Wobbly Wheels under braking

Hi,

I have recently noticed a problem with my defender which whilst not getting any worse doesn't make for confidence inspiring driving!

Under braking and when on a bumpy (ish) road, the steering wheel shakes like crazy and feels like it is going to punt me out of the drivers side window. If you ease off the brakes or the road smooths out the wobble goes.

My initial thoughts were wheel bearings, but there is no play and no noise there, My second thought was suspension and steering damper, so they have been changed, and whilst marginally better it hasn't cured it.

Could it be something to do with the hub swivel bearing pretension?

Am I right in thinking that these are shimmed and if I remove a shim it will put more pressure on the bearing making it tighter and less wobbly so to speak.

Before getting into all that is there an easy test to see if this is the problem.

I hope someone can shed some light on this as I am running out of ideas!

warped disks?
out of balance wheels? (although normally all the time, not just under braking)
Loose caliper?

jack the each corner up and hold top and bottom of wheel and give it a good wobble. if it wobbles thats your problem!!
not sure how the shimming works. sorry

brakes might need ballancing too, i had this problem before and thats what was causing it

Yes you can adjust the swivel preload by removing or adding shims. but make sure it set correctly or you'll end up dead. too tight and ya wheels won't turn too loose and they'll wobble like fook.

Warped disks would only make them selves felt when actually braking unless very badly warped. You might want to check rear trailing arm bushes as well as rear A frame balljoint

Thanks guys for your replies.

I am replacing one thing at a time and taking it for a drive after each change to see if I can work out what is causing it. I have changed shocks and steering damper do far and although it's a little better it isn't great.

The discs are being changed next, well this afternoon to be precise! and they are really crusty despite having only been on there for 3 years, must have been some shoddy chinese crap!

I'll update you when I have more news!