Dear All,

I have a Fiat Cinq Sporting 1998, which has got the modified dashbord with Seicento steering wheel and storks. I am having a really weird problem of late. I recently got my front tyres replaced with two brand new Perilli P700Z's and since then I have had a vibration though the steering. At first I thought it was banlancing so I got them balanced this didn't solve the problem.

I then noticed that the left hand side engine mountain was quite weak so I replaced that which has made the car feel alot more rigid to drive and the vibration has reduced slightly. However, I cannot seem to get rid of the vibration which occurs only at speeds over 65mph and it can be felt though the entire of the car. I have also had the car tracked and balanced. Also I have checked drive shafts, cv joints, track rods, ball joints shockers, everything and cannot seem to find out where the problem lies.

I currently suspect the steering gear but there appears to be no play in the box. Please advise.

Many thanks for your time.

Warren :bang:

my cinq 0.9 did that and my newest cinq does that, my other one didnt though, never found out what it was, just thought 'its a Cinq' lol

I had this with mine, replaced the pirellis with Continentals, problem solved :slayer:

I think its due to the pirellis having a really weak sidewall - so if you hit a pothole or speedbump too fast at the wrong angle etc, it kinks the sidewall radial brading and its that which causes the wobble. Well thats from my personal experience (Though with mine it was only around 75mph before it came into effect) and from reading lots of reviews on tyres (pirelli inparticular).

Though with new tyres, it shouldnt have done it that quickly

since it started after a tyre change i would swap fornt to rear to see if that stops/lessens it

I would still suspect the tracking and balcncing, i would suggest having it done elsewhere at a different place

Hi guys thanks for the input,

I have had it tracked and balanced at a different garage to where the tyres were originally fitted as I was in NI at the time of there replacement. I also know about the perilli wheel wall problems, but the symptoms occured immediatley.

Im gonna have a go at the steering rack tomorrow, it could even be where the column goes into the box where the problem lies, it's just really annoying and also I do alot of motorway driving so I could do without the vibration.

However I am suspect to the problem being caused by the roads surrounding my new home, I moved into a new apartment building and the council have deicded to put speed bumps the size of mountains, I have to drive one wheel on the pavement and one wheel in the gap between the kurb and the speedbump to get to my garage (also I haven't even lowered my cinq). I am determined to get to the bottom of this problem though, I've done 85k in my car and gone though plenty of tyres and never had a problem, apart from Nankang's which decided to explode on the motorway about 3 years ago and tashed a wheel.

I'll let you know how to goes after I take the steering box off, because I've also noticed a fair bit of play appearing in my column in every direction and also it's the only part of the car that vibrates so im thinking that can only be it.

Thanks v. much for the feedback though guys and I'll let you know how I get on.

mine shakes at anything over 60 but then again my cinq is sat on lowered suspension and 15s

mine does that to i cant work out what it is it starts at about 60 but gets worse the quicker you get.

if youve got aftermarket wheels fitted, make sure you have spigot rings fitted too otherwise the wheels might not be bolted perfectly central and will cause some vibration!

otherwise do as already said and swap fronts for backs and see what happens.

Digging it up.

It seems many of you have the issue with vibrating steering wheel at certain speeds. I also started to get this problem - it was there all the time, but recently got much worse, after replacing the most of the front suspnesion - wishbones + powerflex bushes (also new rubber parts sitting on the ARB) and -40mm springs. At 110-120km/h the steering wheel starts vibrating unbareably. Did not get a chance yet to see what happens at higher speeds. And, I did full tracking after all this.

Now just to recap what you have said - Pirellis do have a problem, I wonder if it is possible that they wore down a bit in a particular way and after the suspension has been changed the whole geometry changed and now the tyres "do not fit the road" as they used to? I remember last year after putting winter tyres on (Goodyear) lots of my stability/steering/shaking and other problems where gone, so I do not have the best opinon about Pirellis. But the ones that are on my car right now are no more than 5000 km old.

Aftermarket wheels not centered properly - can this happen to standard sporting rims too? I have to admit I did experience some alignment problem when I was putting the right brake disc back on - for a while it was scratching agains the caliper bracket (no, no I was not driving like this , I noticed right away before I put the wheel on). I took it off looked at everything again, refitted it carefully and it seemed fine. Still wonder now whether I could have messed something up on the way. And, the car brakes OK.

I read somewhere on the Stilo forum that even a slighltly out of shape rear wheel can give steering wheel vibration. I think one of my rear bearings is on its way out - could that bring such problems?

Finally, can a kanckered engine mount cause something like this - certain engine load and revs just shaking the car in a weird way? I did replace two of my engine mounts (left/gearbox and rear gearbox). Still waiting for the alternator side mount (it is definetly gone, to the point that I am actually reluctant to drive, but I have to).

I will try swapping my wheels around, just did not have time for this yet. I even have a spare pair of wheels with the same tyres, so plenty of things to play with.

I do not expect many answers to this, wrote it rather as a note to myself (and others that may be experiencing similar problems and have some thought about this).

Cheers,

Woj

"apart from Nankang's which decided to explode on the motorway about 3 years ago and tashed a wheel."


Nankang's explode????!!!! tell me about that please because a lot of guys are using those tyres around here

regards,

almost any tyre can explode, especially after long journeys when it's under inflated. A bit of metal or very strong plastic can also trigger the tyre 'exploding' at high speed.

I know you checked the CV joints, but is the damper on the O/S drive shaft still secure?

I wouldn't disagree with anything here, it could even be cumulative.

Thus far (touches wood) I've had no problem with Pirellis -- 700 on Sei and Cinq and 6000 on Sei.

fingers99 said:

I know you checked the CV joints, but is the damper on the O/S drive shaft still secure?

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Actually, I did not really... And the right drive shaft was taken out for the repair, it was treated very gently (no hanging under its own weight, etc.) I was replacing the shaft seal in the diff, but again I put everything back very carefully.

What do you mean by the damper? The weight/balance thing in the middle of the shaft? I never touched it.

/Woj

Just to add, that I have only run Pirelli P-700's or whatever they are called, both on my old cinq, and on my current car. That's about 7 years worth of cento driving, and I have never had any problems like those described here, only that i go through too many. Thats more down to my excitable driving though

Kristian

The weight/balance thing in the middle of the shaft? I never touched it.

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That's it. Just check that it is secure -- it is possible for them to come loose or even fall off.

fingers99 said:

That's it. Just check that it is secure -- it is possible for them to come loose or even fall off.

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Well, it is in place and it's not loose. I can however feel it's not totally stiff, that is, there is a rubber element inside which makes it a bit elastic - that I guess is OK?

/Woj

yep. sounds ok.