I have a 1995 960. I recently purchased it and am generally pleased with the vehicle. However, I have a very noticeable shake in the steering wheel (like a tire was bouncing on the road) that initially felt like the tires were out of balance. I replaced all of the tires with pirelli p6000 Sport veloce tires and went to a very reputable tire shop so I a confident that the tires were balanced properly. The rims were replaced also. After all of that, I still have the shake in my steering. Before the aforementioned, changes my car would start to shake at 65 to 70 mph. Now the shake doesn't appear until slightly higher speeds are attained. It gets worse if I continue to increase speed past this point. Any insight on what parts may be reponsible for this behavior and a corrective action is greatly appreciated? My guess was either the struts and/or shocks or some front end parts. Is there anything that is fairly common to give these symptoms that fails on the 960? Please help.

I agree with getting the wheels balanced on a Hunter 9500(?) balancer. It put's a dynamic load on the tire/wheel assembly and is therefore more accurate.

Also put a torque wrench on those lugs and make sure they are all evenly torqued to 63 ft./lbs.

DEWFPO
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1998 S90 066,800 and 1995 964 150,200

I'm beginning to think this a more common problem than i would have guessed. There is a good article in the FAQ on this very issue and hopefully, you'll find some solutions there. I too have EXACTLY the same vibration, wheel out of balancesque kind of think with my newly acquired 940. Seems to me that the gentleman posting his solution sought out a Hunter, upper end tire machine, which as I read it, really was an out of balance kind of thing. Anyway, please refer to the FAQ re: this issue and here's hoping that you find a quick, inexpensive solution to your problem. Good luck with your otherwise wonderful sounding car!

Sincerely,

JB

Of the FAQ addressing my issue, which article is it? What is a "Hunter" and how would it help me with my problem. Is it a more advanced balancing machine?

Thanks for the response thus far.

My understand is yes, the Hunter is a much more advanced machine. Read FAQ wheels and tires for the whole story...the poster appears to have done his homework which should help you out. Good luck!

Sincerely,

JB

Thanks for all of the help.

I was able to locate a tire service center that owned the "Hunter" machine for force matched balancing

My ride quality is like night and day on my Volvo 960. There is no vibration whatsoever! The balancing even compensted for one rim that had a ding in it and was barely within their tolerances to be balanced at all.

Again, thanks for the invaluable information. I could have spent hundreds of dollars trying to solve this problem. Instead, it was the best $70 dollars invested in my vehicle thus far!!

I am still interested in improving my ride quality further by upgrading the Struts and possibly the shocks as well.

Any suggestions? I am interested in a firm (not stiff)performance type ride that still offers a fair amount of road dampening (so bumps in the road are absorbed better) but not at the expense of performance. My current suspension is somewhat bouncy on rough surfaces.