I posted about this issue a while back but its gotten worse now. Put Basically I have a problem with my 6 year old Fiesta which has developed a wobble when under load (IE accelerating, driving up hills) usually from 4th gear onward. I noticed it around 10 months ago and originally put it down to wheel balancing so took it to a garage, wheels were re balanced. Wobble was still there. Technician drove it and thought it may be the start of a drive shaft issue. They did a visual check and couldn't spot a problem. Since then another Garage has done a visual check and my local ford dealer did a visual check and gave the same answer. No one seems to know what the problem is.

I got used to the problem and stopped noticing it less but recently ive noticed it more and more, it started feeding back through the steering wheel so when i was in for an air-con service today I asked them to check the wheel balancing and they said it was spot on and didnt need to be done. Described the issue and all they said was to just be careful with the car.

Really what im asking is do people have any suggestions on what i can do to investigate the problem? I really love the car but this issue is putting me off it quite a lot, i keep wondering if i should just sell it before it becomes a bigger problem or just ride it out until it breaks, not knowing what the actual problem is. Anybody have any opinions or suggestions?

Some mondeos have had wobble because of dirt trapped between brake disc and the hub( i'am not sure what that part is called, but anyways that part that is behind your brake disc)

Some mondeos have had wobble because of dirt trapped between brake disc and the hub( i'am not sure what that part is called, but anyways that part that is behind your brake disc)

I had new pads and disks fitted at the start of the year so I imagine those area would be clear now?

If this were the case would it only happen during acceleration or going up hills? Thats when it happens for me, after about 60mph

Yes i would assume that they would clean the area when changing disks, but you never know for sure these days.

From what i have read, the problem in mondeos is constant wobble, so maybe not the same case than you.

1: Tyre bracing starting to fail on the front: This usually won't affect the steering but can be felt as a body shake. To eliminate this swap tyres from front to back. (Even failing tyre bracing on the back can cause a wobble at lower speeds and when going round roundabouts).

2: Outer CV drive shaft joint: It is normally a high milage wear or a past history of a split rubber gaiter allowing ingress of dirt and not being cleaned properly when repaired. This causes wear on the ball races so, under load it would be felt through the steering or be heard as a clicking sound when turning sharply. This will normally go without much trouble for thousands of miles.

3: Inner CV drive shaft joint: This won't affect the steering but will wriggle the engine/gearbox unit from side to side. Again this occurs after high milage or if the gearbox unit has be removed at some point and cleanliness has been lacking when replacing the joints.

1: Tyre bracing starting to fail on the front: This usually won't affect the steering but can be felt as a body shake. To eliminate this swap tyres from front to back. (Even failing tyre bracing on the back can cause a wobble at lower speeds and when going round roundabouts).

2: Outer CV drive shaft joint: It is normally a high milage wear or a past history of a split rubber gaiter allowing ingress of dirt and not being cleaned properly when repaired. This causes wear on the ball races so, under load it would be felt through the steering or be heard as a clicking sound when turning sharply. This will normally go without much trouble for thousands of miles.

3: Inner CV drive shaft joint: This won't affect the steering but will wriggle the engine/gearbox unit from side to side. Again this occurs after high milage or if the gearbox unit has be removed at some point and cleanliness has been lacking when replacing the joints.

Thanks for the input, ill try swapping the wheels around.

The other two points seem reasonable but like you say usually at high milage. Im at 56600 miles which isnt very high so itd be unusual but not unlikely :) do you happen to know if thenlast 2 points are expensive fixes?

Drive shafts are relatively easy to replace (around an hour's work per shaft) so the labour costs shouldn't be astronomic. The shafts are not going to be cheap, unless you can find something suitable online or from a breaker (but it is difficult to tell how good the joint is, it needs to be thoroughly washed out and checked). 56 000 miles is quite low, providinng the rubber gaiters have always been sound I have seen driveshafts go to 200 000 (the life of the car).

Drive shafts are relatively easy to replace (around an hour's work per shaft) so the labour costs shouldn't be astronomic. The shafts are not going to be cheap, unless you can find something suitable online or from a breaker (but it is difficult to tell how good the joint is, it needs to be thoroughly washed out and checked). 56 000 miles is quite low, providinng the rubber gaiters have always been sound I have seen driveshafts go to 200 000 (the life of the car).

My car has been visiting the garage this week because of Halfords messing up an air con service. Different garage, I haven't asked them to look at the wobble problem but I described it to them and they said it definitely sounds like an inner Cv Joint problem. He's seen people drive for years before the joints have gone