mk2 wriggling around on the motorway...

[elephantstone]

Ive had the tracking done, over 70 the steering wheel is shaking and i just start thinking to myself "i know mx5's are meant to be not great on the motorway but jesus christ"

What should i get it booked in for? The handling on the whole is not very confidence inspriring. I did hit a pot hole which cracked the alloy etc a while ago but had it repaired and thats when i had the tracking sorted.

And while im here actually, there is a rattling coming from the exhaust at the back on tickover (more so when i have the heated windscreen on).

[daemon]

Wheels need balancing?

Bad tyre?

[Crusoe]

Sounds like you have answered your own question. Suggest the wheel that was damaged needs to be rebalanced or may not have been fixed correctly. If you rule that out you might have damaged a lower arm or similar though if there is no vibration at other speeds or when on the brakes the wheel balance is your best bet.

[Boobonman]

How old are the tyres? Matching? Pressures? buckled wheel?

Other that i would balance the wheels and get a proper4 wheel alignment done by someone reputable like WIM, these cars are particularly sensitive to all these things.

[Prawo Jazdy]

It might also be worth checking your brakes (jack it up and see if any of the wheels dont't turn freely). I recently had something which started as a vibration at motorway speed and resulted in a juddering when I tried to pull away and odd steering reactions. It turned out one of the front brakes was partially on due to crud/corrosion. Catching it early meant it was a cheap fix and didn't require any replacement parts.

[elephantstone]

I think ill get the wheels balanced first and see what happens. How much we looking at? im off to australia soon for a holiday but if its a cheap thing ill get it done tomorrpw.

[MX-5 Lazza]

When you say you had the tracking done, was that just front wheel tracking at a tyre dealer? If so that's completely pointless on an MX5 and usually does more harm than good. MX5s need full 4-wheel laser alignment done by someone who knows what they are doing.

But I'm with everyone else anyway. It sounds like you have a damaged or just out of balance wheel or possibly a buckled tyre. Where did you get the wheel repaired?

[dblack1]

sorry for digging this back up, but I would never put a repaired wheel on my car.
I sell tyres for a living, and I have seen many "repaired" wheels, many of them are bent, and they all take a ton of weight to balance. If you must have the repaired wheel on your car, put it on the back.

[MX-5 Lazza]

I'd agree with that. When I had the Berkeley I bent 2 wheels on a humungous pot-hole. I got them both repaired but the guy who did it said they were both really bad and one was at the very limit of what could be done without cracking the alloys and he advised that both should be moved to the rear.
I never trusted them again so fitted a set of Oz Superlegerra. I only put the original wheels back on when it came time to sell it.