NC Vibration at speeds above 50mph from steering column (and whole car)

Technical Area Wheels, Tyres & Brakes
1

Hi. I just wanted to post a brief description of the issue I had and what it turned out to be.

I have a 2006 NC sport. Only had it three months, and a couple of weeks after it’s last service when they also replaced the drop links, it started to vibrate at speeds above 50mph-ish. Quite a noticeable vibration. But also not ALL the time. Most of the time, but not all. It seemed to be to be dependent a little on how smooth the road was. Once it started to vibrate it seems to continue, even slowing down below 50mph speeds. I did some research and thought it must be the shimmy that’s well documented, relating to the chassis’s natural frequency, and unbalance wheels.

I got the front two wheels rebalanced at Kwik-Fit. No change.

I took it to a different tyre place and got them balance again. No change.

I was worried that one of my wheels was buckled, though i don’t recall hitting any potholes significant enough to do this (have done in other cars though)

I took it back to Kwik-Fit, explained everything, they took it for a test drive, and deemed that the front right brake calliper was seized. I looked into it briefly and saw that when this happens, the disc can warp from overheating, and that to me satisfied that that was likely what was causing the vibration.

Anyway, £350 (after a “discount”) and a new calliper, front discs and pads later, the vibrations seems gone. I inspected the parts they removed, and saw that the calliper was indeed completely seized, and that the disc was discoloured and different from the other one, and not quite straight.

I think that the vibration may have indeed been causing the whole chassis to resonate as per the documented design fault with NA, and NC’s.

I’m not sure if the was a great price, but ATS quoted me £470, so it was better than that! Kwik-Fit also couldn’t get the old calliper back on so I didn’t have much choice once they indeed confirmed the cause of the problem.

Hopefully this might help other people in the same position. Hi from COVID-19 lockdown. Weird times! Stay safe!

Julian

3 Likes
2

£350 is a pretty good price [round here at least], lots of places around here are changing well over £200 for a set of discs so £350 for the lot seems good.

Thanks for letting us all know about this, it will stop one of us dissapearing down a wheel balancing rabbit hole at some point!

3

Thanks Julian - this is good to know.

4

Just a note: All four wheels should be balanced. Unbalanced rear wheels can also cause vibration through the chassis.

5

Had a similar issue with mine but did all the work myself. The price isn’t too bad.

6

Discs and Pads for the front are around £90.
The caliper is around £150, but this includes a £40 refundable surcharge making it about £110.

£200 for parts, a few hours labour and bleeding (probably all round).
I’d also say that £350 isn’t overly expensive.
Although, I’d have done this myself, thus saving £150.

7

Had you not noticed it also pulling to one side under braking?

You could have sourced the relevant parts you needed for a lot less than it cost you, and fitting is easy enough “when you know how”, including brake fluid bleeding.

Did you change discs and pads on both axles? At the very least I hope you did for the pads?

8

2010 NC developed the same vibrations as OP reported. New brakes on the front end, calipers, discs and pads fixed it. Old brake calipers starting to seize, discs warped.