lol... That sucks a** doesn't it. I was going to say 100km isnt enough to exclaim that an intermittant problem is fixed.

My new bushes didnt completely fix my problem (apart from making the car a whole new car to drive) but its muted a it more as well. Next try is rotors.

Maybe you should try retension the rack as I suggested, that made a massive difference for me... and makes the car feel 10x better.

If you have basic tools you can adjust the booster rod and tighten the rack yourself. Its really really easy. I can't believe Ford charged you $110 for something that literally takes 3 mins (at least thats what it took me when I adjusted mine).



Nope, same booster and master cylinder is used all the way from pov pack XT's to FPV's with 6 piston Brembos.

Rotors should be good

They said it might take a couple of attempts (lies?)

Be interested to know how to do the things you mention

We'll... There is a hole in the piston in the back of the master cylinder that is about 23mm deep... And there is a rod that sticks out of the booster that needs to be adjusted to 23 in length. Can go a little over that length as there is some play in the piston.

As long as its not too short that the rod isnt always in contact with the piston. Otherwise you'd have excessive pedal travel.

I would have thought it was a pretty simple thing to set it once and its done.

There is a few things that could be causing the problem. I know there is a bloke on AFF who had the exact same problem, and he redid the complete front end steering system, and it turned out to be the rack. Must have been about $3000 later and it was fixed.

I'm having this exact same problem with my BA XR8MkII aswell. I'm yet to have it looked at but its defiantely an annoying problem. I found that when mine starts to shudder real bad i give the brakes a good firm push and it seems to settle it down. I recently had to change my front left wheel bearing/hub so im just wondering if its not the other one on its way out causing the issue. Definately seems to be showing the symptoms

I came across this site when researching a similar problem, and am a bit concerned about the lack of expertise of some of the posters. I'm posting this for the benefit of others that stumble across this in their search for a solution.
The most likely cause of intermittent massive steering vibrations in BA/BFs are warped front brake rotors. The reason for the intermittent nature is that they warp when hot, just like when you put hot water into a stainless steel sink.
It seems the root cause of the warping, other than poor design, is the adjustable rod between the power booster and the master brake. If it's not adjusted properly, then the brake pads are in constant contact with the rotors, heating them up.
It seems that the solution is to replace your rotors with good quality (ie RDA brand) and then adjust the power booster rod. It seems very few mechanics are aware of this problem. Given that there is a lot more repeat business by failing to solve the root cause, it seems that there isn't a lot of motivation for mechanics to solve the problem.
It does seem that changing rotors/pads is something your average home mechanic can do. But if you're going to start mucking around with power booster, then finding a mechanic who knows about this problem is highly advisable.
Machining a rotor that will still warp when hot is a waste of time. Given that a good pair of rotors are $160 and machining costs $80 (OK maybe my mechanic ripped me off a bit) machining seems to be poor use of money.
The good news is that when this is the cause of the problem, you can expect increased fuel efficiency, power and brake pad life.

It's the Ball joints.

Hey there stock as a rock. I know this is an old post but I was wondering how you went with it. I have been having similar probs with my ba.

When it happened it felt like you got a flat, then when you checked out the tyres and wheel nuts all was good. Anyway I ended up putting some XR6 wheels on my car (offloaded std fairmont wheels) and it was fine for a while then got worse and worse. I replaced the steering rod as the slip joint was rooted with a 2nd hand unit for $150 as I wasn't paying the $700 ford wanted for a new unit, just to see if that was it. Sure enough it was better but not gone. So I purchased new tyres (mine were Triangle brand on the rims and crap) Put on yokohama a drive r1. Seemed much better but tyre place said 2 rims were buckled, one badly and the other so so. I had a spare rim so had the buckled rim changed over. Bingo bango car was like new....... for a bit. It is like 98% better than before but I still get the random vibrations at anywhere from 60ish but mostly over 80 to 100kmh. It can happen on the same road at the same speed one time and not the other totally a mechanical thing not road related, balance or speed.(had balance checked)

I have had a fair bit of trouble with this car and in 18 months have pretty much replaced most things I can think of (had surging problem). List of stuff replaced: Fuel filter x2, o2 sensor x2, coil packs full set, and one additional coil no 6, earth lead, injector cleaning, fuel pump removal and inspection (apparently some hose airates and can cause some surging), full set of slotted rotors and bendix pads and a new hand brake kit cause the damn frigging thing would just start to roll away on seemingly flat roads after a short while + auto and diff service. Been to my mechanic (who is a top bloke who was really fair about and dedicated to sorting it) about 10 or more times in 18 mths.

Anyway back to the vibrations, I think all that is left brake booster adjustment. Was really curious if this adjustment fixed your problem long term.

Many thanks
Paul

hi i have the same problem as well, massive steering vibrations - but only intermittently. usually occurs at speeds greater then 80klms and also noticed it at 60klms sometimes. It gradually starts off and then gets worse and worse with excessive shudder and vibrations.

I have a bf falcon, 2005 sedan.

If anyone has experienced the same issues and came up with a fix could you kindly post your solution or email me? thanks

I'll post mine when i've found it to as well. I'm rough guessing, ball joint, or the rack or booster at this stage.

I can confirm I had my booster adjusted (my mechanic didn't believe me) and it made it better but not perfect (I think my rotors are either too warped or it needs to be adjusted out another turn). I really think I will have to shell out on some new dba branded rotors and hope they don't warp anytime soon or try a further adjustment however I can say this post has been the difference between a solution or not.

Thanks to all of the posters as this info was very helpful.

I took my car into the mechanic about a month or so ago now and had the Steering rack lubricated and re-tightened, front rotors machined, new front wheel hubs(bearings) and a new LHS rack end. So far i can say that the intermittent steering shudder is gone. Honestly out of all that i think it was the front right wheel bearing causing the problem. Either that or the warped rotors were causing problems while driving but i'm still leaning toward the wheel bearings. I'll keep you posted if anything changes

well, went into midas today, and the guy pin pointed the problem right away with an adjustment on the ABS!

$88.00, so far so good, yet to give it a good run down the coast, cause thats when it usually pops up, after 30mins of driving

will post later in the week on final result.

Final result of massive steering vibrations - but only intermittently in my case was fixed by midas at capalaba, the guy pinpointed it out straight away with an adjustment to the ABS. Approx $90.

So far it has been 1 week and 1/2 and i've driven over 500klms, it hasn't happened at all. It was horrible to drive with the massive steering vibrations!

Highly recommend midas at capalaba, to pinpoint it straight away = genuis!