Thread: Vibration

The tailshaft centre bearing bracket on some early D4s was suspect. Refer to dealer!

Hi Disomania, Before my D4 I had a D3. Although I havent done any serious off roading in the D4 as yet, I did notice that the D3 was extremely sensitive to wheel balance. I had mud caked on the rims in the D3 and is sent unbearable vibrations through the vehicle. Once the mud was washed off it was fine. I would try a wheel balance first

Originally Posted by Disco4SE

Hi Disomania, Before my D4 I had a D3. Although I havent done any serious off roading in the D4 as yet, I did notice that the D3 was extremely sensitive to wheel balance. I had mud caked on the rims in the D3 and is sent unbearable vibrations through the vehicle. Once the mud was washed off it was fine. I would try a wheel balance first

I agree. I had a similar problem when I installed alloy wheels on a LandCruiser (yes, I know it's a different vehicle!). I was on a dirt road in the rain and got mud caked well behind the wheel and out of easy view. I actually had to take the wheels off before I could see the mud - and boy was it throwing the balance out!
I'd get the wheels checked out and/or balanced just in case. You might have lost one of the weights or something just as simple.
Ron

I'm hoping it's not a tailshaft or a funny bearing! The usual things you notice for an unbalanced tyre are not present - either that or I have been used to the very direct feeling of the wifes Astra which you can really feel if the wheels need balance.

First thing is off to get the wheels balanced I think, then the dealer for some checking.

Now the question is, apart from those obvious issues, what else could do this? I've heard that engine/gearbox mounts MAY cause unusual vibes, and an exhaust mount not right can cause similar as V6's have uneven exhaust pulses (I know my VN Commodore sure did years ago).

Discomania,
It could also be Flat spots in the tyres, especially if you have 19" rims/tyres.
I tend to find mine does this when not driven for more than 2 days or so.
After a while tho' they tend to dissappear as the flat spot goes away when the tyre warms up.
Hopefully it is just the balance.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Disomania

Took the D4 for a run to Sydney yesterday to visit the '4wd supershow' as we are in the market, possibly, for a camper trailer and there were many to choose from.

We struck an issue on the way up/back with vibration that I've never had before. There was a 'drummin' sound in the car similar to, but not as loud as, when you have a window open at the wron speed.

There is no shacking of the steering wheel to indicate fron wheels out of balance, and a visual check of the rear's while the drumming is at it's worst (using the mirrors) shows they SEEM to be OK with no obvious up/down or side/side runout.

I'll get the wheels balanced first, but what other things might this be? Only seems to happen at 100 - 110kph (on the GPS, 105 - 115 indicated) - I didn't take the speed any higher than that.

Interesting that the speedo is out by 5kph at 60, 70, 80, 100 and 110

I'm hoping it's not a tailshaft as that could take a long time to prove.

The odds are that if it is a speed related vibration, it will in the wheel/tyre area.

Should be your first port of call. May have just thrown a weight.

Hoping it's lost a weight but have to wait till Friday to get it sorted (no pun intended). It seems fine up to the 80kph I can do to/from work so no hurry. Just one of those things I guess.

+1 for the mud on the rims thing, it is easy to have a buildup of mud inside the rims and not notice until some falls off putting the wheels out of balance.
Regards,
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