Technical a bit of a wobble

[cherrykerry]

I'm hoping someone can help me. I have an 8 yr old panda 1.2 dynamic. 4 months ago I had both front tyres replaced as well as the bush ends, arms and tracking done. Shortly after that I noticed the car was a bit wobbly/uneven driving at low speeds. I then had it serviced. Soon after that my steering started going light occasionally. I took it to the garage that serviced it and they could find nothing wrong. A few weeks later the wobble and steering was still a problem so I took it to the garage that normally does my repairs, they spent an hour looking at it and couldn't find anything wrong. I even had the battery replaced but that didn't solve the steering issue. About a couple of weeks ago the wobble/uneven ride got slightly worse and I can defiantly notice it when driving at slow speeds. Today I took it for the mot (to my usual place that do mots and nothing else) and it passed with flying colours and didn't even have any advisory problems.
So to sum up, 3 different garages have looked at it and none have found a problem, but I know I'm not going mad and there is deffinatly a slight wobble. I know my shock absorbers will need replacing at some point but they were checked 2 weeks ago and again today and both times been told they are not bad enough to replace yet.
This evening my dad suggested it might be the wheels need balancing. Any ideas?

 

[portland_bill]

If it is a vibration at 45-65 mph, this is most likely to be wheel balance. Get this done first.

 

[varesecrazy]

have you put the rear tyres on the front to see if things change?,
that's the easiest / cheapest 1st fix,
charlie

 

[PeterMJ]

have you put the rear tyres on the front to see if things change?,
that's the easiest / cheapest 1st fix,
charlie

Sounds like the best place to start by swapping wheels from front to rear etc. Its unlikely that all the wheels are out of balance. One wheel might be out of true or I have even come across tyres that are not manufactured properly and are slightly egg shaped.

 

[varesecrazy]

Sounds like the best place to start by swapping wheels from front to rear etc. Its unlikely that all the wheels are out of balance. One wheel might be out of true or I have even come across tyres that are not manufactured properly and are slightly egg shaped.

I've has all of that over the years,
one wheel was OK to look at but would not balance at all,
ended up replacing the 2 front rims..,

nice car again after that,

basically if you swap the fronts + rears you should cure all the "steering wheel wobble", - IF it's a wheel problem.

let us know what you find,

Charlie

 

[cherrykerry]

Thanks for the suggestions. I took it back to the garage this morning and he said the tyres all looked fine. He didn't think the wheels needed balancing but I asked him to do it anyway. Apparently one side was fine but the other was 20g out. He said he couldn't find anything else and doubted the balancing was out enough to make a difference so suggested maybe its just a bit stiff after having parts of the suspension replaced. Surprisingly though I think it has made a difference and it felt a fair bit better (although not perfect) this afternoon. If it gets worse again I will try swapping the wheels as suggested

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi,
glad you're heading in the right direction,

as I was trying to say;
it could well be a wheel balance issue, that adding weights cannot cure.

so please try and explain what it does NOW that you're not liking,

thanks,
Charlie