Hi guys, I could use your expertise.

I recently purchased a used 2008 RRS HSE with 65,000 miles on it. (North America) the previous owner hadn’t driven the car for 6 months. He took a job in the UK and decided to stay there. The Rover sat parled in the driveway at his roommates house in California and was only started and driven around the block infrequently.

Before moving, the owner bought four new Pirelli tires for the OEM 19” wheels.

I test drove the car with my Land Rover mechanic before purchasing it. We neww it needed front lower control arms immediately. Other than that, everything else just needed routine maintenance as well as brakes.

After all the services were performed, I drove the car on a few highways and noticed the steering wheel shaking back and forth. At speeds between 45-70 mph there were times when the shaking got so bad that it started shaking the entire front end. It felt like I was driving over rumble strips. I had to slow down and pull over a few times.

I went and got the tires road force balanced as well as a four wheel alignment.
That helped a little but it would occasionally get into a death wobble on the highway.

We did find the tie rod ends were bad and we just replaced the inner and outer and did another alignment.

The death wobble still persists.

The fact that the car sat for 6 months would lead me to suspect that the tores have developed flat spots but the tire shop didn’t say anything when they road forced balanced them.

I’ve been reading all the other posts and TSB’s about this issue and it is overwhelming on what Lamd Rover and Dealers have been replacing without any real answers.

Any help from you guys is appreciated

Thanks,
Len

Easiest way is if you know someone else with same car & swap wheels over.

Andy. Andy.
21 Ford Ranger
Gone but not forgotten
Focus RS Red Edition
2015 RRS AB Fuji.
2014 RRS SC Santorini
2016 VW Amarok
2014 RRS AB Fuji
2012 RRS Red Edition Fuji
2015 Nissan Navara
2012 RRS SE Santorini
2008 RRS White
2007 RRS Santorino

I had a wobble at speed turned out to be the brakes binding, got them replaced on under warranty from the garage i purchased it from.

Agree that sounds like binding front brake. I had the same on my old Jeep Cherokee. Completely out of the blue experienced the shaking quite violently. Easy to tell if you stop and feel the wheels the offending side will be hot and/or terrible smell of overheated brake pads.

Turned out the Cherokee is famous for it caused by defective caliper design. In the OP's case I'd imagine the calipers just need an overhaul as the pistons are seizing in the bore. 2008 MY Java Black TDV8 HSE

PC76 wrote:

I had a wobble at speed turned out to be the brakes binding, got them replaced on under warranty from the garage i purchased it from.

I don’t have access to another set of 19” Wheels/Tires. Interesting info about the brake calipers binding. I’ll keep my temp gun in the car and check the brake temps next time it happens.

Thanks guys! 2006 LR3 HSE
2008 RRS HSE

If you have replaced/rebuilt the front suspension, then I hope you have had a "proper* Wheel Alignment. Excessive Toe-out or Toe-in can cause a serious shake. In Spain - 2018 F Pace - Frightened away from the Sports due to crank failures
Gone - A couple of RRS, A couple of Disco's. However thinking of another Sport.

Have you swapped tyres front to back? Some tyres get wear that can cause issues ( my Uniroyals for one) and whilst the shaking issue is not the same symptoms as mine, its an easy and cheap check to just eliminate this as a possible problem. They would still balance OK but on the road would throw up issues when under load.

Also check rear dampers. Again an easy check. just stand in the boot and bounce once. There should be no continual up and down movement. Car should go down when you apply weight, come up and then back to stop at original position.

Not quite a solution to your symptoms but as these cost nothing, its good to eliminate them. Robin
2008 Range Rover Sport TDV8
Gone:
Jaguar S-Type V8 4.2 Sport
MGZTT 190 2.5

UPDATE:

I took the vehicle to a large Pirelli dealer to see if they would replace the tires under warranty. I knew they would go through all the balancing procedures and see if the tires were damaged or deformed from sitting for so long.
They ended up finding that the last road force balancing was done incorrectly and excessive weight was applied and in the wrong spots. They road force balanced all the wheels/ tires and did a final high speed balance. They ended up removing 5oz. Of weights just on one of the front tires. When all was said and done, very little weight was needed on each tire and the shaking is completely gone. The steering is shake free at high speed.

They didn’t charge me anything! The tires were originally purchased from somewhere else!

Thank you Americas Tire.. 2006 LR3 HSE
2008 RRS HSE

Glad you got it sorted and relatively easily. It’s a shame that some “automotive specialists “ aren’t.

Well done to your Pirelli experts who have just gained another customer or two because of their good service. Robin
2008 Range Rover Sport TDV8
Gone:
Jaguar S-Type V8 4.2 Sport
MGZTT 190 2.5