90 nissan sentra vibration problem

[ahardb0dy]

Hello, I have a 90 nissan sentra and I get a vibration thru the steering wheel from about 55 to 65 MPH, I have new tires and aluminum wheels 15 x 7 and 195/50/15's running firestone firehawk tires, when I first bought the tire and wheel pkg, from tire rack I had a problem with out of round tires and had 6 replaced, the last thing done was having all 4 wheels and tires balanced on a hunter GSP9700 road force balancer.

I have new lower ball joints and had an alignment done. THe guys at the nissan forum said that on this model and year sentra that it could be from a worn steering rack, the car is manual steering, lately the steering feels like it is " on edge" when moving the steering wheel left to right quickly, I think I may need new struts also as the car will bounce when driving fast and going thru long gradual turns.

Anyone here think the vibration may be from the steering rack? lately I was thinking of the front wheel bearings but I don't know if they would cause my problems,
Thanks

 

[The_Jeff]

jack the car up and push and pull on each wheel.

It could really be anything... tie rod end (inner or outer), ball joint, strut.

Rotate your tires front to rear to see if that moves the problem.

 

[ahardb0dy]

rotating tires had no effect, will check tie rods and balljoints again tomorrow and post findings, thanks

 

[LubeOiler]

My son in law put a set of tires on my 03 Camry that were the wrong size for the car and after trying most everything we can't get those tires to quiet down. If you are useing the factory spec tires then thats not the problem I guess.He also put different tires on my 94 Nissan PU and they are not as quiet as they should be.I hardly ever read about the steering box on cars, unless there is excessive play. Let us know if you find the trouble as vibration can drive you nuts.

 

[pbm]

Years ago I bought a used 92' Sentra SER which had a vibration (and slight moan) between 45 and 55 mph. It turned out to be a bad rear wheel bearing which Nissan replaced under warranty.