Curing wheel wobble

[david.g.chapman]

I have done the same as Hawksfield with the NOS Lotus alloy wheels on my +2, using the centre to position the wheel on the hub and enlarging the 5 anti-rotation holes a bit.

I still had some wheel wobble at 70-85 mph and cured it by doing the following:

1. Picked the wheels with the least run-out and fitted them to the front - less then 1mm would be good.

2. Got the wheels balanced.

3. Asked the tyre fitters for a couple of spare strips of stick on weights for fiddling about (they normally say yes).

4. Picked the near side front wheel and stuck on a 20g weight opposite the tyre valve. Found a suitable stretch of road and checked the wobble. Took off the weight and refitted 120 degrees away on the same wheel. Repeated for that wheel and then the other front wheel and eventually got an improvement. Then varied the amount of weight in that position to optimise. Did it all again with a second 20g weight to end up with a weight group on each front wheel.

5. Checked the preload on the steering rack pinion shaft and eliminated play in the steering column bushes. I aimed for the slightest resistance before the steering wheel begun to turn - not too much or you lose steering feel. This helped a lot.

Dave Chapman.