Car shaking at speed

[Chrish85]

Hi all.

I've got a 1995 F, 1.8 MPI. I've had it for around 18 months and brought it as a project.

One thing I've noticed and i can't find an answer on google or on Facebook where I've been hounding people

So, it has the standard 15 inch wheels with P6000 tyres all around and recently refurbished and balanced etc.

The car shakes violently at around 55/60, it done it before the wheels were done and still does it.
I'm replacing the rear track rod ends tomorrow and I've removed the o/s/r track control arm already, planning to remove the n/s track arm to look at the bush as I've read that it could be a possible cause.

In the next week or so I'm taking it to get the suspension pumped up as I've no idea how off the correct height it's sitting at then on to 4 wheel line up.

Has anyone got previous experience with this sought of issue?

[talkingcars]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Hi all.
Has anyone got previous experience with this sort of issue?

Yes

So, it has the standard 15 inch wheels with P6000 tyres all around and recently refurbished and balanced etc.

The F doesn't like the Pirelli P6000, they are one of the tyres not recommended.
I had them on my mk1 when I got it and the handling was appalling, swapped them for Toyo T1Rs and transformed it to a flat out on the German autobahn flat out.

more info here

[Chrish85]

well...

Ive had the car up on stands and now replaced the rear track rod ends.

No movement in any of the wheels to suggest that there is a wheel bearing failure or one on the cards so to speak..

i need to get a pry bar on the front top mounts but having a good look at them, the rubbers do not appear to be perished (unlike the front subframe mounts) so ill check for movement when i can.

I really doubt ill be able to enjoy the car for the summer months =(

[Steffi]

Than change tires and that should solve the problem

[BodgeItAndScarper]

Than change tires and that should solve the problem

I'm just reading this stuff to try and get a handle on the MGF's weirdnesses, I haven't even picked mine up yet and don't know anything about the car beyond what I've read on the internet. That sounds really odd to me, though. How can tyres be causing this issue, other than a balance issue? What's the mechanism by which that works? (The idea the MGF doesn't handle well on certain tyres is already a bit surprising, but you're going waaaay beyond that to suggesting that it is unsafe (and hence illegal) to fit a particular mass-market tyre to the F.)

If you were saying it was because of the low ride height, it'd make more sense to me based on what I know about cars generally. Low ride height induces some major suspension geometry changes, there are all kinds of plausible causes.

Since that needs fixing anyway, surely that's something to do before changing tyres even if there is a possible tyre issue?

[Chrish85]

im getting the suspension pumped up first before getting the geometry done.

I dont understand how tyres can be the issue either if im honest!

I dont want to fork out £200 on tyres if it wont solve it either lol.

Im going to put the spare on and go for a drive. Might take a while but id imagine 4 run's to rule out the wheels for sure might help...

[cath's mg]

I dont know anything about the science behind the Tyre debate, but can talk from experience.
When we got Cath's F it had a cheep pair of matching tyres in the front and a different make of matching cheep tyres on the back.
When we changed the back pair to Toyo's it made some difference to the handling for the better. When we changed the front to Toyo's the handling vastly improved, it did not feel like the car was trying to kill me on the odd occasion i put the pedal to the floor.

Why ................dont know, just know it did.

Gary.

[Chrish85]

for me, its getting rid of the "washing machine shaking" i've had the car up on and span the wheels, having an item level with the edge of the rim... no joy spotting out of shape rim...

see how it goes after a suspension pump up and 4 wheel alignment!

[cath's mg]

see how it goes after a suspension pump up and 4 wheel alignment!

Fingers crossed

[RobboMC]

You won't pick an out of balance wheel by eye, I had bit of shake in the tail when I got my car running and the tyre shop found a wheel so badly out of balance
it was almost impossible to balance, and it looked fine to the eye.

The only way to get a wheel properly balanced is with the high tech equipment at the tyre shop, shouldn't be too expensive though, just make sure they know to do up the wheel nuts to the proper LOW torque by hand and not with those bl**dy rattle guns. I take my own 3/8" drive torque wrench and insist I do them myself.

[Chrish85]

Whilst the sun is shining and wheel nuts are on, I have to put up with it. I'm only using it on local roads low limit roads so I don't feel anything.

When it goes in for lasering up I'll get them to check the wheels for balancing and tyre distortion

[Blackwell Bandit]

How are the dampers, you can get the same symptoms if the dampers are shot.

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[SPG]

This sounds similar to what happened to me some years ago and I changed bush, tyres etc without success.
Don't rule out rear wheel bearing failure or more particularly the failure of the carrier hub. The problem was in the metallurgy of the steel used at the time and has occurred in a few Australian cars, probably because our roads are hopeless and really test the vehicles durability.

[dunkle]

Have a look at my thread : OK so had my car pumped up today, the front is at 380mm and rear 370mm, took some pumping as rear was down to 330m an increase of 30mm. Wow what a difference, the car handles better rides better and is totally transformed. The steering is positive and doesn't wander nor does it feel unsafe at speed, no vibration !
To get the rear up to 370 had to pump each front up to 380mm but it's all good.
A lesson learned with regard to the importance of hydragas suspension !

[talkingcars]

IIRC the measurement should be taken at the front, and assuming all the components are in good condition, the back should correct itself.

[RobboMC]

If its 10 mm too high it will soon sink down. LOL