Blobster

For 2 months from mid Dec, my car MY99 developed a horrendous judder through the steering wheel. Almost like a wheel out of balance except it was present at all times the car was in motion and your couldn't drive through it.
Anyway, the wheels were re-balanced to no effect. I bought 4 new tyres and the wheels balanced again along with a geommetry check. All fine but the judder remained.
Was told by a dealer the 2 wheels were warped - tried a different set and the problem remained.
Was told it may be the brakes (Brembo 320mm kit from last years group buy) but couldn't believe the seriousness of the judder could be caused by the disks (steering wheel vibrating rapidly back and forth with about 2cm of travel) and anyhow the judder wasn't noticeable under braking.
At this point the dealer has refused to look into the problem any further.

Now, however the steering wheel judder has subsided and I'm just left with the feeling that the front of the car is just not behaving.
I have since had occasional drifting whilst on the motorway.
Occasional increased udersteer. Seemingly more body roll.
Suspension seems extra hard, crashing over even the smallest uneveness in the road surface.
Feeling from the front of the car of 'looseness'. Not as glued to the road as it used to be, along with a feeling of mechanical 'rotation' through the driver's footwell and to a lesser extent through the steering.
And this is the strangest part, a feeling when cornering, of a great weight shifting left and then right, even though the car will hold a line.

Engine wise the car seems to be performing well - having just discovered my cambelt had been fitted incorrectly 10 months ago.

I'm desperate to resolve this problem. It's been 3 months now and I'm seriously considering trading up just to be shut of it.
I just want my car back the way it was.

Blobster

MrDBM

blobster, where abouts are you?

how about having an independant specialist have a look/drive of the car and diagnose what's wrong. That's been my preffered way ahead for the past year or so, as the dealers just don't care half of the time.

Sorry i can't offer anything more technical than that

Akka

Thoughts....

Warped disks,
Split seals around suspension and brakes,
Problems with the actual spring it self,

Just a few thoughts......I'm not mechnaically minded, but the above are problems myself and my mates have experineced, hopefully relating to your problem.

Best Of Luck

John

dij

As above.Also has this problem only come with a change of brakes?
It could be anti roll bar related.Perhaps a split rubber bush in the lower wishbones.
You realy need someone to spend some time looking at it and possibly undoing some bolts to check for cracked rubbers.
Hope this is some help.

stockcar

recently had similiar issues with customer's car that ended up being a worn/damaged steering rack!!
when you corner does the steering wheel oscillate without the car changing line??
alyn - asperformance.com

Matt P

As you say the car is unstable and crashes over bumps, have you checked that the springs are still intact? I know this sounds far fetched but it does happen from time to time.

vindaloo

Another possibility is something bent or something ...erm... driveshafty. I don't suppose anyone borrowed the car around the time the juddering started....

That the handling has deteriorated but the juddering has subsided kind of implies that the initial juddering has knackered bushes or ball joints along the way. Now it's loose enough that you don't realise it's happening.

As far as I have experienced, if it was the brakes it would be most apparent under 'normal' braking from high speed. Harder braking would reduce or elimate most of the effects.

Another supposing... Are the callipers mounted correctly and securely?

Jeremy.

Blobster

Thanks for the ideas.
Alyn - The steering wheel oscilation was exactly as you described it although it has now subsided.

Vindaloo - I like the worn bushes/ball joints theory.

All - Brakes were fitted in June and problem surfaced in Dec so I'm kind of discounting them. But you never know.

Oh well, time to open my wallet and let Subaru help themselves.

I'll post how I get on.

Blobster