Please Help!

[Stevekid1]

Hi, I am a new Stag owner of 4 months. On my first decent drive I noticed a faint notching/knocking which could just be felt through the steering wheel but thought nothing of it. However, when driving to the right and in particular when negotiating a roundabout this faint noise developes into a scary loud juddering that can be felt through the whole front of the car and feels like something is about to break or fall off. This has become so worrying that I have now stopped driving the car.

For information, the car runs on wire wheels and whilst I am no expert I have checked the spokes and splined hubs and these appear ok. In addition, since discovering the problem I have now renewed the entire front suspension, replaced all rubber bushes with polypropolene, replaced both anti roll bar links and both bottom ball joints but still the problem persists.

Has anybody else had this problem or can anyone suggest what might be causing it?

Many thanks in anticipation of your replies, Steve Kidley

[european voyager]

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Did you change the steering rack or track rod ends ? Get some one to turn the wheel hard round and look to see if the tyre is fouling on the suspension arms or anti roll bar ?

[Stagdad]

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Hi Steve

Do you know anyone else with a stag that you could borrow 2 wheels off ?that way you could eliminate the wire wheels, adaptors,splines.that's what i would do.



Cheers Steve

[Stevekid1]

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I have not replaced these as yet but hope to do the checking in this area at a local garage tomorrow. Thanks

[Stevekid1]

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To Stagdad,

I don't know anyone else as yet but I quess I could swop the wheels and hubs around the car and see if it makes any difference. Thanks for the suggestion.

[stagmuffin]

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hi, maybe you should check out the nsf wheel bearing while going around a right hander the bearing will be getting side loads it wont get in a straight line and the weight is biased to that wheel .opposite applies for left hand turns worth a check.good luck steve

[al-stag]

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Get the car jacked up and have a look at the handbrake cable in the propshaft tunnel. Can it foul the propshaft?

Mine did when I first had the Stag, it makes a horrible racket on any left hand bend . I just moved it and secured it better and that stopped the noise.



Al

[blackstag]

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Hi Steve

It might seem a silly question but have you checked the oil level in your power steering pump . I had the same symptoms when my power steering pump ran short of oil ,this happens when the seals go in the steering rack .Its not obvious at first beceause the oil goes into the bellows at the ends of the rack so you dont see any leaks untill the oil finds its way out of the ends of the bellows. There is some stuff on the market made by lucas which causes the rubber seals to swell and reseal its worth a try its only about £9 00 and much cheaper than a new rack .It worked for me . Best of luck

Tony

[Stevekid1]

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Thanks to those that responded but I think I now have an answer to the problem. Spent the day at an MOT garage on saturday. Three mechanics thorooughly checked steering rack and apart from a minor fluid leak its fine. Also changed both front wheel bearings. The noise got worse and the general consensus was that the problem lies with the wheels, splined hubs and dodgy old tyres. On Sunday I swapped front wheels to back and backs to front and the noise went, suggesting they are correct.

Today I tried to order four new hubs but during discussions found out how to check for wear in the wheels. It turns out that three of the wheels are nackered two of which are at the front which is the most likely cause of the knocking. Given that the only advantage of wires is what they look like I have now decided to revert back to alloys. However, my car is russet brown and I personally do not think that the original wheels look that good on brown and have decided to treat myself to a set of polished minilites which brings me to another question.

I was going to stick to 5.5j wheels but notice that a number of sellers of these wheels suggest 6j by 14 or 6j x 15. I intend to fit 195x70 profile tyres and believe these will be best suited to 6j x 14. Does anyone know if 6j wheels are ok on the stag or will they rub or foul the suspension?

Any replies gratfully received.

Regards, Steve Kidley

[Coppo]

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Hi Steve.

I've got the 5.5j x 14 with 195 x70 mounted, I think the fit just right they make the car stand out. I have no problem with rubbing.

Paul.

[Stevekid1]

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Hi Paul,

Thanks for that. Yellow stag looks the bizz hope mine looks as good.

[blackstag]

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Hi Steve I've got 185/80s on mine I know my stag has been lowered, but there isn't a lot of room between the wing and the top of the tyre its only the fact that my wheels kick out at the bottom and hence in at the top that allows the tyresafe clearance . Bear in mind you may be cornering hard with awell loaded boot (you'd be amazed what my wife can getin the boot if were going away) The stag has a fair bit of body roll when cornering hard . It would be nice if a fellow member with the same tyre size could let you try one of theirs first just to make sure before you are commited

Cheers Tony

[Stevekid1]

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Hi Tony,

Thanks for that. Wives have a tendancy to do that, our family cay is a Zafira gsi and if we go away my wife generally fills that to the brim so god knows what it will be like if we ever go away in the stag. My current tyres are 185x 80, addmitedly with standard suspension but there is bags of room. My concern is the extra width from a 6j as opposed to a 5.5j. Although most of the suppliers have said that the 6jx14 rim is fine I am not prepared to place an order until they can confirm that there are no problems but they wont. I might post another question on the forum and see what response I get. Ideally, it would be nice if someone else out there had 6j x 14 with 195x70 tyres and could confirm their ok.

Cheers, Steve