Folks,

Having some problems with vibration coming through the steering wheel at motorway speeds so wondering if someone would have a spare set of decent wheels so I could borrow the 2 fronts for a quick spin?

Wouldn't need them for long and they'd help alot I'm in Dundrum in Dublin so the closer the better!

Cheers

One of your front callipers, the piston is not retraction far enough, sized up a bit, your brakes will still work fine but at speed u will get the vibration in the steering wheel

Nah when I was checking the wheel bearings I was spinning the wheels and I was actually surprised how freely both front wheels span.

Have a had a problem all along with vibration but the wheels seem dead straight and they're on metal spigots which is as good as it gets :/

Dunno where to fooking start with this

Hi,

Just an idea, but you might try your spare wheel. I know its only one wheel, but hopefully only one of your front wheel causing the issue.
Did you get those wheels balanced recently? You may have just lost a piece of weight.

BTW, you are not alone with this problem
I have a rev 3 tubby (I believe you have the same) and I experience vibration at high speed as well.

On rev 5 models, all MR2's came with little speed flaps in front of the front wheels to "reduce vibration at high speeds". So maybe all previous MR2's suffer from this?
Mine starts vibrating from 110-120 Km/h

Cheers

Ha I would but I don't have one They were balanced very recently so think they should be ok. I'm wondering is it a tyre problem as I'd a very severe problem with a rear on my beemer recently which surprised me at how much difference a dodgy tyre can make.

I've the NCT tonight and once that's done I'll swap the wheels rear to front, them being staggered's a pain but for testing purposes it should rule in or out the wheel and tyres. I'll report back here how it goes

Good luck on the NCT!
Let us know how did you go.

Cheers

I'll give you a loan of 2 wheels, how long do you want them for, there 15s

Nice one Steve really appreciate the offer but hopefully I'm ok for now

So went for the NCT and although there were a few things that were fixed it still failed, thankfully on only one item and that item was.....tracking

Front was +25m/whatever and rear was -12, so basically the tracking is all over the place, something yer man said was unbelieveably obvious when he put it on the rollers, gonna get a refund from the place I got mine done and get it sorted somewhere else.

Pretty relieved as would prefer that than a pass and a witch hunt trying to find out what's wrong by replacing a load of parts

Now...Anywhere anyone would recommend for a four wheel alignment in Dublin, pref South/City of Dublin

So another update on this, went back to the place that did my tracking originally and they asked for another go at tracking it.
Don't know what happened the first time round as the before settings this time round were waaaay off, the after looked good though and driving down the road all felt normal again

Need to get a retest date now for the side slip test.

So on a quick check I'm still getting some vibration at motorway speeds but with your comment above burnt into my brain I did a bit of testing and on braking gently from 30mph there's the tinest vibration in the steering wheel.
So thought stuck caliper (or maybe guide pins but the mr2 doesn't have guide pins) and with the two wheels up in the air the left wheel spun alot free-er than the right wheel so I started on the right. Took off the caliper and worked the pistons in and out a few times while coating them with a bit of silicone grease when they were fairly extended.

Put it all back together, pumped the pedal and then spun the disc, that's when I noticed a tight spot while it spun. With everything removed bar the disc I can see it warped by eye which I'd consider a serious amount of warpage. It's either that or the wheel bearings are installed at a slight angle which I'm hoping they're not given theres only about 1000 miles on them.

I swapped the discs over and the problem moved with the disc, so I'm presuming it is the discs and so have ordered replacement fronts. I've tried wire brush dremelling the back of the disc and hub but that made no difference.

Parts are due on Tuesday so hopefully that sorts me once and for all

I still think one of your brake callipers is ceased, check your disc if there is a lip around the top that's your problem and if you put on new disc's after a while you will be back to square one

Yeah I thought so too but they're both perfect, the pistons don't push in by hand like some brembos I have on my other car but with the tool they all slide in and out no issues. No excessive lips on the disc and actually given they're very fresh there's absolutely no lip on them at all. Plus after a few trips I've checked both hubs with the back of my hand and no excess heat from either side.

Do alot of track days in it so I reckon it just got too hot at some stage, I've some front fed extra cooling going to the inside of the wheel arch now so hopefully it saves the new discs.
I'll let ye know how it goes

So new discs arrived today and I chucked them on, straight away I could see that the big warp was gone and after a blast down the motorway I can confirm all my vibration is completely gone.

Feels so nice now, tight with all the polybushes, tracked straight as an arrow and now zero vibration

Good to hear Thurrock, happy motoring the joy when u get a problem sorted is fantastic, disc's expensive

Nice one, good to see you got it sorted!

Cheers lads, went for front M-Tec discs again with express delivery so came from Derry in 24 hours for €104

I'm concerned that they can't handle track days in the current spec as other than a factory fault that's the only thing I can think that warped the disc.
Sure I'll see how these ones go and check before and after each day to see if it causes problems again