Steering wheel shaking like crazy? Options

[mkernz22]

Alright, so pretty much when ever I am driving, the steering wheel shakes like crazy.
Even with two hands on the wheel trying to control it, there is so much vibration.
I know my tires are getting pretty low, but they can last a couple more months.
I'm not sure if anyone else has had this problem, but do you think it's the wheel bearings, unbalanced tires/rims, or just low treads?
The car pulls to the right when I let go of the steering wheel too.

Please help me out!

[blu94gt]

Constant shaking would make me think that you have a bent wheel or hub, or a VERY BADLY worn tire (like flat spotted from locking up the brakes or something). A tire/wheel that's out of balance will usually be pretty mild and have a certain speed that it's noticeable at. My tires are worn very unevenly and are very noisy, but my I still don't get much feedback thru the steering wheel.

My Miata had a bent wheel, that steering wheel was always shaking like crazy until I put new rims on the car.

[mkernz22]

I don't have any bent wheels, I checked that right off the bat. The tires are worn a lot near the out edge of the treads, but the middle seems to be decent.
When I'm doing about 40mph on the road, the feedback isn't too bad cause I don't notice it half the time, but when I'm on the highway doing about 80-85mph, the feedback is unbearable and it shakes like f***ing crazy! When I replaced the brake pads not to long ago, both front sides had uneven wear. The driver's side had more wear on the inside pad than outside, and the passenger side had more wear on the outside than inside pad. Bad wheel bearings possibly?

[blu94gt]

I found out that I need new strut mounts...

After what I've spent on this strut/spring replacement I have to admit that the old guys were right; I should have sprung a little more and just gotten coilovers.

I don't have any bent wheels, I checked that right off the bat. The tires are worn a lot near the out edge of the treads, but the middle seems to be decent.
When I'm doing about 40mph on the road, the feedback isn't too bad cause I don't notice it half the time, but when I'm on the highway doing about 80-85mph, the feedback is unbearable and it shakes like f***ing crazy! When I replaced the brake pads not to long ago, both front sides had uneven wear. The driver's side had more wear on the inside pad than outside, and the passenger side had more wear on the outside than inside pad. Bad wheel bearings possibly?

More wear on the inside pad is pretty typical on any car. I've never seen bearings cause an issue like that without giving other warning signs such as loud growling noises in corners, scraping, screeching sounds. I would think you would have noticed other problems before bearings cause that much wheel play.

Since you say you notice it more at highway speed I'm going to lean back towards the smaller issue of out of balance/worn tires.

[SwissFerdi]

I second that. My tires were (they're getting replaced now) insanely crappy. The previous owner (I bought the wheels used with tires) was a moron and didn't have the tires rotated frequently, and possibly not balanced, so they were cupped like crazy. It's not very noticeable at city speeds, but at highway speeds the wheel shaked quite badly. Get your tires replaced.

[mkernz22]

I'm hoping it's just the worn out and unbalanced tires, once I save $900 for some 17" Konig Zero's w/ tire package, hopefully it won't be as bad.

[Bigblock]

Seperated belts in the tire(s) maybe?

Is there something like a wobble in the front at slower tomedium speed, like from a stop to about 30 MPH?

[D-Man]

TIRES man TIRES! from this post, i say you need new TIRES!

CLICKY should be of service to your direct needs.

[schmooot]

I would lean more towards a bent rim than tires. An easy way to check is swap your wheels front to back and see if it changes everything

[Jamchell]

Just a FYI, I would take care of this as soon as possible. I have found over my years as a mechanic that if you drive too long with out of balance wheels you significantly increase the speed of wear on your steering/suspension and you will find more rattles popping up in your dash etc. To put it simply, it just shakes things apart over time(think of it like erosion), some cars are more susceptible to this than others. Plus its uncomfortable to drive a car with a jackhammer for a steering wheel.

[mkernz22]

I've rotated the tires a couple weeks ago, and there was really no difference. Both the front and back have the same amount of wear, well pretty close to it.
Nothing wobbles except for the steering wheel. When I slow down, the steering wheel stops wobbling, but say if slam my pedal to the ground and take off from a dead stop, the wheel shakes like freaking crazy.

[HectortheRican]

I was about to post something asking a similar question b/c my steering wheel vibrates above 75mph. Nothing too crazy, I've gotten used to it, but now I know what I can do to fix it! Thanks!

[nnesto]

I'm probably way off base here, but check your cv boots. might be your cv joints going bad from a cracked boot.

[Stambo]

Honestly, check out all your suspension, tie rods, wheel bearings, ball joints to while your at it. The tires would have to be insanely chopped to do something that crazy. You can just rub your hand across the tires and feel that they are out of round. If they arn't terrible, its something else for sure.

[schmooot]

have you done any major hard braking lately...like hard enough to skid all 4 wheels for a few feet?

[mkernz22]

the tires aren't chopped or anything like that and i accidentally skidded all 4 tires once cause i didnt notice a stop sign that was in the middle of no where once, but it shook and whatnot wayyy before that happened. I'm getting new tires soon. I'm having them balanced and i am going to get an alignment as well. If nothing changes after all that and the steering wheel is shaking, I'll check more in depth on the whole suspension thing.

[mkernz22]

also, one other thing i noticed is that the owner before me put new calipers and drilled rotors, and when i take the wheels off, the rotors just wobble.
i would sort of think that they should be mounted somehow so they don't wobble, but as for now, the only thing holding them on when the wheels are off are the calipers/brake pads. braking is smooth on it, so i am not sure if that is much of a problem or not?

[schmooot]

also, one other thing i noticed is that the owner before me put new calipers and drilled rotors, and when i take the wheels off, the rotors just wobble.
i would sort of think that they should be mounted somehow so they don't wobble, but as for now, the only thing holding them on when the wheels are off are the calipers/brake pads. braking is smooth on it, so i am not sure if that is much of a problem or not?

that's fine. The only thing that holds the rotors on is the caliper and the fact that it is mashed between the wheel and hub doesn't hurt either. It should be fully loose once the caliper is removed

[tadastoppp]

I also have a similar problam. When i drive - everything is ok, but when i am at big speed and i push brakes my car starts shaking. Where to look for problems? Tyres are good, wheels are balanced, also new brake pads installed.

[808celica]

I also have a similar problam. When i drive - everything is ok, but when i am at big speed and i push brakes my car starts shaking. Where to look for problems? Tyres are good, wheels are balanced, also new brake pads installed.

that points to warped brake rotors.

[d3ath2009]

i had that shaking problem a few years back... it was so bad that u could watch the glove box shake... u probly need new tires, mine looked fine at a glance, but when i got em off the car u could see the steel belting on the inside walls

[tadastoppp]

No, tyres are really good, as I have two sets of them with different rims and it's the same with both of them.

Ok, i will pay attention to my brake rotors. By the way, can anybody recommend what rottors to buy for better performance for st204 ?

[SleekCelica]

wheel bearings.

[youseman]

could be a dragging caliper, although not likely, do check for it. missing wheel weight is most likely. just my 2 cents

[mkernz22]

it's not the whole car shaking, its just the steering wheel and i notice that when i have the steering wheel perfectly straight, the car pulls to the right, so im possibly leaning towards a bad wheel bearing as well. also when im up around 65 mph or higher, i can feel a little vibration in the gas pedal...

[joyworks]

I recently upgraded from the stock wheels to a new 17" tire/wheel combination. Since then, my steering wheel began vibrating at speeds above 60mph and it pulled to the right. I then got a 4-wheel alignment. That fixed the pulling to the right almost 100%, but the vibration remains. Is it possible that the tires were not balanced correctly? I can't imagine it being the tires or wheels, since they were completely new. And I don't think it is a problem with the suspension components, since there was no vibration whatsoever with the stock tires/wheels. I did read somewhere that some aftermarket wheels may need hubcentric rings, or they may vibrate. Could this be the case?

[Jamchell]

@joyworks It's actually a bit too common for tires to develop out of round issues and small bubbles which will cause vibration. If bad enough it will feel like your tires are slapping the pavement instead of rolling over it. You might want to put the tires on a balance machine and observe them while spinning, sometimes tire shop techs don't bother to visually inspect them when they perform a balance.


And yes some applications need hub centric rings or need to be very carefully attached.

This post has been edited by Jamchell: Jun 21, 2010 - 7:38 PM

[krom8]

I thought I would jump in and point something out for future reference. You can have a bent wheel and not be able to visibly see that it's bent. Also if you have low profile tires and they are under-inflated and you do something as simple as hitting a pot hole you are more likely to get a bent rim.

[TerBeau]

I've rotated the tires a couple weeks ago, and there was really no difference. Both the front and back have the same amount of wear, well pretty close to it.
Nothing wobbles except for the steering wheel. When I slow down, the steering wheel stops wobbling, but say if slam my pedal to the ground and take off from a dead stop, the wheel shakes like freaking crazy.

i didnt read any more of the other posts but if these are after market rims. make sure u have hub centric rings. as well as taperd lugnuts. this may help out too if the rims arent stock.

[deathsythe]

Sounds like an alignment issue to me. I had a similar problem a few years back. Anytime I hit 70 MPH or higher my wheel would start twitching and shaking, but it stopped when I braked.

I had my tires rotated and had my alignment done and it fixed the problem in a jiff.

Hope that helps!

[mkernz22]

the other thing i noticed too is that the inside of my front right tire is bald and the the front left is close to being bald, my question is, what would cause more inside wear on the tire and not as much even wear?

[Johnnyny]

the other thing i noticed too is that the inside of my front right tire is bald and the the front left is close to being bald, my question is, what would cause more inside wear on the tire and not as much even wear?

alignment. bad camber but you are not lowered...

[mkernz22]

anyway, I other problems to deal with now. go to the link below and you'll understand. the wheels are the least of my worries right now.

http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=74696

[Bitter]

check for broken tire belts and bulges in the tires.

[joyworks]

Thanks Jamchell. I had the tires/wheels inspected and rebalanced and rotated (even though they are all brand new). I also had new hub centric rings installed. The vibration is still there, although it seems to have improved. The vibration comes and goes, even when the speed is constant. Should I now have a mechanic look at the suspension, tie rods, wheel bearings, ball joints, and cv boots, since the car is 11 years old? Discount Tire thinks I should return the wheels, but part of me doesn't believe they are the problem. What do you think?

[GriffGirl]

I don't know, if Discount Tire thinks you should return the wheels, that might be a pretty sound choice. I'd get the control arms looked at for sure, and a general look over the suspension as a whole, but honestly, if the sound comes and goes, it sounds like something's whacked out with the weights they use to balance your tires. If the rims are just sub-par, that could totally be the culprit.

[stephen_lee]

i agree. must be the wheels, its the only thing that changed