I am hoping someone can give me some idea of what to do, I feel like I have run out of options with this. I know it goes on a bit but please bear with me.
Back in March 2008 it got to the point where the when braking there was a lot of noise from the back indicating that they were on their way out. Went to local kwikfit and got a deal for four new brake pads and discs . All good until started driving it after and was getting lots of noise and vibration from front which would stop if you touched the brakes.
Back to kwikfit a few times with this problem, discs changed etc but to no avail. Eventually on of the visits one of the technicians pointed out it could be that the alloys are very bent and showed me as such. He said that it can be very hard to balance the wheels and that ford alloys are very easy to get bent. The car was a 54 Reg and I had bought it second hand when it was about a year or so old. Four new ford alloy wheels were got and also tyres were nearly worn too so got a deal on four new Pirellis. Ever since then I have always had a vibration on the steering wheel when driving at speed. Over the course of the last two years it has been into Kwikit and Ford numerous times with steering wheel vibration at speed and it seems to be exaggerated when braking through the speed where it vibrates.
The discs and pads have been changed numerous times as well as countless wheel balancing, tracking and moving wheels around (back to fron etc). For a while in one of the ford garages they got it down a bit but was still there, by moving or changing whatever they wee doing managed to change the speed it happened at as well as the severity.
Last year at another Ford garage after hearing that it might be the discs getting bent out by bent hubs I had them change the hubs, bearing, as well as the pads and discs again. That was in about March 10, since then everything was fine with it which was a real relief. I do a lot of motorway driving and recently noticed a bit of vibration when braking at speed, the car had been driven by someone else so I thought that the tracking might be out. Took it to kwikfit and they said that the tracking was indeed out and put it right. Problem was as soon as I took it up to about 70mph the vibration was back again, as bad as ever.
As it wasn’t that long since all this had been repaired by a Ford garage so I took it back to them. They said there was a wrapped disc and changed it under warranty. The vibration is still there.
I even took the car down to Elite in Essex to do a force field test on all four wheels in case it was a problem with the wheel/alloy but no problem there.
How has this problem re appeared after a number of months of bliss after just getting the tracking readjusted. The car has been booked back into Ford for them to look at it again but I’m afraid I will get the usual response of “could not replicate” or something of that nature. Is there anything in particular I could ask them to look at or pay attention to that might be causing the problem. I don’t know if it was like this before or for how long but the sterring wheel seems to be ever so slightly off centre when driving straight., could that be anything to do with it?
I know this has been very long winded but any help or advice would be most appreciated

 

Amazing all these people and no ones seems to have checked the basics!!
The hub flanges where the discs go onto need checking for trueness, the calipers need checking as may be binding on the sliding pins which put bluntly are a bit shit, this will cause discs to warp by trying to exert a twist as one side/pad bites harder, this is shown as on the ford brakes you have the pads never ever wear the same amount, as soon as the brakes are applied the natural action is for the caliper to try and twist, this causes enough force to bind on the sliding pins.
With vibration problems though anything that rotates can cause the issue if out of balance, I've had discs balanced before now and drive shafts that have caused the vibes before now, even a dodgy joint on the drive shaft can cause this.
The wheel being off centre won't cause this problem, but bushes need looking at also.
I'm not being funny but if it has been put into a ford garage for the problem, and you have paid for the fault to be fixed take the car back, they didn't fix it you should not have to pay.
It is just so much easier to fix when in front of you than advise, as some of the things seem to have been covered.
tabetha

 

tabetha, many thanks for the reply. I am pretty useless when it comes to tech stuff with cars, is there anything I could suggest to them particular that needs to be checked just that I can be sure they will look at it. The hubs and bearings were changed back in March, are the Hub flanges something different then? I just can't understand how it had been fine for a few months and then when I got the balancing and tracking done, the problem came back, could the kwikfit guy have put the balance weights back on wrong?, can it really be that sensitive? Is there a chance that the tyres really do have something wrong with them because originally all these problems started with the new tyres and alloys being fitted, I have had field tests done on all four though. I think anytime it has been in they have said the drive shaft looks fine but I do not know how thorough they are being. With what you were saying about the calipers, could that have caused the warp disc that they changed recently, what would need to be done with the calipers?

Thanks again
Steve

 

The ONLY way to rule out for 100% certainty the driveshafts is to balance them, or at least check them, the hub flange is the bit of the front hub that the disc bolts to and that the driveshaft passes through.
The quick fit guy could well be at fault, your best bet seriously is don't let them even clean the car let alone fix it, this applies to so many, but not all fast fit places.
Are there outside and inside weights, on the inner surface of the alloy as close to the rear of the spokes as possible there should be a balance weight, and then another close to the inner edge, to try to balance it across it's whole width, the machine is capable of balancing down to 1 gram, but a lot of places only do it down to 5 grams, insist it's down to 1 gram.
Get garage to do a "click test" on the driveshaft joints, and dial gauge the driveshafts themselves to see if one is bent, seen a few over the years.
tabetha

 

wow, thats extremely long term issues and i'm surprised you've persevered for so long and at so much expense...most would have chopped the car in so well done for sticking with i as long as you have.

i've got a mk1 focus (2000 w reg) and i had a vibration issue for months. didnt go away when i changed the hubs and calipers (upgrade to st170 front brakes) and it got worse when accelerating and braking but lessened at constant speed (not costing). every time i jacked the car up i couldnt find anything wrong but weirdly it would disapear for the first 5 mins and then come back. even got BRAND new wheels and quality Brand new hankook s1 tyres as my wheels looked crap and still didnt cure it. eventually worked out it was the inner tripod joint on the drive shaft. changed for a perfect set of used shafts for £65 for the pair and fixed it. new are rediculously expensive!!

now i'd suggest you change yours BUT your problem got fixed and then returned with a warped disc which to me rules out the shafts!! this means the problem must lie at the hub end or possibly a lose steering rack.

i'd take it back to ford as they havnt fixed the fault and get them to specifically check the rack is tightly bolted down and then the checks tabetha (whos more knowledgable than i) suggested starting with
- checking the hub flange is true
- take calliper off, fully clean up the pad carrier sliders, strip the slider bolts out and give them a clean up and fresh grease and then refit it all and test (providing the current discs and pads are all true.
- then further checks tabetha suggested.

hope this helps.