vibration issue

[bruce]

Taking a stab in the dark;
Any signs of accident repair at the front (ie. bodywork)? Wondering if the car is perfectly straight.

[peterd]

Yes it could have been in a stack you never know but it looks pretty clean and straight. If it was in a bingle then I'm stuffed anyway

[AndrewJZX100]

Tried running hub rings in the wheels? (I recall you said they were aftermarket)


My 5 does it too, kinda annoying on the freeway with no music on but I often use hills roads > freeway anyway

[peterd]

Yep the guy from peddlers suggested hub rings first. So I went back to Kmart where I got the tires and the installer said he didn't feel any slack when the wheel was put back onto the hub and he reckons they were rubbish anyway cause they squash down with wear That's what I mean one guy says one thing and another something else.
The vibration isn't noisy so doesn't matter if the stereo is turned up it's being able to feel it thru the steering wheel.......but it sounds like one of those things never find it.......maybe it's trying to tell me something as in time to sell!!

[speed freak]

Are you using 16" wheels still just aftermarket or have you gone down to 15" wheels? I swear its the 16" wheels that cause it, stock, new, aftermarket, heavy, light it doesnt matter. Only reason I say this is I tried a good set of 15" wheels from a fellow forum user and my mx5 rode perfectly, there was no vibrations at any speed or on any road surface, other then usual bumps and vibrations from the road etc but none that shouldnt be there.

I had the stock 16" wheels on at the time, I got some Enkei RPF1's in 16" so brand new wheels and tyres and it still does it.

Iv had it balanced a few times now by different people, I did get those hub centric rings fitted which seemed to have helped a little but its still there mainly at highway speeds. I used to get it around 50-60 kmh too but that seems to have disappeared just around highway speeds.

Does it feel like the whole car is shimmying/shaking/vibrating as well as the steering wheel or just the wheel? With mine it feels like its the actual car shaking/shimmying I dont seem to get any vibration through the steering wheel like you would if the wheels were badly out of balance.

Dont sell it unless your seriously over mx5's there will be a solution its just working out why and what causes it. Like you said though one person says this then someone else says something completely different. Iv just gotten used to it now, doesnt really bother me too much anymore

[greenltd]

My 2 cents worth. Did you actually get your wheels balanced? I didn't see that in the above posts. Assuming you did, did they say the wheels balanced up well? After that, try different wheels. My experience, recently picked up an NA6 with the daisys. It had a vibration at 105kmh which I felt was from the rear. Got all wheels balanced, they said that one front tyre was way out and they couldn't balance the wheel to an acceptable level. It was way better though. Now i have new put second hand 16's on it with secondhand tyres, vibration gone. Almost perfect. Now for a rebalance and alignment.

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[peterd]

Thanks speed freak your right is only at certain speeds and not that bad just a bit annoying but I guess I can get over it. Dont want to spend too much money chasing it either.

Ive got 15inch wheels but it could be the wheels not too sure about those king rims...especially as they have 8 stud holes indicating that they are all purpose fit all cars

I was thinking if someone local had a spare set of standard wheels I could try out to see if it still did the same thing but failing that I cold try the hub rings....dont know why the tire guy was bagging them so much?

It starts in the steering wheel but the whole chassis gets vibrating and the passenger set stutters so I have to make sure the seat is all the way back

Didnt realise how complicated an issue this was and was hoping that a balance or new tires would do the trick but it hasnt

Yes greenltd new tires and balance and wheel alignment and had all the suspension components checked

As you say its not the end of the world just would be nice if it didnt do it!!

[peterd]

Good to hear that Im not the only one anyway...yes greenltd new tires balance alignment suspension check. Could be the rims???

[greenltd]

My three cents worth, perhaps tail shaft or drive shafts. Are all joints etc firm (i.e. not sloppy) but at the same time, well lubed and free.(assuming they can be greased) and not starting to seize. I haven't looked that far under mine yet to see how Mazda made them, just drawing on experience with other machinery.

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[taminga16]

Peter,
You can check the rims with a house brick, some duct tape and a length of wire coat hanger. Be sure to check the inside and outside lips of all four wheels, the rims on our little cars are soft as well as light.
Greg.

[pezchops]

Yep the guy from peddlers suggested hub rings first. So I went back to Kmart where I got the tires and the installer said he didn't feel any slack when the wheel was put back onto the hub and he reckons they were rubbish anyway cause they squash down with wear That's what I mean one guy says one thing and another something else.
The vibration isn't noisy so doesn't matter if the stereo is turned up it's being able to feel it thru the steering wheel.......but it sounds like one of those things never find it.......maybe it's trying to tell me something as in time to sell!!

concentric rings are needed...after market wheels have a larger bore so they can be fitted to differant model cars.
use concentric rings to adapt the wheel bore size to the spigot diameter..
you cannot rely on all the wheel studs to be pressed in exactly true and square to the hub spigot in manufacturing.
also if the wheels are not torqued correctly and you hit a big pot hole or something the load is taken by the wheel studs.
if any wheel studs are slightly bent your wheel will not run true.
mx5 hub spigot is 54.1 and your wheel centre is probably 70 plus mm.
so no way can the spigot squash or wear down...best to use aluminium rings,not plastic.

i agree with other replies to try other wheels known to run ok.

hope you can sort out your shimmy

[bruce]

Peter,
You can check the rims with a house brick

I can fix most problems with a brick. Actually, a hammer works better!

[speed freak]

Id definitely try the hub rings, they are cheap and will probably help the issue alot. Also our cars are quit sensitive too so even though the wheels/tyres got balanced maybe it was just a 'that'll do' job. Or maybe the tyres arent 100% true because I was told the second time I got these new 16's on my car balanced that one or two of the tyres werent 100% round and they couldnt balance them perfectly. Even the best manufactured tyres will get a bad batch somewhere along the line.

It sounds like the same as mine though, slightly through the steering wheel but mostly the car shakes/vibrates.

Really it should be a simple fix like alignment or balance but just getting it done right is the hard part and making sure your new tyres are perfectly round.

I have thought of tailshaft or driveshafts but I would imagine if it were either of them the vibration would be more severe and would be felt at any speed not just highway speeds and probably make some kind of noise.

Anyway fingers crossed you can find a solution.

Also, who did your balance, somewhere like bob jane or a proper suspension/tyre shop?

[peterd]

Thanks guys I think I'll try those hub rings and maybe go to a decent suspension place if I can find one. The tires and balance were done at Kmart so no gurantees there.

[pezchops]

good luck hope you work it out..