Death Wobble

Hi

You most likely have a problem with the upper and lower ball joints. They are also called knuckle bearings. Do a search and you will find a detailed description on how to change them. These are the bearings that connect the front wheels to the axle. When you have this problem, you will see that the front tires are wearing at the side of the tire.

Regards

Jos

first off balance tires, then change rotors. they can develop a resonance and you can experience the death wobble if they are out of round. also, check for even wear on the tires themselves. sometime the tires can be 'balanced' on the rim, but still out of round. my dad's lexus gs300 didn't have a death wobble, but a close look at his tires showed uneven wear with areas of worn tread so bad that it eventually destroyed the wheel bearings. also, what size wheels/tires are you running? the 19/20 inch rims from the 2003+ RR are notorious for uneven wear.

Parott.

Replace your rubber with new tyres ! I'm experiencing the same issues over highway expansion joints & my old school treads are out of round which is the issue ?

Cheerio,


Vinniman
'88 Highline
Perth, W.A.

I had two root causes of 'death wobble' as you put it. First, the rear wheels were out of balance - sorting that cured half the problem. The other half was due to a worn intermediate steering column shaft - replacing that cured the final vestiges of wobble. Now the Rangie tracks straight and true across all ruts and the like - just have to solve the incredible cabin judder it can generate on occasion!

- Balance front wheels.
- ALWAYS tighten all road wheel nuts with a torque wrench (different torque on different nuts can cause the brake rotor to become 'skewed', causing wobble at high speeds.
- Lightly grease the brake calliper guide bolt pins, so the callipers 'float' well/freely.
- Replace brake rotors if they are worn unevenly.
- Replace panhard rod bushes (- they get soft with age/oil dripping on them, and the whole axle can 'twitch' left <-> right after going over a bump).
- Replace all 4 ball joints supporting the hub-carrier.
- Get a steering alignment done.

I've done all of the above on the front end in the last 6 months and it now steers/handles/tracks excellently - just as if it had come out of the showroom.
Before the above bits were looked at, it was a bit of a pig after highway speed braking or going over ruts and especially when braking hard whilst going round a corner would cause the steering wheel to shake VERY violently/uncontrollably.

I've had good results just replacing wheel bearings if everything else is fine....