vibration in car steering wheel

[Plymtree7]

I have recently experienced serious intemitent vibration in the steering wheel of my 1999 XJ8 Jaguar. It occurs at all speeds and lasts for a couple of minutes but at the time it feels like the front wheels are falling off accompanied by a rumbling noise. My son a fully qualified mechanic spent yesterday afternoon checking and testing bushes,bearings, tyres,tracking and balancing but could find no faults anywhere. Has anyone got any idea what else we could check over?

[TWR]

Have you just replaced the front tyres? have you had any work done on the front end? Have you hit a kirb either the N/S Or the OFF/S ? Has the Power Steering fluid dropped? Is there Air in the Power Stering System? Has any of the Power Steering Componants been changed?

[heretohelp]

as a first line of fire i would just get the wheel's ballanced preferably all 4 if the bibration is that bad & then go from there.

[Andyvon]

Hi plymtree7. It does sound like an unbalanced wheel/s - although they generally only vibrate in a particular speed range. Has the car clouted a kerb or a pothole as it might have damaged the suspension? It could be a wheel bearing.

I would suggest you get the wheels, bearings and tracking retested. With respect to your son make sure it's someone with the proper laser/mirror or other alignment tools and check they actually do the job! Last year I was charged �29 for tracking adjustment by KwikFit after they fitted new springs and tyres to my Golf. When I drove home the car was all over the road and when I jacked it up I found the track rod adjuster nuts just hadn't been touched! I took the car to ATS and they freed the nuts off and did the tracking. When I returned to Kwik Fit with the receipt the manager didn't argue - he just sheepishly crossed the tracking off the reciept with a pen before opening the till and giving me �29 cash back!

I know your son looked at the car but it may be worth having someone else look as well as something is obvious wrong - and check they actually do the work!