steering vibration 60-70mph

[bongolou]

Hi
I have a wobble/judder/vibration at 60-70mph if i go much faster it will go and if i go slower it will go too, but seeing on the motorway 60-70mph is bongo cruising speed its pretty annoying. It went back to the dealer who took it to the tyre place that they had the new tyres before i brought it fitted, they rebalanced them. But again on the way home its still doing it. Unsure what else it might be, could it be the Japanese alloys, should i just leave it and see what happens, could it be cheap tyres? Any pointers would be helpful. The dealer is 45 miles away so a 90 mile round trip but they are very helpful just wondering if i should just leave it and see. It drives perfect all other times like a dream in fact its just more annoying than anything.

[BongoBonkers]

Hi

I had the same problem. Mine was solved by fitting spigot rings. Basically, aftermarket alloy wheels are not always the perfect size so, whilst they do 'fit', they aren't perfectly centred on the hub. If you search you can find information on that subject. If you want help with it then just say and I can tell you the size and where I got mine.

One other source of major vibration was when some idiot I had accidentally employed put tyre sealant in - that caused serious vibration.

Good luck, I'm sure you can fix it. Some people will likely tell you 'they all do that' (as I was told....) but we fixed ours.

[bongolou]

Oh yes please they are aftermarket alloys so that might be the cause. If you can help with what i need to fix this then that would be great, its worth a try anyway and if you fixed yours then perfect I dont think it would the sealant problem as they are brand new tyres they put on for me when i brought it as i asked them to do that, so def think it maybe the spigot thing you mentioned makes sense.

[BongoBonkers]

I bought mine from this seller on Ebay: spigotringsrus. Unfortunately he is still an ebay member but doesn't seem to be active anymore.

However, find yourself a supplier like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-67-1-73-1 ... 4ac0025c08

Then what you need to do ideally is remove one of your alloys. Measure the hole in the middle that the hub will centre on as accurately as you can in mm.

Mine was approximately 73.1 mm. The Bongo hub is 67.1 mm (as far as I know, we have a yr 2000 V6). So then you can search on Ebay or google to find the size you need. So I searched for: 'spigot rings 67.1 73.1' and you can easily sort yourself out for about £5 all-in.

Then of course you need to pop your wheels off, fit the rings then re-assemble and cross your fingers!

In our case, you can see we had a 6mm 'gap' where the wheel hub was bigger than the Bongo hub. Quite a big distance once the wheel gets spinning fast.

Good luck with it anyway.

[bongolou]

excellent, thank you very much i would guess mine are the same as your as that seems to be the common size for bongos. mine is a v6 on a 2002 plate. going to be fine removing the wheels, ive done cars jacking up removing etc no problem but not a bongo. Any tips for where the jack points are etc or anything i should know that's different to cars?

[BongoBonkers]

Not really any special info needed. Just have a look underneath and it's pretty obvious.

At the back, I would either jack one side at a time using the 'leg' that comes out of the differential or I am a bit naughty sometimes and jack the whole thing up at once using the diff and then put axle stands either side.

At the front I use a little round-ish bit of metal that you find at the rear end of the lower wishbone. Basically just look under the vehicle just behind the front wheels and you'll see what I mean.

Main special info I guess is always use axle stands to back up your jack. You can't be too careful in that respect. Never had a Bongo fall on top of me but I should imagine it's the kind of mistake you'd only make once!

Good luck, you can do it!

[bongolou]

Thank you.
Front sounds nice and easy hopefully will find the spot to jack up the rear, i will only do wheel at a time might give this a go at the weekend if i get chance if not one evening. Thanks for the help, really hoping this fixes that annoying vibration sounds like the next best bet to me and a cheap fix at that.

[New Forest Terrier]

I had this one with my aftermarket Japanese alloys. Bongo arrived with flashy alloys but no spigot rings, somehow no vibration. One the back wheels had been off to do brake pads that was it vibration everywhere. A tyre place could tell you straight away what the problem is and probably get you the spigot rings, as they come in differing sizes. The wheels will probably need rebalancing after.

Now I just get a slight vibration at 63,64 mph but I think this is common on Bongos.

[bongolou]

Mine has aftermarket 15 inch 6 spoke alloys. I dont know it they have spigot rings fitted, going to take one off and see. The dealer took them back to the garage to be rebalanced again but no mention of spigot rings. Think i will try and take a wheel off and look and get some rings then take it and get it balanced again all four, i think the dealer only got the front wheels rebalanced this time. I presume even thought mine is non 4 x 4 all four could cause a vibration if not balanced.
They are new tyres so cant be due to much else as there not even worn.
Think i will try the rings as its a cheap fix and then get them balanced locally and see what happens.