Vauxhall Astra Shaking

TerryPalmer

Hi guys,

Not sure if anyone can help - I have a Vauxhall astra and its recently started to vibrate and shake when I get to 70mph - up till that speed its fine. Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks in advance

Strider590

Probably a wheel balancing weight has fallen off, especially likely if it's got alloy wheels, because the weights are glued on and if the wheel wasn't cleaned properly the weights wouldn't stick around for long.

With wheel balancing issues, you'll get vibrations starting at around 50mph, you'll probably only be able to hear these vibrations at first until you build up more speed, because the shock absorbers will be taking some of the strain.

Check your tyres thoroughly for damage/bulging, but i'm fairly sure this will be a balancing issue. You can check the weights, if you have good branded tyres they'll normally be the opposite side to the valve and about 10-20g in weight, with cheap tyres they could be practically anywhere. On alloys, If one has fallen off there will be a patch of goo covered in brake dust.

forgotmyname

Checked the tyres lately? What pressures do you run them at?

spacey2012

Check the wheel nuts immediately .

Strider590

spacey2012 wrote: »

Check the wheel nuts immediately .

D'oh, I made the mistake of thinking OP would have checked the obvious

Stooby2

If all the above are ok, then you need to get the ball joints where the steering rack joins the wheel hubs checked for play. You can check yourself to see if they feel overly loose but it can be difficult to tell if you don't know what you're looking for. Similarly the ball joint at the bottom of the hub where it joins the lower swingarm can be a source of steering shake.