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-   -   Car wobbling from front. What can it be? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/37147-car-wobbling-front-what-can.html)

This problem has recently surfaced in my Opel Corsa. When i accelarate hard, the front portion starts wobbling quite a bit. It's not the wheel, cause the steering doesn't wobble at all. It feels like the whole front end of the chassis is wobbling.This started after changing the shocks (Konis) tyres and rim change and the
engine swap. Don't know whether its related to all this.

Showed the car to my tuner and he's ruled out any suspension problems. What could it be? Any suggestions?

You mentioned an engine swap. Did the tuner check the engine mounts?

Even I had my doubts about that. What strengthens my doubt is, if I'm cruising at 120 on 5th gear, there's no wobbling. It only happens whenever I floor the pedal to accelerate hard.

Its usually what you call as torque steer. This happens on front wheel drive cars when you accelerate hard. The front end squirms and shifts sideways as the tyres work hard to grapple the tarmac. Due to dis-similar traction the car tends to wobble.

Poor wheel balance sets up a wobble in the steering and a shudder in brakes due to warped discs, but your car doesn't seem to have either of the problems from what you say, so its nothing to worry

I am assuming your mechanic ruled out suspension issues correctly:)

No DKG. It's not Torque steer. Torque steer happens mostly during shifts. I know how that feels. This wobbling is nowhere close to torque steer.

Improper engine mounting? Drivetrain issues?

Chetan,

Check your lower arm & tie-rod ends and get you car realigned and tyres balanced at Premji's (Mahim) their equipment is good & reliable.

Viper

Thanx jiggy. Will surely do that.

Do you get vibrations if you rev the engine while you are standing still? If yes, then it's motor mounts or some drive train issue for sure.

You swapped corsa engine with which engine? also the swapped engine mounting locations are same as corsa's?

i think its from the 1.4 to the 1.6 corsa engine.

You changed tyres/wheels/shocks and engine. All different from stock. Of course your problem has to be related to such a massive change.

When you say the front of the car wobbles under hard acceleration, do you mean that the car doesn't hold a straight line? If so, does it stabilize after the acceleration is over and you maintain high speed? When you accelerate hard, I think the weight of the car will be transferred to the rear wheels and possibly the front tyres are losing some grip. If the front shocks are much more stiff than the rear, maybe there is too much weight transfer to the rear under acceleration? Just a wild guess.

Do you maintain significantly different pressures in the front/rear wheels (e.g. are your front tyre pressures significantly higher)? That could cause the front tyres to lose some grip under hard acceleration because of the weight transfer to the rear.

Alignment/balancing issues apart, the wheel offset could play a role in steering problems if significantly different from stock. Also do your wheels/tyres foul with the suspension or body at any place?

@Dirtydan
No buddy, there are no vibrations when the car is still.

@Ford Rocam
Jitu, Akshay is right. It's from 1.4 to 1.6. Same engine.


The car holds a straight line. It's not a case of front tyres losing grip. As I said earlier, the wobble is distinctly from the engine or the chassis. One more thing I forgot to mention. When the front is wobbling, even the gear wobbles a bit.
The wheel offset is proper. Already checked that. The tyres don't scrape anywhere.

Are mounts of Corsa 1.4 & 1.6 same?what gearbox you using? 1.4 or 1.6? looks to me mounting issue just remove all the mounts with engine on jack & with proper align refit all the mounts firm tight, check for rubber inserts inside the mounts for broken/worn rubber piece.

I'm using 1.4 gearbox. Regarding the mounts, I'll get them checked.