Many studies of mechanisms contributing to steering wheel nibble have been carried out in the past. This paper deals with some aspects that have not yet been studied, or those that have been presented by several authors but are deemed to be controversial. Firstly, an overview of stimulation sources (disturbance factors), and the significance these have with respect to steering nibble, is given. As an example of the controversial aspects of the problem, this paper deals with the assumption of dry friction in steering gear models and its conflict with the observed transfer of vibration caused by small (realistic) amounts of imbalance or tyre force variation. After modelling the steering gear resistance correctly, it is possible to identify, in the steering gear, a natural frequency that contributes reasonably to the nibble phenomenon. Based on this new model, a CAE study on parameter sensitivity, using the ‘design of experiments’ approach, is presented.
