307 - Bad Vibrations

I have a 2003 HDI SW. Up to 65mph its the most solid car on the road, but,
all this changes thereafter. When it gets to 70 you quickly become aware of
small vibrations in the steering. 75mph reveals much more vibration which is
even more noticeable when performing a slight turn on the steering wheel.
Above these speeds the whole driving experience is horrible with the
steering wheel moving side to side.

The car has done 37000 miles and the all the wheels have been balanced twice
(to no effect). Two wishbones have been replaced in its life and one is
about to be replaced again under warranty (would this cause the above?). The
tyres 'look' ok with much tread on them, but could they be 'out of round' or
something similar? and could poor tyres inflict damage on the Wishbone?
Finally, an additional factor to the vibration is that it comes in and out
say every three seconds.

Can anyone enlighten me to possible causes of the above. It's a shame really
as I quite like the car, despite the CD multi player crashing regularly!

Much Obliged
Merry Christmas
Iain

 

Have you had the wheels checked for straightness?
Mine came with one bent (on the front nearside axle but no signs of kerbing)
and the spare wheel (not just tyre) had a big flat on the inside of it where
it had been bounced off a speed bump or kerb at some time.
My spare was replaced by the dealer as it should have been picked up during
the pre-delivery inspection and MOT as a non serviceable spare tyre and the
bent wheel on the axle was never sorted as it was possible to balance out
the worst of it. It still vibrates a bit above 65 then again at about 75
then dies off again as I approach 80. I will keep it on the car until the
new tyre on it scrubs in for a few thousand miles and then swap it for the
spare which is brand new (Kumho) and the wheel on that is straight.
Another thing to get checked is the condition of the front lower suspension
balljoints, mine has had both replaced (it had done 43K at that point) and
it sounded like a bucket of bolts every time I went over a drop kerb into
and out of work each day.

Chris

 

have the wheels balanced on the car, as this can be done by a very good
tyre place.also could be bushes on any part of the wish bone arm.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM CHRIS IN ADDLESTONE SURREY,

 

I go along with getting them balanced on the car. Cured problems I had in
the past, once on a Cortina and again on a Princess.

 

Iain, Continuing on what you say, the vibration comes and goes every three
seconds. Does this frequency vary when on a long right or left hander? It
sounds as if one wheel is slightly smaller than the other, so is spinning
faster. Every three seconds, the out of balance bits line up.
Is it possible it is a driveshaft or differential fault? Not so likely, but
worth considering.
You have had the wheels balanced twice, were they out of balance the second
time? If so, why. I know they can vary in use, but not by enough to cause a
problem normally.
If you get them balanced dynamically on the car and this then cures it, it
would suggest that you have problems with other parts of the wheel/hub/disk?
Have you tried swapping the front and rear wheels round?
If the tyres were "out of round" or the hubs warped, then you would get a
problem with vibration I would have thought. Again, swap front with back,
and try it out.
Do you know anyone else with this same vehicle? Might be worth swapping
front wheels with some from another car if you can. It would certainly show
if your wheels were at fault.
What is going wrong with the wishbones? This might give a clue.
Brian.

 

Dear All

Many thanks for your time suggesting cures for my Peugeot 307, especially
this time of year when everyone is really busy!

I think this has to be the order of play for me:

1) The wishbone is being repaired under warranty - I will take the
opportunity to ask the garage if they can spot anything useful.

2) If problem persists I will find the tyre place (usually a sports
specialist) who can balance them on the vehicle and get them to check the
roundness and integrity of the tyres.

3) If no joy, then swap rear and front wheels.

4) Give Up, pester garage I bought car off saying what they sold was of
dubious quality asking for a respectable deal on another!

My other car is a Peugeot 405 GTX TD, has 126000 miles clocked up and holds
the road like no other and makes the 307s handling inadequate.

Many thanks and Happy Christmas & New Year to all

Iain

 

Just to add my 4p's worth,

To have a pair changed then another seems a bit excessive, do they wear
out that quick or has the car been driven on really bad surfaces, if so
other parts of the suspension geometry may well be damaged.

Dynamic balancing usually sorts out 95% of these problems not perhaps if
it is in the differential.

If you do 2) there should be no need for 3)!

You could always try and contact the previous owner to check its history!

I have a 307 1.6 110bhp (8 months old), I had a 405 GLX diesel (N reg)
before, and, though I find the 307 less solid, the one thing I can say
is the drivability is really good, it sticks to the road like sh*t to a
blanket!

I know your GTX probably had harder suspension than mine so perhaps its
not "like for like" comparison.

In my experience over the years, general vibrations that come and go as
the car goes through different resonances are mostly caused (as
previously) by:

Damaged Wheels/tyres
Tyres out of balance
Suspension/ball joints worn/damaged

Brian mentioned the vibration coming and going every 3 seconds, if this
is the case, and its more pronounced on turns I would agree with him
that it could be a diffrential/driveshaft problem, but at 37,000 it
shouldn't be!
FWIW, years ago when I had driveshaft problem it generated vibration in
the steering wheel but it seemed to get worse as speed increased and on
turns, however it did not seem to have distinct "bands" of vibration
like that caused by wheels.

Hope this may help solve your problem, got to go now as I must help
with the Christmas Dinner!!

Merry Christmas

PS Please let us know how you resolve the problem

 

Iain,
Why is the wishbone being replaced? You did not answer this. The fact that
it has already been replaced and needs another in 37k suggests an underlying
problem. From what I have seen and heard, this is not something which
happens to all 307s.
Sadly, many garages these days are not so good at looking for the underlying
problem, as someone else is paying, it is just a case of change everything
until problem goes away.

 

Yes I totally agree, I always found that once the "usual" causes had
been exhausted, it was a bit dangerous to go for the more obscure
ones, this can lead up many a "dark alley"!
A "LONG" time ago I bought a "pup" off of a lovely young lady (did not
notice gap in MOT or scratches in middle of windscreen where it had been
on the ground), after many months of trying did not solve problem of
bad uneven wear on tyres, and slight pulling to one side!!.....
underlying problem in that case was the car had been rolled and had a
new front end that could never be re-aligned!!
I suppose they have the tools nowadays.

I always find the best garages are the small one's who need your custom
and do a good job, but of course the problem is sorting them from the
one's who do a bad job!

All the Best

 

Hi Again,

Yes, the 2nd wishbone replacement will confuses and concerns me a little
too:

When I got the history of the car from the dealer I noticed they had
replaced either one of the bushes each side or a wishbone each side (I have
mislaid these and I am frantically looking for them). I am like you in that
I believe there must be an underlying problem such as wheel or tyre errors,
maybe driveshaft imbalance etc. I am determined to get to the bottom of it
and will let you know. My Peugeot has the wishbone replaced on the 4th of
Jan 06, I have asked them (main dealer) to examine anything that could
produce this vibration.

Hope you all had a great time at Christmas

Iain

 

I suffered a similar vibration problem on my 2004 307 earlier this
year.

I have had the car from new and after about 14,000 miles the car
started to develop a vibration at speeds above 65mph

After several abortive visits to 2 local main Peugeot dealers, (and
after trying the obvious wheel balancing, new tyres all round, swopping
front to rear etc) the problem was eventually found to be faulty rear
wheel bearings.

Hope this helps.

 

Just out of interest, did this vibration just get worse above 65mph
like most driveshaft/bearing faults, ie it was not at particular speeds?

Years ago I had an old ford, I tried everything to improve road holding,
it passed its MOT and I assumed it was to do with front suspension....
it wasn't. The rear dampers seemed OK but, as a last resort, I changed
them and it was like driving a different car!
As I said earlier, strange things these suspension problems!

All the Best

 

I have had the wishbone replaced under the service warranty - The result is
that the vibration has reduced but it is still present at speeds around 70+.

My next port of call is to a specialist tyre place to check for out of round
tyres and to get them balanced once more on top machinery.

I will report back when this has been done.

Happy new year to you all

Iain

 

Dit they give any idea of why the wishbone needed replacing again?

 

I have had my car from new and have clocked 45,000 miles. Since around
30,000 miles my car has had exactly the same symptoms, solid car on the
road up to 65mph, vibration at 70mph and then much more vibration at
75mph. I have the wheels balanced three times, once by a type & exhaust
garage and twice by the Peugeot dealer. The tyre & exhaust garage
didn't fix the problem. However I have had some success when balanced
by the Peugeot dealer. On both occasions the wheel wobble/vibrations
went away, but then return after just a few thousand miles. I have
booked the car in to be looked at again on the 3.2.96. I will let you
know the result.

Graham

 

Hi, thanks for the reply:

No, they did not indicate as to the underlying cause of the problem. My own
pet theory is that something (like a bad tyre for example) is putting strain
on the joints and therefore prematurely ageing them! Its a real shame as the
car would be perfect without this annoying problem.

If you have any further ideas I would be most grateful to hear them!!

Finally, since they performed the work I have not had chance to persue a
solution to the problem, nevertheless, I will keep you posted.

Thanks for all the assistance

Iain

 

Any further news?

 

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the interest, and, there is a result.

The front tyres when purchased with the '03' SW looked absolutely perfect.
They were a top make, Dunlop SPs. I had the wheels balance twice at Peugeot
dealers, the latter I asked to check for out of roundness etc. They said
they had a good look at them and they were ok and balanced them once more.

When I took the car on the road again at motorway speeds the vibration
returned right from 70+. I was very disappointed, though 'they' do say that
Peugeot have the worst dealerships in terms of relationships with customers.

Sick of it all I took it to the most expensive tyre dealer where I live, a
sports tyre specialist. He took the off side front tyre off and placed it on
the balance machine and sure enough, the fluctuations in roundness, shape
along with distortions where easy to see.

I bought 2 new Dunlop SPs (which they insisted they put on the rear) and had
the rears (budget tyres) placed on the front. Problem solved, bring on the
Ferrari F1 team!!!

Many thanks to all of you for your assistance

Iain