Hi from Sunny Cape Town.
Hopefully someone can shed some more light on a nightmare of a problem I am having.
My 1998 tdi 90 CSW has the worst possible front wheel wobble when I approach speeds of 100kph or more.
This causes the whole car to shake.
However the wobble does not always appear at the same speed.
I could be driving along at 100kph & all of a sudden the steering will start shaking uncontrollably & then settle down again on it's own, all of this happens without me adjusting my speed at all.
It seems a though the shaking starts of very light then amplifies then settles down again?
This occurs to varying degrees at different speeds.
When I first bought the car 3 years ago there was no problem at all. The vehicle has not done any serious offroading nor was it involved in any accident etc.
The problem has progressively gotten worse.
To date I have done the following to try and remedy the situation:
1. Fitted new shockabsorbers all round. (Last week)
2. Had the steel rims repaired as they were slightly buckled. (Last week)
3. Had all the wheels rebalanced. (Last week)
4. Fitted new steering damper. (Last week)
5. New suspension bushes (Radius arms, trailing arms, shockabsorber, panhard rod) (Last week)
6. Steering link ball joints were replaced a year ago & look fine.
7. Drop arm ball joint was overhauled with a kit about 2 years ago when replacing steering box oil seal.
My feeling is that it might be the drop arm ball joint or the swiwel ball preload.
I have tried to eliminate as many components as possible by looking at the guide in the technical section but I am now stumped.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Many thanks