ColoQuattro

At exactly 52 MPH the steering wheel on my AR ossillates with a low frequency side to side movement. It is not a vibration. It is more pronounced with a slight steering correction to the right or the left such as during a lane change. At first I thought that it was one of the Pirelli P-6's with a bit of a belt seperation. The Pirelli's are zeroed as far as balance and the ossillation was not really bad (but "not really bad" is a relevant term for a car as spendy as an AR). Not wanting to waste time on the issue and knowing the rep of the stock tires, I decided to purchase a set of wheels and 18 inch 245-45-18 Michellin Pilot A/S's. Much to my suprise with a stiffer sidewall these only made a slight ossillation about twice as bad pointing to the car as the problem.
I have no brake shudder at ANY speed so I don't think that this could be a rotor issue. Unless this is a total coincidence between tires (which I seriously doubt) does anyone have any ideas what may be causing this ossillation. I hesitate to take the vehicle to the dealer with the new tires and wheels as these will automatically become the issue and source of the ossillation. I put the Pirelli's back on for now but that does not bode well for the substantial investment in new tires and wheels.
Any similar experience and advice from anyone regarding this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

03Indigo

It did not get worse with the new 18" rims and Falken Azenis ST115's I put on, it slightly improved the issue, so maybe you are experiencing something different?

Maybe we can get together some time and you can compare cars at speed to see what the differences are

I am in Westminster
Cheers
jon

upland

Its a little worse with 17" Dunlap m3s (winter) than original goodyears. Expect it to improve once again with 18'" summers tires.

moto-one

1.it was a balance problem
2.it was the tires out of round
3.it might be the steering rack
4.it is your 18s
5.now with 17 on its you balance again, car came back worse thin it went in, took it back to my tire shop and had a reblance, back to normal.
6. brake warp, brake warp brake warp, all three about 5k to 1200 miles apart.
Still have the steering wheel wiggle.

I think what we are feeling is the pults of the steering assist pump, and rack.

Just went back to my 18s and I have a balance wabble, that I will take back to my tire dealer and have the roadforce balance redone.

kierantaylor

Right at 78-80 MPH. I was told it was the Poorellis -- that they are technically a truck tire and not good for the car.

Was also told Im not supposed to drive that fast.... if that was the case, Id have an outback.

ColoQuattro

Nothing irritates me more than the answer "you should'nt be driving that fast". I heard that one several years back, on a '91 T-Bird that I had bought, from the service department that was trying to palm off a driveline vibe as normal operation. The speedo went to 125 MPH!!! Ford finally bought the car back from me...I didn't need some District Service Rep protecting me from myself by trying to limit the speed at which I operated my car...ultimately he was let go from Ford, not just because of me but because of his attitude and several other complaints....I just helped him along.

ColoQuattro

Yes....I would really like to get together to compare notes. There is alot about these cars that I don't even have a clue about and talking to someone with the same vehicle in person would be great!

03Indigo

you let me know what works for you, I have a few things planned each week, but if we set up something for a few weeks down the road, I can work that out. I will leave where and when up to you, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday work best for me. Where are you located?

cheers
jon

ColoQuattro

Stopped at the dealer (McDonald Motor Co) unannounced tonight after work. Actually I was pleasently suprised. On a moments notice they drove the car with me to show them the issue. They acknowleged the issue and suggested a rebalance of the Pirelli's. They also suggested I drive in another Allroad, off of their lot as a comparo, while they rebalanced my tires! They mentioned that they had a similar issue with a 4.2L Allroad, and had trouble resolving the issue as the factory would not acknowlege the issue for the customer! They were very curious about the 2.7L and made a sincere effort to help me out as I was there with a couple of techs until at least 8:00PM! I was impressed!
Apparently someone's Hunter Balance machine is off and/or they don't know how to use it...and it is NOT the dealer because seemed to be able to find two tires .5 oz out of balance and one tire .25 oz off while the tire shop said that the tires were absolutly zeroed out. Now there is no 52 MPH apparent ossilation with the Pirelli's however I didn't get a chance to drive the highway yet.
UMMM the question now is are my new Michellin's that far out of round like the tire shop says that they are?....or do I need another tire shop to mount and balance the tires?

ColoQuattro

Live in Littleton but work at DIA. I am getting the rest of the work done this weekend and will want to get the Michellin's on so maybe next week or the following week. What do you say? Wanty to e-mail me to arrange something?