I got up to 110 today and felt a pretty noticeable speed wobble. I got my tires rotated and balanced, didn't help. I'm hoping. It might be an alignment issue. Although the car doesn't pull.

 

Front control arm bush's, tie rod ends ?

 

I agree check the tie rods for free play

 

That's an indication you shouldn't be driving that fast.

Unless you want a Reckless driving ticket, jail time and impounded car.

 

My car is doing the same. Let me know what the prob is.

 

Simple.. A nut behind the wheel.

 

That doesn't even make sense man.

 

i live in mississippi. in an area with little to no traffic. there was a MASSIVE straightaway. i haven't had a chance to open up in a while. i did it. if 110 is too fast, then i wouldn't have bought an 8. i also know all of the sheriffs and deputies around here. and go drag racing with a lot of them.
i didn't have a chance to get up under the car today. but overall steering play was as tight as any other eight i've driven. i'll put it on the lift this upcoming week. and check all my steering components and bushings.

 

Quite a few things it could be, though it sounds like you have them in hand. Definitely not normal. Plenty of people top 110 on the track without issue. It was still glass smooth (from a vibration perspective) when I hit 141.

Uneven tires could be a cause as well. It could balance out fine, but if the rubber has lumps, hit your wear bars, or something like that, you can get a vibration with everything else being perfectly fine.

 

the only way to check the tires is with a Road Force balancing machine. But if your going to go to that trouble you might as well do a wheel to tire alignment.

 

define: speed wobble? I've heard of unbalanced, but wobble?? Please explain...

More info would help...brand, model of tires, wheels, other suspension mods.

 

Wobble meaning I felt like I was driving on a shitty road. And I know that road is smooth as glass. The user name is literal. No suspension no aftermarket wheels. Potenza tires with more than half tread.

 

Ok, alignment doesn't cause what you call wobble, uneven tire wear, wander, sure, stuff like that, but not alignment. Chances are more likely things like, bad balance. Yes it does happen, if a shop doesn't check balance on their equipment often, you get a $hit balance. Has happened to me at my Mazda dealer FCOL. Also bent wheel, or damaged rim, sometimes on the inside it is hard to see. Also bad tires, damaged tires, internal cord damage can cause gross imbalance that sometimes can't be balanced out. Last of course suspension damage, but a dealer can tell you if that's the case best. Doing it yourself might not discover that.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYJEyToSRtE

 

I know what your talking about, my 8 does that as well once i'm above 100mph. The roads in southeast texas suck so I just thought the road surface was to blame, but others seem to be having "wobble" issues as well. One of my rims has curb damage and that could be the cause, but if you find out that its something other than the wheels or tires hit me up.

 

Also some places balance for 'low speed' really, I mean they don't expect you're going to push 100+. Like where I now go to my local Sears, they have "tire balance" and then they have "tire balance, performance" with a lifetime rebalance guarantee.

Beside that, I make sure the tire guy knows they are going ACTUALLY going to experience 100+ conditions. They're always all over the car anyway, checking out eveything, so I just make sure it comes up in conversation.

That way I get silky smooth 130mph operation on track. I don't really want to be bouncing down the straight on a race track, do I. lol.

 

I kind thought it was common knowledge that if one owned an rx8 they drove 100+. Whenever I get in the car its hard not to drive fast just to hear the engine scream. Plus every honda with an autozone exhast thinks he has something special...I just cant stop myself from proving them wrong!

 

I don know. It could be the wheels. I'll check my stuff to make sure. And there is some FAST hondas around here.(kinda oxymoronic) I played with it some today. It stuck corners fine. On ramps at 80+ no problem. I don know. When the 7 bushings were bad, there was a lot of steering play. I don feel that. Ima take it up to performance motorsports if I can't visually find somethin. He's got a lot of experience tuning suspensions. Maybe he'd figure it out.

 

put the 8 on the lift today. got my buddy who is a mazda/mazdaspeed certified tech to give it a once over. he couldn't find anything. we went ahead and torqued everything down to spec, and nothing was really off by much. he took the wheels off and balanced them on his machine. DRASTIC improvement. still there, but there is some curb damage on EVERY wheel (******* previous owner). i'm gonna chock this up to the wheels and tires. sorry to you guys who were looking for explanations, but my buddy did say that he has seen mississippi roads loosen the bolts in rx8 suspensions. something about the rough roads, stiffer suspension. so in case some of you guys live in shitty areas, make sure you thread locker and tighten.

 

Sounds good man. I guess my curb damage could explain my wobble as well. I was looking for new wheels and tires anyways. Can't decide between bronze or white ones. Good find, thanks for the insight.