Shaking!!

[Dazz]

Hi all

Ive got quite a big prob with my RT. When i hit 60mph + the car shakes like mad. Ive had the balancing done this week and re-checked to ensure it is ok, also had it laser tracked and everything is fine.

I only used to get shaking when i got to 85 - 90mph (private road somewhere) but now it starts at 60 - 65mph and gets quite bad the faster i go. The passenger can also feel the shaking/vibration.

My brakes are a bit naff as one of the pads is running a bit low and the discs are a bit worn. I thought this could be the problem but the car doesnt vibrate when braking???? Although sometimes i can hear a strange but very quiet whining noise when i brake - normally when the brakes are warm.

Ive got some KTR pads coming soon and just got a set of new solid discs which il be changing soon. Anyways, im guessing that wont solve the problem so i dont know what it could be?

Ive tried taking it out of gear at high speed but the shaking remains so im guessing its not that, however the gear stick does shake a lot when in gear at 70. Also, I had a shock replaced a couple of months ago and when jacked up the new shock moves slightly more at the top than the old one. But i was told this is because the new shock has a slightly different design to the old one??

Any advice or things to check will be appreciated.

Thanks

Darren

 

[clio 16v blue]

it could be your steering rack or your wheels lose that happened to me before going down the motorway about 70 and a hell of a vibration went out and checked only 3 bolts in and hanging on or it might be a drive shaft.

 

[Dazz]

all the wheels are tight, checked that

gonna be changing brakes monday so can check all that then

 

[clio 16v blue]

hope you get it sorted i know how u feel when something not right really annoys me

 

[Dazz]

yeah i know, itll be playing on my mind til its fixed, bit like changing the brakes, just wanna get it done!!!

 

[KDF]

does the skaking come from what feels like the back of your seat (though your back) or through the steering wheel ?

If its through the back your rear shocks need replaced if its through the steering wheel its the fronts that need done

 

[White16valver]

Wheel (re)balancing needing to be done?

 

[Dazz]

had the balancing done twice to check, hes done it before and always done a good job in the past.

KDF, the shaking seems to come from everywhere, very strong through the steering wheel but even the passenger can feel it. Is it likely to be the combination of a new shock on the NS front and an old shock on the OS front. Ive checked the old shock over but it seems to be fine?? Tried the bouncing corner check as well, any other ways of checking it?

 

[Chris_H]

driveshaft.

 

[CS_Matt]

wheel bearings

common prob on clios and mine did the same

 

[steve_rt]

chris when you rotate the brake disc, looking at the shaft should it ever look like its moving in slightly an elliptical orbit? if not i take it thats an indication its buggered.

 

[Chris_H]

it will do that when its jacked up due to the angle of the shaft. So its normal to see it wobble about a bit when in the air.

 

[Dazz]

blimey could be so many things!!!

dont think its the driveshaft although could be. Will take it to my local garage on Monday and let them decide, just hope it aint too expensive

BTW, if it was the bearing wouldnt it knock on cornerS?

 

[Cup-pa]

Tyres/tyre out of shape? Tread can break down before the Tyre has come to the end of its life. I had a car with similar symptoms and it turned out that in one place on the shoulder of the tyre, it was virtually oval due to the materials breaking down inside.

 

[Dazz]

well heres some more info about the problem i found out today.

The shaking is light or non-existant when going down hill or with one person in the car.

The shaking is worse when two people are in the car???

Sometimes the shaking is there, others it isn;t? Only coming through the steering wheel.

Any ideas? hopefully gonna get it in the garage weds?

I rekkon bearings?

 

[Dazz]

Well heres the latest after being totally pd about my a garage in Lordswood.

Took it in thursday morning for them to diagnose the problem, get a phone call saying its the balancing. I told them it had been done and checked as well in the last week but they insisted it was the tyres. I said ok and £12 later i had two supposedly balanced tyres. Went for a spin, hit 65mph and back it came!! FFS, back to the garage, moaned, and they had another go. Same result!

In the end they said it must be an internal problem on the tyre as it shouldnt need 150grams to balance it. OK i though so took it to the local tyre place who said they had just balanced that tyre for the garage. Cheeky beggers had charged me for someone elses work!!!!

In the end they checked the balancing and said it was fine. So that leaves me totally fked!!!

Getting really pd off now, dont care how much it costs, just wanna get it fixed. Anyone know of a decent garage around the medway area that aint gonna pi#s me about like Lordswood Motorist centre did?

Thanks

 

[Clart]

my missus clio did that but it was only when breaking - turned out to be wheel bearing and distorted read drum. Got em both for £40!

 

[clio 16v blue]

STEERING WRACK f**kED GUESSING

 

[scotty16v]

could be aliens trying to extract your car into their spacecraft, do you drive with the sunroof open?....look up, you never know

 

[Dazz]

well yet another update on this damn problem!!!

Been for a 20 mile drive down the motorway tonight and experimented on the way heres what i found.

The shaking starts at about 65mph, at this point its quite bad and if i take my hands of the wheel it visibly shakes by about 5mm each way. If i keep accelerating the shaking stays the same until i hit about 80mph, at this point, it seems the faster i go the better it gets, at 100mph i cant recall feeling anything.

Im pretty worried now as the bloke i spoke to at Renault said if you can accelerate through the shaking its probably the driveshaft?

Any ideas of ways to test it? Ive had enuff of garages at the mo as no bugger seems to know what theyre on about.

Thanks
Dazz

 

[steve_rt]

if you donw get any joy here post it on RSC, chris will prob have the answer.

 

[Dazz]

ok thanks steve, will give that a go later, gotta go to work now

 

[scotty16v]

if you have hit kerbs a lot on the hard side could be a twisted or damaged torsion bar, what is the camber of the wheels like?

Does it pull to one side more than it should when you let go of the steering wheel taking into consideration the camber of the road surface?

Maybe get your camber checked, cheap to eliminate

 

[Dazz]

nah it seems ok, havent hit the kurb since ive had it, and the car used to run fine. Only had the car a few months and the problem has developed in the last few weeks.

Will get it checked out though, just to make sure

 

[steve_rt]

really does sound like the shaft. could be seized piston on disc, but then youd get that all the time, and youve just changed them.

im told shafts go a lot on clios, get that checked out. also try posting here:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/

very knowledgeble people there.

 

[Dazz]

yeah thanks steve, always helped me with most of my posts cheers

When i get outta work tomo im gonna whack either the 13s back on the front, or swap the front and backs around. Both should have the same effect. If it solves the problem i guess itll be a buckled wheel and im pretty sure it will be the one that needed 150grams to be balanced.

If it dont guess i best get saving. Is there anyway of checking the drive shaft myself without having to pay a garage?

Thanks

Dazz

 

[steve_rt]

150g balanced - yeah if i were you id swap that wheel and take it for another drive!

good luck mate. just keep telling yourself its all experience!

 

[Dazz]

experience......well ive only been driving 9 months so getting in the car every day is a learning experience

I hope it is just one wheel, although i will be pd as i only bought them a few months back. Still any excuse to get a new set of alloys/tyres.

Oh well, off to bed now, will report back tomo what i find

 

[Dazz]

UPDATE:

Well what an eventful afternoon. Firstly put two 13s on the front and went for a spin, hit 80 mph and not a shake to be seen yeah im happy as i know its only a tyre, or more likely a buckled alloy

Anyways, am off to chessington tomo, so decided to put the 13s back on all round as im gonna have 4 peeps in the car and my back arches rub a bit on the 15s.

So to sum up two weeks of pissing about, looks like ive got a dodgy alloy.

Still it aint too bad cos the car is so much faster on its original 13s Damn i wish i could get some alloys that small with a width of 195

Am gonna get the two front wheels into my local tyre place thursday so il post back then. In the mean time, if anyone decides to sell there spare alloy, or knows somone with one for sale, plz let me know! its gonna be a right dog trying to track just one down...

 

[steve_rt]

gald u got it sorted mate, tho the balancer place should really have told you if they thought the wheel was dodgy!

 

[Dazz]

FFS!!! This thread never seems to end! Turns out the problem is still there!!

As i got my 13s back on i checked to see if the shaking occured at the same speed as on my 15s, which it didnt (see previous post). However, as my speedo underread with the 15s on i had to take it faster on the speedo to reach the same speed. i.e. the shaking was at 75-80 on the 15s, however on the 13s it is now occuring at 80-85. I only realised that when i went to chessington as i had 40 mile of motorway to test it.

The difference being the shaking is a fair bit less substantial on the 13s than on the 15s. One thing ive also noticed is there seems to be a very slight, but noticable shake around the 30mph and 50 mph mark. It seems as the problem could be slowly getting worse. Oh and just one more bit of info, if i take the car to 100mph (on a private road) there seems to be no shaking at all.

Im really getting so pd off with this at the mo, i think the guy at the tyre place will be as hes arranged for me to have two different tyres put on my front 2 15s so i can rule out the tyres and wheels for certain (hes doing this for free).

So......im thinking this is starting to sound more like the driveshaft? or a knackered shock absorber?

Thanks

 

[steve_rt]

check all your joints for play - see the haynes for how tro do this. as i understand it, driveshafts on a FWD car are damaged far less than on RWD cars becuase of the CV joints that take most of the imbalances, reducing the strain on the shafts - check these aswell for play. The shaft itself, if slightly bent or out of shape can cause the patches of shaking descirbed.

best off taking it to a good garage to let them diagnose mate!

 

[Dazz]

yeah i got it booked in Tuesday, hopefully should find out the problem once and for all. Getting my alloys back tomo, cant wait to have the motor looking nice again

 

[lunchboxbill]

I had a similar problem on my phase 1 1.4 RT. It only shuddered when my foot was down, and when I pulled it off it stopped no matter how fast I was going (were talking 70mph and above). I took it in when my MOT was due and it was found to be that my recently fitted o/s drive shaft was faulty.

The only time it ever does it now is when the o/s front wheel has been removed (had lots of problems with squeaky brakes!) but that settles down after 100 miles or so.

 

[lunchboxbill]

I had a similar problem on my phase 1 1.4 RT. It only shuddered when my foot was down, and when I pulled it off it stopped no matter how fast I was going (were talking 70mph and above). I took it in when my MOT was due and it was found to be that my recently fitted o/s drive shaft was faulty.

The only time it ever does it now is when the o/s front wheel has been removed (had lots of problems with squeaky brakes!) but that settles down after 100 miles or so.

 

[Dazz]

thanx lunchbox, the drive shaft seems like the likely prob, il let u know what we find tuesday