Crazy Wheel shake/wobble

[KAs14slider]

Hi guys, so a couple of weeks ago I finally got a five lug conversion installed. I got some used oem s14 hubs, and brand new rotors and pads. I also got some adjustable arms put on. So changes to the front were:
5 lug hubs
rotors and pads
Tension rods
17x9+24 wheels

In the back there are no problems but after the 5 lug swap I started noticing a little bit of wheel shake through the steering wheel when I would go over small bumps in the road. Didnt think much of it until I went over a big bump and the wheel shook so hard it felt like my front wheels were falling off. So I slowed down and pulled over. Nothing looked loose so I kept driving it and it was fine. So for the next two weeks the car would sometimes have insane wheel shake. It wouldn't do this always, just every once in a while. It seemed totally random. Now today, I installed 25mm spacers in the front and now the car does this a lot more. Happened twice on my drive home. So how could widening the stance lead to the wheels shaking and wobbling over bumps. Could wider wheels/spacers be putting stress on my steering rack or maybe wheel bearings? When we put the hubs on, all 4 wheel bearings seemed to be in excellent shape. Also, before spacers I got the car alligned, the only thing we didn't have time to fix is the camber in the front. Toe and caster were put to factory specs. And the back toe and camber was adjusted too. Car was up on a lift and we made sure everything was tight and torqued down.

Any ideas? Are my wheel bearings shot after putting on heavier/wider wheels?

[nathanong87]

Shake the wheel when u jack up the car. If there is play... Wheel bearings could be bad.

[KAs14slider]

We did that and there seems to be no play. And what I don't get is how random it is. Shakes sometimes but not all the time.

[KAs14slider]

Well, I feel retarded. I don't know why before I didn't connect the shake to high speeds. Maybe because I don't have a speedo and recently I just drove around town and never on highways or back roads. So the wheel will consistently shake now at around 60 or 70mph (speedo doesn't work so I don't know for sure) and then it goes away if you slow down. But it still will do it over bumps sometimes when I'm going regular speeds like 40mph. We checked everything again today except forgot to try to move the wheel up and down to see if there is play in the ball joints. The bearings seem good so I think ball joints might be the last thing that could be wrong. Anyone have ball joints go out? Does the wheel shake violently past a certain mph?

[iLagX]

rack n pinion bushing!

[cordobes]

i think im having the same problem after installing NEW ichibia 5 lugs hub with 18x9.5 +20 offset wheels and 15mm spacer up front,, i also feel some nocking on the flor where the brake pedal is..and make noise when i turn or go around 80mph.. im thinking my Rack is bad.. but didnt check it yet.

[wangan_cruiser]

go balance the wheel.

[jesse_s13]

check your rack!

[Eramo323]

Loose subframe bolts or bad rack

[andyv316]

Originally Posted by cordobes

i think im having the same problem after installing NEW ichibia 5 lugs hub with 18x9.5 +20 offset wheels and 15mm spacer up front,, i also feel some nocking on the flor where the brake pedal is..and make noise when i turn or go around 80mph.. im thinking my Rack is bad.. but didnt check it yet.

urs sound more like ball joints, op sounds like rack. but ball joints wouldnt be a bad idea anyways. When my ball joints failed, i hit the brakes and i would get a pop up front.

[KAs14slider]

Originally Posted by Eramo323

Loose subframe bolts or bad rack

Well all the subframe bolts are tight, we had it on lift yesterday. Everything looks solid underneath. And how would my rack go bad right after installing 5 lug and wider wheels?

[KAs14slider]

Originally Posted by andyv316

urs sound more like ball joints, op sounds like rack. but ball joints wouldnt be a bad idea anyways. When my ball joints failed, i hit the brakes and i would get a pop up front.

Yeah, mine doesn't make any noises from the front when braking or anything. And if the rack was bad wouldn't the car feel wierd/loose when turning? It still handles awesome. I can grip through a turn no problem. Car feels just as it always did. It only shakes once I hit like 60 somethin mph. Also, the car drives straight if I let the wheel go.

[xptnike]

It could be uneven tire wear since you got the car realigned, the wheels have wear from before you aligned them. On my car, that's how it is. My steering wheel shakes at around 60-70mph as well, but as long as i drive a little slower than that or faster, it goes away.

[KAs14slider]

Also, if it is somehow my wheel bearings that are bad does anyone know if I can just put oem s14 4 lug bearings into my s14 5 lug hubs? Because my 4 lug bearings are in really good shape.

[KAs14slider]

Originally Posted by xptnike

It could be uneven tire wear since you got the car realigned, the wheels have wear from before you aligned them. On my car, that's how it is. My steering wheel shakes at around 60-70mph as well, but as long as i drive a little slower than that or faster, it goes away.

Yeah, but I have had uneven tire wear before and it was never an issue. And I have experienced wheel shake due to an unbalanced wheel and you can actually just drive through that by accelerating. The kind of shake I get is just insane, whole car vibrates like crazy and you have to slow down.

[Jared0934]

This problem happened to my 240 as well. It came down to the bushings needed to be replaced. I'd say that's all it's a matter of for you as well, you already checked your subframe and it was all in good order so I'd say order some nice bushings online or at a dealership if you cant wait and put them in and test it out.

[KAs14slider]

Originally Posted by Jared0934

This problem happened to my 240 as well. It came down to the bushings needed to be replaced. I'd say that's all it's a matter of for you as well, you already checked your subframe and it was all in good order so I'd say order some nice bushings online or at a dealership if you cant wait and put them in and test it out.

Are you talking about subframe bushings?

[KAs14slider]

Could it seriously be allignment? I have never heard of allignment causing something something like this. Because when I added the spacers I also gave it a couple degrees more of camber. So I'm sure it changed the toe. But doesn't it tow in when you give more negative camber? I can understand there might be a problem with severe toe out, but not toe in. Or I know I could be desperate here and this sounds stupid, but unbalanced spacers? Is that even possible?

[iLagX]

probably wrong bore size wheels? need hub rings?

[puckfotholes]

Could possibly be the washer behind the hub nut, it's cut in a shape to fit flush and keep the hub properly positioned, maybe you don't have that washer or maybe you didnt put the washer in properly? only takes 10 minutes to check

[blueshark123]

try different wheels first without spacers then go try other things. I would recommend a alignment

[bentmode360]

if the wheel shakes side to side has to do something with the rack n pinion.
if its up and down its the bearings.

[Chrischeezer]

this thread reminds me of the Jeep's "death wobble" problem

YouTube - Jeep Death Wobble

but honestly, i would start removing everything you did last.

[KAs14slider]

Well after checking everything over and once again confirming everything is ok, I took the spacers off and the shaking got 99% better. I can go any speed and no shake. It still has slight wobble every once in a while which could just be an allignment issue but it never shakes as bad as before. So now I suspect that maybe the lug nuts that are bolting the spacer to the car could be not holding the spacer tight 100%. When I looked at the holes in the spacer I could see "notches" going around where the lug nut would be touching. It seems like the lug nut is slightly moving and shifting around at higher speeds. I'm going to try to find different lugs to hold the spacer on.

[KAs14slider]

So can a ball joint be bad without there being any play in it? What else in the suspension would really get strained when you add a wheel spacer?

[thesandman6]

Originally Posted by KAs14slider

So can a ball joint be bad without there being any play in it? What else in the suspension would really get strained when you add a wheel spacer?

If the wobble feels like a ball joint is bad and they are good, take the lcas off, see if the holes for the bolts have been enlarged on the subframe, and check for wear on the bolts. When I got my car it had symptoms similar to yours caused by the control arm moving around when I would hit bumps.

[KAs14slider]

Originally Posted by thesandman6

If the wobble feels like a ball joint is bad and they are good, take the lcas off, see if the holes for the bolts have been enlarged on the subframe, and check for wear on the bolts. When I got my car it had symptoms similar to yours caused by the control arm moving around when I would hit bumps.

Did you ever throw spacers on and it made it 10x worse?

[unpaintedhatch]

Loose castle nuts on the ball joints can also cause some of the problems you mentioned. The Hub and the ball joint have to be together without any spacing hope that makes sense how i explained it?

[dreamin240sx]

im saying wheel bearing or the rack bushing

[marat]

Do you have extended wheel studs to compensate for the spacers you are running?