Rep Power: 0

The weekend before last, I replaced front control arms and struts.
On the test drive, I noticed a wobble that I don't recall being there before, but maybe I just wasn't feeling it because of the wear in the suspension. I very rarely drive this vehicle and it's a recent purchase is the reason I'm so vague on if the wobble was there prior or not.

The wobble starts around 20 MPH, gets a little worse by 30 and is gone above 40.

Moving along, I suspect it's out of an balance wheel(s), but I'm not sure how to confirm that without balancing the tires and that'll be a week or so out.

I haven't yet replaced the tie rod ends, but I expect to next weekend and will get an alignment and wheel balance once that job is done but, in the mean time, I checked for any wobble in the wheel bearings and found none. I've gone to a parking lot and done a lot of tight circles in both directions to see if I could get the CV joints to pop and nothing. Today, during lunch, I swapped the driver's front and rear wheels and test drove to see if there is any difference and noticed none. Tomorrow, I'll swap the passenger's front and rear and test drive again, maybe I'll notice a difference then. I re-torqued all of the fasteners (except the axle nuts) and I hadn't forgotten any of them, they were all tight.

Short of balancing wheels in a few days, is there any trouble shooting I missed to try to narrow down the cause of the wobulation?

Thanks in advance!

 
Rep Power: 518

Low tires? Check pressures


Bent rim?
Front tire bad/lumpy?
Jack up front end and let them spin, make sure to check for damaged wheels -- inboard side too
potholes here look like moon craters
as they spin make sure the tires are actually round.....maybe a lump could be obvious, maybe not

Rotate good round tires to the front

 
Rep Power: 133

I would think after you do a 4-wheel alignment and a road force balance (Hunter machine) of the tires, you should see an improvement, especially after your repair to the front struts and control arms.
Wait now until your anticipated tie-rod repair though.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for the suggestions!
Today, I had enough lunch time left over to swap the passenger front and rear tires and now I can feel a minor vibration in the steering wheel and the wobble kicks in at different speeds (35-50), so I think I've confirmed it's a wheel issue in some form or another. I LOOKED at the wheel rims, inboard and out, and didn't see any obvious damage, so hopefully it's not a bent rim, but I'm sure they'll be happy to tell me about it and up-sell me one when I get 'em balanced!

No bubbles in the side walls, but I didn't think to look for any out of round in them

 
Rep Power: 0

Alright! Tie rods are in and I took it in for a dynamic balance and an alignment. The wobble is still there, but much reduced. I didn't think to ask them to look for wheel damage, but I would think that would be something they check for automatically to try to up-sell products.

Other than running the palm of my hand along the sidewall and tread, is there a good way to inspect for maybe a damaged belt in a tire?

I've never heard of CV joints causing an issue like this, but is it possible? They make no noise when I turn sharply and aren't leaking, so I suspect they are healthy; they are also the only component I can think of in the front suspension that I didn't change out.

 
Rep Power: 518

Many people can't be bothered to think this way.
A road force balancer may have pointed to a problem such as this, but not all shops have that equipment

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