Is My Steering About To Break?

[Casheti]

Hi guys,

I hit a pot hole maybe 2 months ago or so, and it completely obliterated my late 2008 alloy into many seperate pieces.

I immediately installed the space saver and got a new alloy sent to me within a week. Driving on the space saver, I noticed my steering wheel would shake above 50mph and the car would rumble from the left passenger wheel (the point of impact). I took no notice of this and just put it down to driving on a space saver near it's maximum intended speed (50mph) which I rarely if at all exceeded.

With the new alloy installed, my car still rumbles and shakes from the left passenger wheel above 50mph and I'm worried something may have been damaged by the impact, since it was large enough to actually shatter an alloy, and now that the wheel and tyre have been replaced I doubt it's anything to do with the wheel itself.

Does anybody have any ideas as to what, if anything, could have been damaged by this type of accident, and what could be causing this problem? The steering wheel also shakes mildly but it doesn't affect the actual steering itself and I haven't noticed any extra issues with the tracking etc.

Hope to hear from you all soon, and thank you for reading

P.S. I had the suspension arm on that wheel replaced about 6 months ago, so I know the noise that used to make and can safely rule that out as a possibility.

[JayGhia]

Now I would suggest, as you've stated before saying you 'Rarely if at all Exceeded', the part where you said you noticed it "Doing above 50MPH"? So.. you did go above 50 with a space saver, and it said 'Maximum speed, 50MPH' on the space saver itself, probably in a bright yellow, big sticker? You may have done some type of damage to something, and be worth booking it into a garage ASAP. I would say Steering is not something to ignore and take little notice of, and for future reference, without sounding as if I am a know it all, or being rude, take notice of such warning signs and stickers, they're there to protect you, and other road users.

A space saver is also only for use from the scene of putting it on, to get you to a garage, you should minimalize the amount you drive around on a wheel a total different size to the other.

[Casheti]

Hi,

It's a full sized spare wheel, I just called it a space saver from force of habit. My bad.

Also, the incident happened on the way to work which is a 100 mile round trip every day. Try sourcing a new alloy in under a week and getting it delivered to your house and fitted also while working a 72 hour week including weekends. That was the earliest I could replace it.

And yes, going above 50mph was diagnostically viable to see if the problem increased with speed which to some extent it did, but I did it maybe 3 times maximum and probably only up to 56mph. The only other times I had to increase from 50mph was when I was being full beamed and honked at by lorry drivers behind me for going 50mph in the left lane of a motorway... despite being perfectly legal, on my way to work.

Any ideas anybody about what could actually be occurring with my wheel? I don't consider it dangerous as it hasn't affected my steering or ability to stop or hold the road etc, I'd just like to get a few opinions before I pay extensive amounts of money to investigate something which a user on these forums may have experienced before and have some advice about.

[JayGhia]

Fair enough, I'll google it and have a rummage. But I would seriously recommend leaving that bad boy on the drive for now, it may not have broken yet, but there is nothing to say it's not well on its way, and god forbid it goes on the Motorway and you lose control. Just be careful my friend, I'll google now and get back to you.

[JayGhia]

Wheel Balance, it's the small weights they clip on the side of your wheel, not very expensive I'm being told.

[jeebowhite]

Wheel balance is likely a strong candidate, however if you hit the pothole at some great pace, you could be looking at additional damage. I would say an alignment, and balance is the minimum you need at this point, but dont be surprised if you have something bent or buckled outside of the wheel, as this will also cause the vibration.

[Casheti]

Thanks guys, the alloy I have at the moment actually came with some weights attached to it so I assumed it had been balanced already. Or are wheels not done on an individual basis?

[jeebowhite]

The wheels should be individually done, however they need to be balanced with the tyre on, if you are saying what I believe you are, you are just referring to the alloy itself having the balance weights?

As such, get your car down to a local tyre shop and ask them to do a balance, they may charge a few quid (average of a tenner) but they should be able to rebalance it if that is the problem.

[Casheti]

Yea the alloy itself came with the weights already on it, and a tyre already on the alloy so I assumed it was fully balanced, hence why I'm not holding out much hope that balancing fixes the problem :(

Anyway, I'll get it checked out and see what they say, then report back.

Any other ideas what it could be if the balancing doesn't work?