Thread: Steering shudder

Originally Posted by discomatt69

Hi all, over the last couple of touring trips I have had a steering shudder from rough roads, at 90km/h or over ever bump and undulation in the road causes the steering wheel to vibrate/ shudder to the point that on a average road and doing over 100 I can’t even grip the steering wheel and need to let it bounce away in my hand with a very loose hand.
any thoughts on what is causing this?
My mechanic has put red poly urethane bushes in the lower control arms when the hydro bushes needed replacement and said they would be better and longer lasting given how I use the car, could these be the cause?

Your mechanic should be shot!

Poly in lower arms will increase harshness, they dont flex anywhere near the range of motion of Hydrobushes and are likely a big part of the issue

Originally Posted by Tombie

Your mechanic should be shot!

Poly in lower arms will increase harshness, they dont flex anywhere near the range of motion of Hydrobushes and are likely a big part of the issue

That was my thought, good for race cars, not 4wds, I did mention it to him before he installed them and he said he had put them in other customers cars and never had a complaint and they would last heaps longer
i would rather replace them when required rather than a crap feel , I could own numerous other brands if I wanted a crap ride

Originally Posted by discomatt69

That was my thought, good for race cars, not 4wds, I did mention it to him before he installed them and he said he had put them in other customers cars and never had a complaint and they would last heaps longer
i would rather replace them when required rather than a crap feel , I could own numerous other brands if I wanted a crap ride

Push in genuine bushes..they are not to expensive.

My worn rears give me all sorts of bad feelings up front, even brake shudder

Originally Posted by discomatt69

That was my thought, good for race cars, not 4wds, I did mention it to him before he installed them and he said he had put them in other customers cars and never had a complaint and they would last heaps longer
i would rather replace them when required rather than a crap feel , I could own numerous other brands if I wanted a crap ride

The guy probably cut his losses and didn't go back...

Originally Posted by Tombie

Your mechanic should be shot!

Possibly a tad harsh for a first offence... Keelhauling, perhaps?

Check that the lower control arms haven’t snapped/fractured where the poly bushes are fitted.

Thanks all for the input
spoke to the mechanic who installed the bushes, he said it could be the wheel alignment being out causing the shudder, I doubt it as it doesn’t wonder, doesn’t pull to one side and tires are wearing evenly.
I have now booked it in with a different mechanic to check over the whole front end and all the suspension to see if there are any other problems that may be causing it.
if it gets the all OK I will get the complete arms replaced so will have all new standard bushes and new ball joints
if I have to replace the hydro bushes every 40-50,000 km such is life

Originally Posted by kelvo

Check that the lower control arms haven’t snapped/fractured where the poly bushes are fitted.

Not a bad call. 20 something years ago I did a major rebuild on my 74 RRC POS, including new Oz made pale blue poly bushes. (NOT SuperPro).

Fitted most of them except rear chassis to control arm ones because they were so stiff I was worried they'd cause the threaded ends to snap off from fatigue.

Panhards lasted 2k kms............ etc.

Have had no problems with SuperPro whatsoever.

DL