vibration at speed

davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
i am off to Germany next week and i have noticed (on a bit of private road) that although the car is very smooth and generally running well it gets a bit of vibration above 110 mph it does not get worse at higher speeds. Any one got clues on this one? I have had the tracking and wheel balance checked twice now. I have also rules out warped discs with the fronts being just skimmed and new rear discs. It has just passed MOT with instructions to double check all bushes and ball joints. The guy who skimmed the front discs also said he would be able to tell if there were problems with the front bearings and he reported no problems.
I am thinking perhaps road force wheel balance or some thing of that ilk? any suggestions?
 

samueluper

Junior Member
Messages
103
The same thing happens to my car...

At 4000 rpm exactly. If i go faster, the car goes smoother again.
 

FIFTY

Member
Messages
3,100
I have the same, all suspension components are in good condition... the wheels balanced but on more of an expert inspection it turns out I have buckles on the inner edge of the rim. Looking at your avatar we have the same rims so it's entirely plausible.

On very smooth roads I can feel a slight almost unnoticeable vibration at 70mph but over 100mph (on the German Autobahns a few weeks ago) I could feel it vibrating at different speeds up to 150mph when I lost my bottle

Going to send them off to Lepsons in the new year who can hopefully repair the buckles and re-finish to be like new again
 
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davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
mmm buckled wheels, not simple to fix then!! let me know how you get on at lepsons
 

Oneball

Member
Messages
11,072
Aerodynamic effects

Propshaft/uj/guibo/bearing

Driveshafts

Diff

Rear wheel bearings

Tyres
 

lifes2short

Member
Messages
5,821
As per Fifty said it could possibly be buckled wheel, I had a similar issue with my M3 a few weeks ago with vibration at a certain speed, was thinking all sorts of things such as drivetrain issues and/or diffs etc. Then I just decided that I would check the wheels, one rear wheel had 3 hairline cracks and had buckled when checked on the tyre balancer, so worth checking your wheels as well
 

mikem

Junior Member
Messages
240
I have the same, all suspension components are in good condition... the wheels balanced but on more of an expert inspection it turns out I have buckles on the inner edge of the rim. Looking at your avatar we have the same rims so it's entirely plausible.

On very smooth roads I can feel a slight almost unnoticeable vibration at 70mph but over 100mph (on the German Autobahns a few weeks ago) I could feel it vibrating at different speeds up to 150mph when I lost my bottle

Going to send them off to Lepsons in the new year who can hopefully repair the buckles and re-finish to be like new again
Had exactly the same thing in July. Driving through Germany, thought I would open it up on the Autobahns. At 100 m.p.h. noticeable vibration, got it up to 145 ish, but the vibration was enough to rattle your false teeth so lost my nerve.
 

allandwf

Member
Messages
10,958
I'd also go for propshaft. I had it on an old car when I put it back on and didn't realise what the centre punch marks were for. It vibrated about 90odd.
 
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alfatwo

Member
Messages
5,517
I would say propshaft, these are a known issue on the 3200's

Let us know how you get on.

yea exactly Matt, drive train imbalance, as you can't drive them like you used to 10 years ago..

You need to get them over a 100mph or so for a couple of minuets to get a feel of things at speed

There's old Masers were designed to do 120+ for hours on end!

Dave
 

FIFTY

Member
Messages
3,100
@davy83 is the vibration coming from the front wheels (mostly feel it through the steering wheel) or rear wheels ( sensation feels like it's resonating through chassis)?
 

davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
As you know its often hard to pinpoint when you are travelling at that sort of speed. I think my best bet is the front wheels somehow. I have had the wheels balanced twice now in different tyre places and the last attempt I think made it a little worse. Hard to quantify. It goes through smooth bits and then starts again as you gain speed, which to me feels like a wheel balance problem and I think the possibility that the wheels have small flat spots sounds plausible, and without fixing that I will never get them just right.
Its frustrating as up to 110 mph it runs so nicely at the moment, having fixed the problems with the prop, gearbox, and rear wheel bearings its a lot better than it was a year ago.

@davy83 is the vibration coming from the front wheels (mostly feel it through the steering wheel) or rear wheels ( sensation feels like it's resonating through chassis)?
 

Oneball

Member
Messages
11,072
If it was the front I’d expect you to be able to feel it through the steering wheel.

Can you borrow a different set of wheels off someone?

What work did you do to the propshaft? They’re a balanced unit and it is possible to put them back together wring. The support bearing is sometimes sensitive to alignment, depends on the car whether it needs shimming or not.
 

davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
you can feel it through the steering wheel.
Prop was replaced with a second hand prop from a low mileage car, the two sections were aligned to within 0.5 of a degree, couldn't get shims small enough to get it closer. no vibration coming through the gear lever where it was before so I think the prop is ok.
 

Oneball

Member
Messages
11,072
Does braking make a difference? If it’s a worn bush or ball joint braking often makes it a lot worse or a lot better.

Jack the car up and set a fixed pointer against the rim then rotate the wheel to see if there’s any run out/ovality do the same for inside and outside edges.
 

alfatwo

Member
Messages
5,517
@davy83 is the vibration coming from the front wheels (mostly feel it through the steering wheel) or rear wheels ( sensation feels like it's resonating through chassis)?[/QUOT

Sounds like front wheels or brake disks out of round..
When I used to do the South of France run every few weeks 6 or 7 years ago the old 3200 GT would sit a 130+ for 10 minutes at a time in more or less total silence!
They are just fantastic old cars:cool:

Dave
 

davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
I will try the test on the wheels not a bad idea. I think possibly the idea that there might be flat spots in the rims may be worth a look as the wheels are 17 years old so they have been through a bit and I have had to replace one of the fronts because of rim damage so maybe the other one is not right either.
 

babel 101

Junior Member
Messages
253
i am off to Germany next week and i have noticed (on a bit of private road) that although the car is very smooth and generally running well it gets a bit of vibration above 110 mph it does not get worse at higher speeds. Any one got clues on this one? I have had the tracking and wheel balance checked twice now. I have also rules out warped discs with the fronts being just skimmed and new rear discs. It has just passed MOT with instructions to double check all bushes and ball joints. The guy who skimmed the front discs also said he would be able to tell if there were problems with the front bearings and he reported no problems.
¿Estoy pensando qué tal vez la fuerza de la rueda es equilibrada o algo así? ¿Alguna sugerencia? [/ CITA] Very insteresting
 
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babel 101

Junior Member
Messages
253
[QUOTE = "lifes2short, post: 652771, miembro: 8393"] Según Fifty dijo que posiblemente podría ser una rueda con hebilla, tuve un problema similar con mi M3 hace unas semanas, con vibración a cierta velocidad, estaba pensando en todo tipo de cosas tales como problemas de transmisión y / o diferencias, etc. Luego decidí que revisaría las ruedas, una de las ruedas traseras tenía 3 fisuras finas y se había doblado al revisar el equilibrador de neumáticos, así que vale la pena revisar las ruedas también [/QUOTE]
+1
 
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babel 101

Junior Member
Messages
253
As you know its often hard to pinpoint when you are travelling at that sort of speed. I think my best bet is the front wheels somehow. I have had the wheels balanced twice now in different tyre places and the last attempt I think made it a little worse. Hard to quantify. It goes through smooth bits and then starts again as you gain speed, which to me feels like a wheel balance problem and I think the possibility that the wheels have small flat spots sounds plausible, and without fixing that I will never get them just right.
Its frustrating as up to 110 mph it runs so nicely at the moment, having fixed the problems with the prop, gearbox, and rear wheel bearings its a lot better than it was a year ago.


I have the same problem. When I check the right front wheel I see that it has 14 counterweights (buckles) on the rim. I think there are too many counterweights