front left wheel wobbling

[colcol]

How did the wheel get buckled in the first place?,when the work was done on the car, they should have test driven it to make sure everything was allright and picked up the buckled rim, Colin.

[Cool Jesus]

Yeah col, thought crossed my mind aswell. I'd be pointing the finger at the shop for the cause of the buckled rim. But, sounds like Stefan is happy with how it transpired by the way it reads. It could have been worse.

Stefan, what was the secondary noise?

[gtv6sv]

Col that's what I asked them, they really couldn't give me and answer, they tried saying that I hit a pot hole but prior to having loose wheel nuts it was good, all was smooth. They really couldn't give me an answer.
As for the secondary noise they tell me the wheel was making that noise, I only assume they are correct as once I changed it, it was smooth again. The car is well now and is a truly a joy to drive!!

[poohbah]

GTV, here's some food for thought - I have also had wobbling from the front to contend with.

I was getting slight scuttle shake at 90-100 kph on my Busso 156 - nothing dramatic, but enough to notice. It felt like it was wheels out of alignment or unbalanced, but after a bit of investigation was advised my teledials appeared slightly out of round, hence the wobble.

Anyway, it was minor enough that I put up with it. Then last week, following regular service, I had four new tyres fitted (better brand than the el-cheapo worn-out ones that were fitted) and had a full alignment done.

And guess what? No more shake...so far anyway.

How long that lasts will probably depend on when I hit the next big pothole! My Alfa mechanic has also advised that front suspension bushes are a bit worn, so will get them sorted before too long to avoid excess wear (no doubt they could have been a contributing factor to the wobbles in the first place).

But I am now reasonably optimistic I won't have to have the teledials rolled or replaced at substantial expense. I really love the look of the teledials.

[colcol]

Vibrations are caused by tyres being out of round or out of balance and or buckled rims.
If the rim is running out more than about 3mm, i would have it re-rolled, or get a replacement.
The tyres....one side will always be heavier on one side than the other, thats why they put a balance weight on one side to counteract the heavy side, throughout the tyres life the rubber will wear off and it may go out of balance, as they don't wear perfectly round.
Out of round tyres are another kettle of fish altogether, the rubber carcass of the tyre is at slightly different thickness's and at 50 kph it may be ok, but at 110 kph it will be vibrating, because the thinner part of the tyre has expanded more than the rest of the tyre and it is out of round as oppossed to out of balance.
Both out of round and out of balance produce the same results as the car vibrates and is bad for bearings, hubs and suspension.
Worn suspension bushes won't contribute to vibrations, but they will have excess play and slop and will clunk and bang away.
On the 156, the top arm bushes wear and you get a clunk coming through on bumps, the top arms should be replaced as a complete unit as opposed to new bushes, as there is so much work in replacing the bushes, you are better off with new arms, and you get a new balljoint as well, and you should look at new top control arm pivot bolts as well, as the new arms may be loose on worn out pivot bolts, the bolts have to come out anyway, so renew both, Colin.

[poohbah]

cheers Col. good advice re top arms.

[colcol]

Go for the Genuine or original manufacturer TRW, some of those ones on Ebay are rattling after 3 months, when i did mine i checked the old bolt in the new top control arm and it would have rattled, the new bolt was good and tight in bush, Colin.