the worlds most expensive wheel

[The G Man]

ok it might not be BUT....

ever since my car was stripped down to a bare shell and repainted 3 years ago I have had steering wheel shake which has increased or lessoned but never gone away.

bear with me and I will lead you through this a long tale of wow for me an latterly EJ Wards.

Things to that have been changed in an attempt to fix/improve it is an impressively long list and have not doubt improved that car no end but at a not insignificant cost.

checked tyres for run out, they were a brand new set of michelins, not that
swapped drive shaft not that, at the same time had the diff reconditioned, diff nose strengthened, fitted CCD CV drive shafts
had the all the steering components rebuilt, the rack was worn and would have needed doing anyway

At this point the vibration was getting worse as all other slop was removed from the system, but it was constant, it ebbed and flowed in intensity following turning the steering wheel for a corner.

EJ EWards stripped down every suspension component and replaced anything worn, again it seemed to exacerbate the problem.

after several months of head scratching and work, no solution, I was mentally done with the car.

And this morning good news at last, my Stag had been taken down to a specialist in Bicester who can measure vibration (I will get more detail and share after I collect my Stag on Friday) it was found that may front left wheel was not round!!!! and it was causing vibration through the whole off the front left of the car, all of that has now been balanced on the car and the wheel swapped.

Finally a steering wheel that doesn't move a millimetre and no vibration.

so a 4 year ownership journey that encompasses a body off respray, reconditioned gearbox, diff, OD unit, replacement fully rebuilt engine from EJ Ward, new leather dash to replace sun damaged split vinyl original, re veneered wooden dash new drive shafts, refurbished seats in essence a fully rebuilt car at an amount of money I don't want to contemplate for too long.....

Now to try and fall in love with it again in 2025 and after retirement do the NC 500 in it and it will be the bridal car at my daughters wedding in October

[Lingen]

Gman
Amazing/depressing/expensive etc.etc. for you that the wheel balancers (and others) didn't pick up that one wheel was distorted. It must have been pretty apparent to cause such shaking.
Full marks for sticking with it!
Mike.

[The G Man]

Lingen, 5 different wheel balancing companies and to be fair to them EJ Ward couldn't find it either, no one had machinery that could detect the fault, it was initially slight, but as we worked through the car removing the 50 years of play that was built into everything it made it worse not better as the slop was removed. I think it will go into the hall of fame at EJ Ward's it was a first for them which is saying something given the amount of cars they have worked on.

They had test driven it with wheels from a different car to see if it was a wheel issue but the wheel had sent the whole suspension system out of balance so the fault persisted albeit with less harmonic. Stripping down the suspension components didn't indicated a balance problem.

I think I now have a car that is in better condition that when it left the factory, with some upgrades, poly bushing, strengthened diff, CV drive shafts and a fully balanced engine, the carbs have also been rebuilt.

So nowI am 65 I think I can say it should see me out and will hopefully give me lots of trouble free enjoyment going forward!

[Tdafforn]

Had similar issues with my old lotus elan +2 which is hard to balance using usual machines as the wheels are located by pegs. I sorted it by going to some folks in Bicester (probably the same folks as you) who balanced the wheels on the car. Great news the car is sorted so now just enjoy it. They are great fun.

[The G Man]

on collection from EJ Wards, all seemed good on the local a roads until shortly after joining the the M6 b the vibration returned at 70mph, it was slight, on the M54 it became worse I knew they had put the unround front left on the rear left as on testing they had found the spare was slightly buckled. I was hoping that a new set of alloys would be thefinal solution.

Today I had the new set of Stag alloys from Rimmers fitted and Hallelujah!! NO vibration, I have tested this at lets just say 70 and somewhat above on a quiet dual carriageway and it drives beautifully. At last!! its been a 4 year resto journey, that has been vastly more expensive than planned and I sold my MGB V8 to cover some off the costs. Now to enjoy it when the weather improves and the salt is off the roads.

I must put some photos up of the recover dash, that was done in leather by a firm in Cheshire.

I need to do the bumpers but that can wait a little while and at another times I will ask the forums view on rechroming v stainless steel but right now I can at last feel pleased, rather than concerned/angry/frustrated which has been the majority of how I have felt for the last 18 months.