Hi Guys
My Ford Focus 1.8 tdci 2009 shakes the steering wheel up to about 45 mph
over that speed it appears to go away .
It feels like an out of balance wheel
I have had the front wheels removed and checked for balance
I have found and refilled the power steering fluid not an easy task
its under the headlight !
The fluid looks a bit mucky and brown
I had a quick look around when the wheels where off and couldn't see
anything obvious.
Anybody had anything similar or have any ideas of what could be causing it ?

Have you swapped front and rear wheels to eliminate them?

As you say, it sounds like wheel balance as the issue, but you seem to have tackled this. Assume braking is OK and not juddery as it could be warped discs, but that shouldn't wobble the wheels.

Check bearings and all suspension joints. Bit of play in one of the joints could cause this.

Otherwise swap wheels around.

I had something similar on the cmax when I first got it (very similar to the focus) it used to pull to the side and drift down cambers too...
balancing the fronts helped a bit, but it didn't go away completely until I had all 4 tyres replaced with decent ones (and properly balanced too)

Mine had an odd mix of cheap to average tyres on it (2 avons, 1 uniroyal and some Chinese budget thing) none of them were balanced right and the new avons had no weights on them anywhere (I assume that the garage was cutting corners and not balancing them just because they were on the back )

Fitting some decent tyres (Goodyear this time round) has transformed the car

what's throwing me is that it appears to go away as speed increases
I would expect if it was wheel balance
that it would get worst as speed increased
I will certainly try swapping wheels
But they are relatively new Michelins on the front

What about a "pulsing" power steering pump ?
or shagged power steering fluid ?
do you think that would give me those symptoms ?

Low speed wobble is almost always an out of shape tyre. They do tend to get better as speed increases.

I have had customers come in with tyres shaped like eggs saying they have a wobble and have been to a quick fit type place and had them balanced, but they can't find anything wrong. How they missed it I have no idea.

quote:

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Originally posted by DW100
Low speed wobble is almost always an out of shape tyre. They do tend to get better as speed increases.

I have had customers come in with tyres shaped like eggs saying they have a wobble and have been to a quick fit type place and had them balanced, but they can't find anything wrong. How they missed it I have no idea.

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I had an alloy on the last car that had 20+ weights on it - took it to a good tyre fitter and when they spun it up you could see the flat spot on the rim

It takes a special kind of idiot to just keep adding weights without checking to see why its that bad....

Check your driveshafts, some have weights/dampers of some sort to aid against vibrations, check these aren't loose/missing/out of place.

I would go with the out of shape tyre or flat spot, also the chance of a bent wheel.

First thing to do is swap wheels front to back as it could be a deformed tyre buckled or flat spotted wheel if that does not change it check for play in steering rack inner joints track rod ends lower ball joints and suspension bushes , my fav would be a deformed tyre .

[Edited on 15/2/16 by ian locostzx9rc2]

quote:

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Originally posted by loggyboy
Check your driveshafts, some have weights/dampers of some sort to aid against vibrations, check these aren't loose/missing/out of place.

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If the tyres are directional, are they on the right way round?

[Edited on 20/2/16 by locogeoff]