MY12 D4 steering wheel vibrations/shake at highway speeds

The mounting face where the wheel sits can cause that. I've had to wire brush mine before.

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Originally Posted by josh.huber

The mounting face where the wheel sits can cause that. I've had to wire brush mine before.

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Yep. And strangely it’s also possible to refit wheels slightly off centre. It shouldn’t be as the central bore locator and wheel interface should preclude it, along with the cone face of the nuts, it should all centre, but somehow it can happen that the wheel doesn’t mount up completely centred.

I agree, I copper slip my CBL and wire brush it all to ensure a good mating face, and I’ve still had issue. In fact I need to reseat my wheels and try that before I take them in for a rebalance.

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Originally Posted by twr7cx

Yes, the front brake discs seem to have been warped as it's very noticeable in braking. New rotors and pads have been ordered.

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OK, but still check your brake calipers or have a brake specialist check them. No good throwing new rotors and pads at it if the pistons still stuck, will just warp them again.

Recently rebuilt mine, front right caliper had one stuck piston, i had brake shudder and steering wheel wobble under braking. Yet the car tracked straight and true. All sorted now.
Attachment 168570

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Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Yep. And strangely it’s also possible to refit wheels slightly off centre. It shouldn’t be as the central bore locator and wheel interface should preclude it, along with the cone face of the nuts, it should all centre, but somehow it can happen that the wheel doesn’t mount up completely centred.

I agree, I copper slip my CBL and wire brush it all to ensure a good mating face, and I’ve still had issue. In fact I need to reseat my wheels and try that before I take them in for a rebalance.

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No... No..... No..... [bawl]

Steel and Aluminium is pretty high up the galvanic scale... Add Copper into the mix and you're going to introduce issues...

Zinc based, or even a simple marine grease used sparingly on the spigot.

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Originally Posted by josh.huber

The mounting face where the wheel sits can cause that. I've had to wire brush mine before.

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Thanks. Just incase, I'll give it a clean up with a wire brush when I've next got the wheels off to do the brakes.

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Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

OK, but still check your brake calipers or have a brake specialist check them. No good throwing new rotors and pads at it if the pistons still stuck, will just warp them again.

Recently rebuilt mine, front right caliper had one stuck piston, i had brake shudder and steering wheel wobble under braking. Yet the car tracked straight and true. All sorted now.
Attachment 168570

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Agreed. With new thick disc rotor and brake pads I'll need to push the brake pistons back to fit so at this point I'll know if there's a stuck piston or not. When I checked the car out in July last year the pistons were pushing back fine.

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Originally Posted by Tombie

Steel and Aluminium is pretty high up the galvanic scale... Add Copper into the mix and you're going to introduce issues...

Zinc based, or even a simple marine grease used sparingly on the spigot.

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Awesome bit of information to know, thank you. I don't have sufficient chemistry/metallurgy knowledge to understand the how/why but happy to just accept to use marine grease instead...

Yes. Important - otherwise can rot out the vehicle - an example is fitting sliders, and use copper on the bolts - especially stainless bolts - will result in the threads corroding.

I use a PTFE based anti-seize on my D4 and a wipe of marine grease on hubs.