

 

[mcyates]

not into laws then?

1mm left until they are at 1.6mm, the TDI are slightly below the normal tread.

 

[RobertCL]

Mine used to do a similar thing. Go over a bump as you are going round a bend and it felt like like the back end slid all over the place. Even did it n the motorway at 70 when there was a different in height where two road surfaces were joined - that was scary!

Took it to Reanult and they replaced my rear shocks. Cured the problem straight away.

 

[mcyates]

Mine used to do a similar thing. Go over a bump as you are going round a bend and it felt like like the back end slid all over the place. Even did it n the motorway at 70 when there was a different in height where two road surfaces were joined - that was scary!

Took it to Reanult and they replaced my rear shocks. Cured the problem straight away.

Would having a lot of weight on the car, cause this problem?

I often travel from Middlesbrough to Portsmout and back as i'm in the navy, One time I had loads of bags in the car and 4 people (including me the driver) the car was very low? I dunno if this can damage the shocks. Something is definately wrong, i might take it to renault when i'm home next.

 

[rory182]

check the shockers for oil if u find it they're leaking, not at all unusual, think i'm on my 4th or 5th rear offside shocker in 22k miles.

 

[mcyates]

how can i check the oil in the shockers

 

[Mole]

how can i check the oil in the shockers

You can't, they are sealed units. Just look for oil which may have run down the outside of the shocks.

My Mk1 had roughly the same problem, and the shocks were well and truely buggered.

Also do the bounce test... push down on a corner of the car, then let go, you should notice your car come back up to normal height on that corner, if it starts 'bouncing' its definately the shock

Not sure if that works on shocks that are on the way out, but it worked with my old ones that had totally gone.

 

[rory182]

yeah look for oil on the shock or a patch of oil where you park.

 

[mcyates]

thanks people i'll keep an eye out, i'll mention it on my next service.

 

[mcyates]

It won't be my shocks as wouldn't my car be bouncing up and down all the time.

 

[mcyates]

oh well, i've got new tyres on my car now and its still shuddering when i go over pot holes or resurfacing works on the motorways.

 

[mcyates]

I've booked it into Reg Vardy now. I'll keep you all posted on this when they tell me whats wrong with it.

Thanks again.

Michael