G'day one and all
I have a Bf Falcon falcon ute (straight gas) as a work vehicle that has an intermittent steering wheel wobble that can occur anywhere from 20km an hour through to 90km/h. At it's worst it the car feels like it is about to fall apart and shakes my arms as though I have bingo wings (sorry to all the old biddies out there)- it really does shake quiet violently! The vibration feels as though it transmit all the way up the column shaking the hell out out of the steering wheel (the vibration occurs whilst driving- not under brakes)
The mechanics at work have had the discs machined, 4 new tyres put on the car, repalced 2 rims and had the upper and lower control bushes replaced and still the problem persists. This is obviously costing quiet alot of money but everyone seems to be a loss as to what the problem is.
I read on one your threads about tail shafts causing vibration issues, but I would think that this is very unlikely as the shaft has never been out of the car and as stated vibration only happens intermittently
Yours thoughts on possible things that could be wrong
Shocks?
Rack?
Bearings?
Thanks in advance
Oz Ute

Might be worth checking the front hub and bearing, they can cause a steering vibration when they are damaged.

yeah i'd say check your wheel bearings.

It gets worse!
I checked the brake fluid resovoir the other day,after listening to sqeaky brakes and noticed that the level had dropped to about half. Took it to the boys in the workshop who checked it out and found the rotors stuffed after having been machined no more than three months ago, with new pads fitted.
I will ask the boys in the workshop to check the bearings- thanks for the advise.

This is relevant to my interests.....

I have a similar problem with my 07 Fairmont. However it shakes the steering while under brakes, but not every time. I thought warped discs but I don't feel anything through the brakes, just a very shaky steering wheel. Any other ideas before I take it to get looked at?

Thanks

That is usually disc runout on the front and may also be the hubs. Our BA/BF utes have a tendency to start the vibration and shaking near to pad change. Have them also check the Tie Rod Ends and the Tie Rods themselves.

Had new rotors and pads installed today -feels great so far but not overly optimistic that problem is solved!

Mechanics checked bearings and found no play ( held tyre at 12 0'clock and 6 o'clock and and shook tyre)

Spoke to another bloke today who saw his local ford dealerships throw out dozens of rotors that were on falcons, some of which had been on cars for as little as a month! The old rotors on my ute were on the car since new (now has 86000 km's) and only had it's first maching, as previously mentioned, about three months ago.

Is there something inferior with factory rotors?????

If my problems persist, are tie rods/ends the next thing to replace? It now seems like a matter of elimantion.

It was noticed that whilst on the hoist that the passenger side sway bar link was bent but was assured that this would not cause a vibration through the car.

I will keep you informed of my trials and tribulations- I'm sure you can hardle sleep waiting for my next installemt!
oz ute

Check if the inside of your tyres are chopped out or worn unevenly. When the brakes warp it causes uneven tyre wear on the inside of the tyres and can cause vibrations.

I change my rotors about every three months, but i do it myself so it only costs me $35 to skim them and that's it. I was in melb the other day and every company car i drove that was a falcon had warped rotors, if you ask me its a common problem.

4 new tyres put on at the same time as previous rotors were machined (3 months)- tyres look fine at this stage.

No there is nothing wrong with Factory Discs, there is a problem with calipers it would seem, as the later BFs have little trouble with vibration on brakes.

The sway bar link, is it the link? or the bracket that bolts to the sub frame? The bracket is usually damaged from hitting gutters and is more likely to be a problem rather than the link. I would be changing it if I were you whichever it is.

it would appear to me that ba>Bf factory rotors (unsure of others) were made from chewing gum n quick steel. every one i've ever been in has had pharked rotors unless it's had phenomenally low kms.

you have to take into condieration though, that the b series falcons weigh more than XA's. alot of weight naturally equals alot of inertia, so i think it's just asking a bit too much out of a decent rotor.. papa smurfs on the right track i think i just don't think theres enough pad bite to effectively retain geometry, they seem to create alot of heat. i asure you this problem is worse with autos to.

nb: i seem to have fixed the problem in the bf with cross drilled slotted rotors and good (not awsome) pads. the au is next on the list. i hate brake shudder.

Oz ute, i sympathise with you. My BF wagon has the exact same problem, multiple mechanics, varying diagnosis, too much $$:
- Wheel balance x 2 - NO
- Discs machines x 3 - NO
- 3 diff brand pads (No cheapies) - NO
- New rotors - NO
- New Tyres - NO
About to try bearings even though when checked seem OK.

If anyone has an actual SOLUTION to this prob let me know.

its the pads resting on the rotors even when the brakes arnt applied, adjust the booster along with a new set of feet and brakes and it should be fine, wheel bearings are more likely to be notised in the corners, the simple wiggle test isnt realisticly good enough on a car IMO, ebay a set for as low as $50.

Seems to be lots of things that can cause shudder in these brakes and steering wobbles while driving.

Just make sure that basics are attended to first... So make sure the bearings are good, the disc hub faces and hub itself are free from dirt before fitting the disc. Torque the wheel up rather than the usual "f**k off tight via the breaker bar". The hub/disc design on these things require even torque on all nuts or it will cause shudder. I know with my BF, if I hand tighten the wheel on, I get vibrations when driving. Torque the nuts evenly, no vibrations.

Also make sure the pad is pushed far away from the disc when putting the wheel on. I've found that when taking a wheel off, it can allow the caliper pistons to push out slightly, and when you put the wheel back on, the disc doesn't sit perfectly flush on the hub, so you get vibrations.

I also found the rack adjustment on these models are s**t and the rack to pinion preload adjuster loosens off every easily. There is no locknut on the adjuster as there were on earlier models. Even at 20,000km on my car, I had to turn the adjuster back in 1.5 turns (and its a big fukn nut) to get it to meet spec. Otherwise I had alot of slop in the steering and the road surface would allow the rack to move around giving the impression of vibrations and wobble.

Same for the bolt that clamps the intermediate shaft to the rack. On previous models they used a spring washer to keep it tight. Now its loctite. But with all the heat and vibration right in that spot, it doesnt last particularly long.

Make sure the rack itself is nicely tightened to the crossmember. There is a history of the rack bolts coming loose and the rack itself moving around. One side is solid mounted, the other is bushed.

Now for the bigger stuff...

Lower control arm bushes, particularly the s**t soft front one are renouned for slowly causing the brakes to develop DVT when they start dying. As well as causing the feeling of bump steer and wobbles on rougher surfaces. The factory bush has alot of slop from new, and only goes downhill from there.

Dead bushes also greatly amplify minor DVT problems. So what might be a minor DVT that you would never really feel during breaking, with dead bushes it would be shaking to the point where it feels like the front is going to fall off the car.

There are some really good posts on AFF in the B-series section from Dazzler351 and comments from guys from DBA about these problems.

For the record, the wobbles and vibrations I was getting while driving came down to rack adjustment, intermediate shaft bolt, even torque on all nuts and making sure the inner pad is away from the disc when refitting the wheel. All these things incrementally made it better until combined, it all went away.

There endeth my story!

arm79 nice story BUT - most of the prob you have listed have been checked and would most likely have a constant or at certain speed caused the wobbles.

The issue im having is im driving on freeway at 100kph for 1/2hr no prob then a slight shaking will start and gradually increase till the steering wheel is shaking like a dog sh*tting razor blades.. i give brakes quick hard pump and tada all fixed. May restart in 5 mins or maybe a week or two.

Not always at 100kph can start at any speed.