Wheel Wobbles

[JamesT5]

The side to side wobble would go some way to explain the "skipping" sensation.
did you get a lever between the wishbone and where it bolts to the subframe and give it a pull? it'll show up your wishbone bushes.

I only had the time and facilities (i.e. sissor jack) to do a basic check of the wheel movement but when I change the components over I should have a better idea of that's going on under there.

Regards

James

[graemewelch]

Hope yr not using a sissor jack when you change yr suspension. Its got disaster written all over it. Buy a trolley jack and axle stands and do the job safley

[JamesT5]

Hope yr not using a sissor jack when you change yr suspension. Its got disaster written all over it. Buy a trolley jack and axle stands and do the job safley

Oh. don't worry mate I'm borrowing Dad's tools including the axle stands and the trolley jack.

[JamesT5]

Hi

Well, for those of you who've been following this thread, you'll know about the umms and arrrrs on this I've been having, but driving home this morning after a 12 hour night shift, I had a scary experience but I think I've found the problem and here's how............

I drove out down the work access road and the car was vibrating but slowly, as I was doing about 20 miles per hour. I got to the main road and the car was still vibrating and my steering wheel shaking came back and I was pretty worried because it seemed to be getting worse. To cut a long story short, the whole car felt very odd indeed driving back home and when I got to a 2 - 3 miles stretch of dual carriageway, well this is where the real 'terror' kicked in.....

I was driving along and the whole car seemed to be resisting my use of the accelerator pedal, the more I used the worse it got and the worse the vibrations got. My thought at the time was that my wheel bearing or CV joint was siezing up and the power through the drive shaft was making it worse. Anyway, I couldn't get the car above 50 and the only way to describe the feeling is like when there is a MAF issue or the car has gone in to 'limp home mode'.

Really worried by this, I drove very slowly home via the back roads and when I applied the brakes, the car suddenly veered off to the right which was very scary indeed. The whole car felt like it was on a road that was moving from side to side and backwards and forwards, so I drove at 20 - 30mph along the quiet country lanes trying to stay out of the way of other drivers for fear of holding them up or crashing in to them!

About 5 - 6 miles from home, I slowed right down to read a sign post, very gently braked and all of a sudden I heard what could best be described as a rusty hinge on a gate sound similar to brakes when they go metal to metal. After that, the car just returned to the normal 'sloppy suspension feel', and I was left only with the incessant knocks and rattles coming from the worn suspension arm bushes and probably front anti-sway bar links.

So, the conclusion is...... Stuck Brake Caliper! The sound I heard was the brake calliper unsticking itself, and the resistance on the dual carriageway was me effectively driving the car with the brake stuck on!! The wobble is because the one wheel is fighting the brake on the other side, so you get a 'tug of war' effect through the steering column. This seems to happen mostly in very warm weather, because what I think is happening is the metal expands during the warm day and then shrinks at night and the caliper then seizes until it's received enough abuse that it frees itself.

I do also have these suspension wear issues so it looks like I've got 2 problems, not one, as I originally thought the wheel wobbles were soley down to worn suspension bushings or other parts.

I'm going to whip the wheels off and plaster the brake disc and caliper in brake cleaner, hopefully that will clean away some of the gunk and caked on brake dust and prevent this happening again. I need to change the brakes and pads but this car has already drained my spare cash this month so I can put the suspension parts right.

At least I can almost certainly rule out CV or Bearing issues and I hope that someone else will find this a useful point of reference if they have the same problem.

Regards

James

[graemewelch]

Strip the pads out and attack the callipers with a wire brush and screw driver to remove any rust. then regrease yhe slides and put plentynof copper grease wear the pads sit.

[Harvey]

If the disc has got that hot it might have warped it high and low spot.just be careful,
are the pads worn the same amount on the same disc eg inside one to the out side one,if not this can cause problems as well.
Please don't work under you car on the jack Volvo supply,a highways officer the ones in the 4x4 on the motorways,was killed when working on his own car at home using the same type of jack near me not all that long ago I know you said you wouldn't.

[JamesT5]

If the disc has got that hot it might have warped it high and low spot.just be careful,
are the pads worn the same amount on the same disc eg inside one to the out side one,if not this can cause problems as well.
Please don't work under you car on the jack Volvo supply,a highways officer the ones in the 4x4 on the motorways,was killed when working on his own car at home using the same type of jack near me not all that long ago I know you said you wouldn't.

Yeah those sissor jacks are a pathetic excuse for a jack really aren't they, in fact I don't even know why they supply such puny devices which are quite obviously dangerous. Why not supply cars with mini hydraulic jacks that are more reliable and a set of collapsible axle stands? Oh, I know, they want us to take our cars in to their garages, and pay their ridiculously high garage labour charges.

Are these sissor jacks actually good for anything....?

As for my brakes, the front pads and discs are due for replacement anyway and soon. Thing is, the ruddy thing is draining my bank account with these suspension issues at the moment and I felt the suspension is more of a danger right now than the brakes.

These cars have a nasty habit of throwing lots of expensive problems at us in one go don't they!!

Sorry for the rant.....

Regards

James

[JamesT5]

Hi

An update on this. I cleverly called out the RAC to get them to unstick the caliper and what I saw horrified me to the bone......

The two rods that are taken out from the back were rusted in with the head rounded off on one of them and it took a mallet, and a bottle of pentrating fluid to do the whole caliper. The RAC man had a hell of a job freeing it and it took all that plus me in the car pumping the brake about a dozen times to free it. He's rubbed the pins down with some emery paper and put them back in and made sure everything is 'working' (cough, cough), and everything is tightened up.

He said the edge of the brake disc has gone orange from overheating and the inner pads are starting to come unbonded from the metal plate at the edges. There was lots of rust and crumbling metal and he's advised me to change the caliper (might as well do the pair), plus the brake hose needs replacing due to cracking on the rubber, along with the front pads and discs that are pretty much shot to bits. Then of course I'll need to change the brake fluid too. The running gear on this car has obviously had a seriously hard life and it's gonna take some sorting out.

Yikes, this is going to be a big, big, big, BIG, bill!

Advice anyone....?

Regards

James

[M-R-P]

Bloody hell mate. If it's any consolation, once all these faults are sorted, you'll have a car you KNOW to be in good working order.
Mine has been worth every penny.

[JamesT5]

Bloody hell mate. If it's any consolation, once all these faults are sorted, you'll have a car you KNOW to be in good working order.
Mine has been worth every penny.

The RAC Patrolman agreed it was one of the worst he's ever seen! I'm going to get Dad to look at it for a second opinion as he's a good 'home mechanic' and I trust his opinion......

[JamesT5]

Oh, and he spotted 2 other things, ATS have put my N/S front tyre on the wrong way as it's a Directional tyres but the tread facing the wrong way! Also, he said that the tyre has been rubbing the wheel arch (as suspected and as per usual on these cars). That's obviously the sound I get on full right lock when I turn the wheel, and he said check the tracking as it can affect the position of the wheel and make it rub.

[Harvey]

Oh, and he spotted 2 other things, ATS have put my N/S front tyre on the wrong way as it's a Directional tyres but the tread facing the wrong way! Also, he said that the tyre has been rubbing the wheel arch (as suspected and as per usual on these cars). That's obviously the sound I get on full right lock when I turn the wheel, and he said check the tracking as it can affect the position of the wheel and make it rub.

The rubbing tyre will be the wishbones bushes worn or your steering stops worn on the wishbones.

[JamesT5]

The rubbing tyre will be the wishbones bushes worn or your steering stops worn on the wishbones.

It'll be the wishbone bushes as the steering stops are nearly new! The good news is that my new wishbones should be here tomorrow and I'm planning to overhaul the front end tomorrow too. I'm changing the suspension arms (wishbones), tie rod ends, ball joints and drop links on the front. I've also got drop links for the rear which are much shorter than the front ones for some reason.

I can't believe the state of the running gear on this car and I'm also suprised this car passed the MOT at the end of March. I don't know how the MOT tester didn't pick up on the state of this suspension etc, especially the wishbone bushes that have obviously been perished for quite some time, yet I've been for MOT's before where the MOT tester has picked on the slightest imperfection. You'd think it would all be done to exactly the same standards wouldn't you...!

[JamesT5]

Just been on Parts for Volvo to look at Brake Discs. Nice aftermarket ones for around £30 I thought, until I saw the make - Scantech! Mind you anything is better than the decrepit metal discs I've got on there at the present moment.....

As for the Genuine Volvo ones, I can get them cheaper at a Main Stealer...... Oh, gosh, I've gone all dizzy typing that... where's a chair..!

[diggit1664]

Had the same about a week ago . Turns out that the pads are compleatly shot on the near side
Had brake pads go all the way to the metal befor but this is the first time I've felt this kind of wobble . It's like the tracking is of but the whole care was going to. Stupid idiots that change one side at a time when the pads are sold per axel

[JamesT5]

Had the same about a week ago . Turns out that the pads are compleatly shot on the near side
Had brake pads go all the way to the metal befor but this is the first time I've felt this kind of wobble . It's like the tracking is of but the whole care was going to. Stupid idiots that change one side at a time when the pads are sold per axel

I bet your calipers aren't rusted to bits like mine though....

[JamesT5]

Just taken it for a short hop in to town now the RAC man has done his magic, the car feels just ten times better although it's only a temporary repair. I can only imagine how great it's going to feel once this is all fixed and the car is back to normal.