Rear end wobble

Scott Long

Registered User
Ok, my girlfriend has driven my 92 for quite some time. She tells me the other day that its wobbling. So I take it for a drive. Sure enough the rear of the car has a definate wobble to it. You can feel it at about 25 mph. So I check the lugnuts on the rear wheels, and they are tight. Jack it up, check the wheel bearings, there is absolutely no play side to side or top to bottom. I don't think there is a bent rim as we haven't hit anything or jumped any curbs with the car. The wheel weights are still in place plus this is a VERY noticeable wobble, not a light shimmy when you have a wheel out of balance. I don't know what could cause this. Rear sub frame mounts or bushings? Control arm bushings?

This car is pissing me off good. It already needs a new fuel tank, steering rack, and door hinge on the drivers side. I am ready to go get an 01 Mustang GT 5-speed but just can't seem to part ways with my SC's. Tempting I'll tell ya.

Anyhow, I know without riding in my car its hard to pinpoint it, but anyone have any ideas or have this happen to them?
 
gotta be something loose back there. check all your bushings. i was gonna say spindle bearing but you said they were good, so double check those. even a little play with an off balance tire can cause some vibration
 
Have someone drive the car at 25 mph while you ride in another car behind it.....

You will be able to observe the wobble and determine the cause...

More than likely it will be a bad tire....
 
"I am ready to go get an 01 Mustang GT 5-speed but just can't seem to part ways with my SC's. Tempting I'll tell ya."

Uhm, why that specific car? Just curious really. What's the draw of a 5 year old Mustang?

Just noticing that some guys are Mustang/SC guys. Is it just cuz it's a Ford? Misplaced brand loyalty?
 
I had a simular thing happen and it was the wheel bearing. I went to a salvage yard and picked up the whole spindle asembely pretty cheap.
 
Check the tires again!

How old are they? Belts might have shifted meaning"that there is a noticable slope on tread with high and low sides and pretty soon the steel cords will be coming through. Or "lack of tires being rotated".
Just putting out some possibilites!

Tom
 
I just went through this with my in laws 96 cougar. It was a really strange wobble. Turns out a broken belt inside the tire caused it. You could just barely see a bubble on the inside of the tire. Replaced them and its all good. Throw your spare on the side that wobbles and go for a drive. If it goes away, you have your cause.
 
Well the tires are a few years old. They are 225/60/16 Goodyear Eagle GA all seasons. In the summer we run the 17" Cobra R wheels and 245/45/17 Potenza's on the car. No problems there. But for the winter months I put the old set back on. Its a good chance they might have a worn belt. They look ok on the outside and there is still decent tread depth on them. I guess I'll try to swap a different set of rear tires on from some of my spare wheels and see if it goes away. If it does, to the tire store I go. If not then I'll be crawling under and checking. The rear wheel bearings are 2 years old, torqued down very good and I put new spindle nuts and red loctite on them. So I wasn't surprised that there wasn't any play in the bearings.

Going behind the car its not noticeable, everything looks good except the rear tires have a good degree of toe-in from the lowering springs. It was aligned but I think the place put it back to stock specs. It will wear the insides of the tires if you run them for a long period of time.
 
JStudrawa said:
"I am ready to go get an 01 Mustang GT 5-speed but just can't seem to part ways with my SC's. Tempting I'll tell ya."

Uhm, why that specific car? Just curious really. What's the draw of a 5 year old Mustang?

Just noticing that some guys are Mustang/SC guys. Is it just cuz it's a Ford? Misplaced brand loyalty?

Because they are fairly cheap to buy, lots of potential, tons of aftermarket that is dirt cheap, has the upgraded PI mod motor, solid rear axle, easy to work on, lighter than an SC, faster than an SC, newer than my SC, did I mention performance parts are cheaper than my SC???? I think I'll keep my cars for now but in the near future will probably pick up a used GT to play with and use as a daily driver. Oh and they run on 87 octane gas and do good w/ a 5-speed unless you put your foot in it. You have to run premium once you get it tuned for timing advance but for mild bolt ons (intake, gears, exhaust, and suspension) you can keep it set for 87. Plus the 4.6L w/ headers, h-pipe, and 40 series flowmasters is music to my ears. Then when it comes time to add boost you have SO many choices (whipple, vortech, eaton, procharger, paxton, turbo kits, etc..) Oh plus the NOSzle nitrous kits, where they seat the jets under your injectors..... Nuff said.
 
i had something simulair, but mine was a loose axle nut :) check your axle's?

I dunno, sounds odd, wouldnt hurt to bring your wheels in for a re-balance, driveshaft out of balance? does it make any noise driving straight or turning?or it just seems to wobble, mine when i turned i herd as noise, found out it was just a loose axle nut..

Alex L
 
Scott Long said:
Because they are fairly cheap to buy, lots of potential, tons of aftermarket that is dirt cheap, has the upgraded PI mod motor, solid rear axle, easy to work on, lighter than an SC, faster than an SC, newer than my SC, did I mention performance parts are cheaper than my SC???? I think I'll keep my cars for now but in the near future will probably pick up a used GT to play with and use as a daily driver. Oh and they run on 87 octane gas and do good w/ a 5-speed unless you put your foot in it. You have to run premium once you get it tuned for timing advance but for mild bolt ons (intake, gears, exhaust, and suspension) you can keep it set for 87. Plus the 4.6L w/ headers, h-pipe, and 40 series flowmasters is music to my ears. Then when it comes time to add boost you have SO many choices (whipple, vortech, eaton, procharger, paxton, turbo kits, etc..) Oh plus the NOSzle nitrous kits, where they seat the jets under your injectors..... Nuff said.

Yeah, that answers it :)
 
If you have no play in the bearings and everything is tight..I would say it would definately be a tire.

Get the rear end in the air and spin the tires. Get eye level with the bottom of tire watching the tread. Hell, you might even be able to feel for a broken belt.
 
Well it was a tire. It exploded yesterday from the center. Strangest thing I've seen. I put a new tire on it and the car rides smooth no wobbling. Checked the wheel bearing again and its tight, so is the retaining axle nut. So the tire must have gone bad. They were sitting for over a year on another SC I have, then I threw them on the 92 for the winter time. I dunno maybe it got a flat spot from the weight of the car sitting on it for so long.
 
Glad to hear

That problem solved!!!! I hope it exploded when you weren't driving it!!!:eek:

Scott Long said:
Well it was a tire. It exploded yesterday from the center. Strangest thing I've seen. I put a new tire on it and the car rides smooth no wobbling. Checked the wheel bearing again and its tight, so is the retaining axle nut. So the tire must have gone bad. They were sitting for over a year on another SC I have, then I threw them on the 92 for the winter time. I dunno maybe it got a flat spot from the weight of the car sitting on it for so long.
 
Not that lucky, my girlfriend was driving to her brothers house with our persian cat in the car with her and she was on a 2 lane highway (55 mph) when the tire exploded. She pulled off to the side and called me. I had to leave work early and bring my jack and one of my many spare rim/tire. The car is so low that with the blown tire I couldn't get a jack under it so I had her slowly go to the nearest parking lot and then I jacked up the drivers side till the passenger side was in the air enough to get the tire off. Then the other SC wheel/tire I brought wouldn't go on so I had to remove the valve stem to deflate the tire enough to get it on the car. Then I tightened it up, lowered it, and pumped it up with my 12v compressor. Good way to spend an afternoon in the cold.

On my way to where she was I saw a white SC on the side of the road and there was a mexican in a field picking something (grapes maybe?). When I went back by him again I got on it and chirped 3rd gear as I was passing his location. His was an 89-91 w/ front cornering lamps. I was surprised to have 3 SC's in such a short radius.
 
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Nah not a good way

To spend the afternoon, but as long as she,the cat,the car is alright!!!!!!
Oh yeah, where I live in jersey, I haven't spotted another Tbird SC nor XR7 driving around? I need to join up with the NJ Club when the Coug is done!!!!:)
 
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