245 wheel vibration

After replacing ball joints is it reasonable that there would be wheel shake
at highway speeds if the car hasn't been properly aligned?

 

Hello:

Not only would it be reasonable, but I'd be surprised if there were
not issues after replacing balljoints.

This is a no-brainer. If you had a shop do the work, they should have
insisted on an alignment before releasing the car to you--and would
not have been trying to rip you off.

In my area a good laser alignment costs $50 and is worth every penny.

Regards,

Doc

 

What's the ball joint setup on a 245 like compared to the 760??

If you change the ball joints on a 760, an alignment doesn't give you
anything since the balljoint doesn't affect the steering moment of axis in
such a way that would alter the toe/caster.

 

The ball joint is upside down on a 240 relative to the 760. The ball
joint bolt to the control arm, and the pin goes into a bracket that's
bolted to the bottom of the strut. There's a little room for slop in
the mounting on a 240, possibly affecting alignment slightly. (Toe is
much more sensitive than caster or camber.)

In any case I wouldn't expect a vibration from new ball joints. My
guess is either a balance weight fell off one of the wheels, or some
corrosion or other foreign object has prevented one of the wheels from
seating properly on the hub.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

PO did the replacement himself. I just got the car last night and I'm going
to make an appointment today to have alignment done. Just wondered if the
vibration was something else.

 

Hello:

As Mike F pointed out, it could be something as simple as a missing
wheel weight. That said, I gather that youi recently acquired the
car--so having at least the front tires balanced and an alignment
would be a good idea unless you had documentation that it had been
done recently.

And here's another possibility, although a remote one: it's possible
you have internal belt separation on one or both of the front tires.
I had a 240 that suddenly developed serious vibration issues--but only
at speeds of 45 to 60 MPH.

Took it to an alignment shop as I knew all other suspension components
were tight. The tech at the shop had recently aligned the car and said
right away: "let's look at the tires." Keep in mind the tread was
great and they looked good, but he knew waht he was looking for and
diagnosed the issue as belt separation. I then went to the shop where
I bought the tires and they agreed the tires were the problem and gave
me a new pair as they were still under warranty. Nice part is that
they did not even pro-rate the tires for mileage and gave me a new set
and mounted and balanced free of charge.

I had NEVER heard about a belt separation issue and mentioned it to
the tire tech. He told me that it was not something they saw every
day--but also not a rare occurence.

I'd start with having the balance checked, as that will always cause
vibration, and especially at highway speeds. The alignment shop will
check that before they align--or should, but aske them to make sure
it's done before the alignment.

Note: not all alignment shops are the same; some have highly skilled
techs and the newest state of the art laser equipment. Others are
hacks. In my area there are really only 2 shops out of the 30 or more
doing alignments who really know their stuff.

Both do a lot of alignments for race cars--and at 150 mph plus an
alignment had better be correct. Good part is that they don't charge
more than other shops who can't do the job correctly and are cheaper
than the chain shops.

A final possibility is an issue with strut bearings etc, but that
seems unlikely as you did not mention any "clunking" or other noises
like that.

Start with the simplest and least expensive possibilities move on from
there.

Regards,


Doc