Yesterday my partner was driving my 95 ford escort td on the motorway and had to slam all on due to the car in front slamming all on, now there is a constant wobble on the car and when you take your hands off the steering wheel its moves from side to side ant ideas what this is and is it serious. nikki
Take the car to a mechanic. Don't drive it until you do so. If it wobbles, something is wrong. Steering is important for control of the car. So it is serious.
Jeff
Yes, it is definitely serious but not necessarily very expensive, unless you ignore it. An inspection of the tires and front suspension should show what is wrong. My guesses would be a tire "separating" (the tread coming loose from the carcass) or possibly a ball joint that has worn and has now shifted to a bad position. Personally, I have my money on the tire. Either way you are probably heading for trouble on the road soon - blowout or loss of steering control - if it is not fixed.
Best wishes!
Mike
Thank you for you reply i will get all these checked out. nicky
One other possibility - they just mashed the pedal to the floor and locked up one or both front tires in the panic stop, and wore a big flat-spot in the tire tread at one point. This will mess up the tire's balance, and can seriously affect the handling.
If the flat-spot wear is too deep the tires will need to be replaced, but only the tire shop can make that call.
If they are savable but they can't get them balanced, better tire shops will have at least one "Road Force Balancing" machine like the Hunter GSP9700 to handle the tough problems. See
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Given the age of the car, look for a broken or bent part in one of the front wheel suspension assemblies which has been weakened by many years of corrosion (rust). Check the rear suspension too. My nephew was recently driving his 91' Escort wagon when one of the rear struts broke upward through the sheet metal of the car body (shock tower) and came to rest next to the stereo speaker on that side. This was caused by rust in the top of the shock tower where the end of the strut is mounted. Let us know what you find out in your case.
Glad to hear it is resolved! Affordably, too. :-)
Mike
Now take the spare tire out of the car and look carefully for a big flat spot across the tread. If it threw the tire off balance that bad it should be obvious - and if it wore down to where the tread is gone (or worse, down to the cord plies) it needs to be replaced.
If it's not that bad, take the now-spare-tire to a tire shop and get it spin balanced. So the next time you get a flat it's usable as a spare for the long-term if necessary, without that shimmy.
Your friend that was driving may "owe you" 1/3 or 1/4 of the cost of one new tire, depending on how worn out the rest of the tread was at that point. If you decide to replace a pair of tires as a set, the second one is all yours.
I wouldn't press the issue and potentially lose a friend over $20 or $30, it's more of a "right thing to do" than a hard debt.
Oh, and if the former spare tire that is now in service is the 1995 "original" spare, leave it on the road and wear it out - if it gets much older you'll have to toss it because of old age, the rubber will start deteriorating. 15 years is my hard limit, YMMV.
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