steering vibration

my car drives fine on street at all speeds whether in straight line or curves. problem is when I go around curves on track there is a massive shaking through the steering wheel.

the tires are 8 yrs old and have been left in one spot for February but doesn't seem flat spotted since no thumping other than high speed turns. I have gone over some bad pot holes lately that could have bent something or knocked off the wheel balancing weights but again, its ok at anything other than high speed track curves. any ideas?

its a stock lotus elise and I haven't gotten a response on lotustalk so thought I would try here.

thanks

 

Tracking a car with eight year old tires? Not being disrespectful, but for you safety, please consider new tires.

Does the vibration through the steering wheel happen in right hand, left hand or both?

 

Point taken
Left and right turns but only at high speed

 

Is this happen with breaking?

 

Both with and without braking

 

First thing first, as Steve mentioned change your tires first. It is not safe to track a car with such an old tires on, then come back and let us know. From my experience stering vibration during breaking is as the result of defective break pads and roters. Again before you do any changes please replace the old tires.

 

While its in the air, check for some play in the wheels, could be bad tie rods or tie rod ends.

 

Will do
Thanks

 

Have tire shop check for rims slightly out-of-round or bent.

 

Good idea esp with all pot holes i hit this yr

 

When you are experiencing the vibrations in the steering wheel, do you hear any abnormal noise from the front end - e.g wheel bearing noise?

If I was encountering the issue on my car, I would start with what others have mentioned.


New set of tires.

I agree with Chris, look at your front end suspension. Worn bushings, control arm, ball joints while it is on the lift.


It could be a bent rim or out of round rim, but I would think you would experience that under all conditions. Not just high speed cornering.

 

Hard to tell if noise since had top off and helmet on. So much vibration that im sure everything was rattling. I will bring car in to shop to eval next week
Thanks for advice

 

Vibration in the turns & high speed = Wheel Balance & Alignment issues - if you are tracking the car, when was the last alignment done and wheels / tire balanced? sounds to me track rod ends bushing worn - and the bump & rebound are what you are feeling as the car corners.

under braking is the car propoising? or shaking from side to side? propoising ( up and down ) = dive & squat problems - with shocks and stiffness & ball joints.

 

no problem braking in straight line from 120 to 50 for turn 1. no porpoising at all. shaking is more side to side with steering wheel almost pulling out of my hands

car never aligned or wheel balance as i got it with 1800 miles. did track day last year and was fine. only thing since then was sitting in garage without moving entire feb and the lots of potholes this spring

 

Definitely the tires. You don't even have to bother checking anything else.

 

really? even though work fine on street and on track too if going straight? whats wrong with them other than being old?

 

Interesting.

If the problem is caused only by the tyres one would expect to feel symptoms in a straight line as well as cornering. It's possible of course that you are using a an extreme section of the tyre under track conditions that doesn't get loaded on the road but I'm still intrigued why you feel nothing on the straight.

As others have said, given the age of your tyres, I'd recommend changing them anyway.

If that doesn't cure it I'd be taking a look at wheel bearings for sure.

 

If the tires have been allowed to reach that state you have to wonder about bushings and bearings too.

 

do bushings and bearings need to be replaced at 6000 miles and 8 yrs?

 

They need to be inspected at least that often.

 

only happening going around turns indicates ball joints or another front suspension failure. If there is a noise coming from the front of the car when you are making turns could be wheel bearings. Need to immediately check out the front suspension.

 

Not a Lotus expert, but

EIGHT year old tires, on track?

My speculation, in order of probability

1) tires. They are old, dried, hard as a rock. Would guess your track days were a bit cool/cold? hard tires, cold surface, high slip angle.....the tires are thumping through the corners. Happens with new tires on very cold tracks, the don't understeer as much as skip along....and you'll feel that in the steering column. Regardless of what the problem is, new tires are needed, so do that first.

2) wheel bearings. depending on how hard you drive on the street, you should feel them there too, but under heavy load (track), you could be feeling the bearings go. On my 430C, the bearings could feel tight on the lift but shake my eyeballs out on track - but not just the corners.

3) bushings - but again, unless you're flying on track and loafing on the street, you'd feel it, especially under braking

4) nut-and-bolt. Did you get under the car and do a full nut-and-bolt, with the right torques? some bits could be loose, some could have, er, corroded up over the winter and are acting overtorqued. (Again, no Lotus expert)

IF your car is fine on the street and this is only on track, then the only theoretical difference is the load on the tires/suspension, (assuming you are really cranking load on track).

 

wth spider, 8 years same tires, you know better than that. Don't want to read about another track guy getting into a tradgic accident, over something avoidable. At the very least get all new tires before you hit the track again, why take such unessasary extra risks.

 

This would be my guess as well.

 

Check the tire manufacture date on the sidewalks, they may be more than 8 years old
Agreed change the tires first.