What can cause a steering wheel shake on the highway BESIDES WHEELS/TIRES? My Accord has a shake in the steering wheel at around 70 mph. It started right after I replaced front brake pads and rotors, lower ball joints, and driver's CV axle. I had old worn tires on the car at the time. I just had four brand new tires installed and balanced yesterday AND a four wheel alignment and the problem is still there. So it is NOT the wheels or tires. I also replaced the upper control arms and that made no difference either. What else could it be?
What causes steering wheel shake?
- Thread starter exranger06
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Were the wheels roadforce balanced? Sometimes a tire will balance on a traditional balancer, but due to irregularities or out of round issues, the wheel will shake once on the car.
However, that is probably less likely given that you explained that the issue started right after you had suspension work done. Who did the work? Is that a reputable shop that knows what they're doing? Did they use quality parts? I'd go back to the shop that did the repairs to have them fix it. Or did you do this yourself?
However, that is probably less likely given that you explained that the issue started right after you had suspension work done. Who did the work? Is that a reputable shop that knows what they're doing? Did they use quality parts? I'd go back to the shop that did the repairs to have them fix it. Or did you do this yourself?
Worn tie rods?
Seems like they had to be looked at since you did all that work but have you checked the front tie-rods and wheel bearings?
I replaced literally every suspension/control component in the front of my car searching for a bit of vibration I get in the steering wheel around 70-75mph and nothing ever completely eliminated it.
Is this a serious arm wrenching shake or just a bit of vibration?
Oh, also, since you mentioned it started right after replacing those parts; are you sure everything is tight and torqued to specs?
I replaced literally every suspension/control component in the front of my car searching for a bit of vibration I get in the steering wheel around 70-75mph and nothing ever completely eliminated it.
Is this a serious arm wrenching shake or just a bit of vibration?
Oh, also, since you mentioned it started right after replacing those parts; are you sure everything is tight and torqued to specs?
Wheel weights can come off at any time. I would take the car to a reputable tire shop and have the tire hunter/road force balanced. It's better than normal spin balancing and bad tires will show up.
If that doesn't fix it then someone did something wrong when they worked on your front end.
Keep in mind that car is very sensitive to out of balance conditions.
If that doesn't fix it then someone did something wrong when they worked on your front end.
Keep in mind that car is very sensitive to out of balance conditions.
Warped rotor, stuck caliper, improperly phased CV on the axle, improperly torqued wheels, Combination of low caster angle and no toe and no camber (0 total toe/ 0 camber), improperly molded tyre(hop, belt/tread runout)
I did everything myself except the CV axle and mounting/balancing tires and alignment. I used Brembo rotors, Napa Adaptive One pads, Napa Master Ride ball joints and control arms. The axle I believe is a Napa reman'd unit. The hubs were removed with one of these tools:
The passenger side wheel bearing broke in the process, so that was replaced with a Napa bearing. I was meticulous in my work and every bolt was torqued to spec. When I was finally done with the brakes and lower BJs, and almost done buttoning everything back up, I noticed the torn CV boot. By that point, I was so frustrated with the car and because I had never replaced a CV axle before, I took it to a shop to have it replaced. This is the same shop my family has been going to for over 20 years and they always do fantastic work. This is also the shop that did the tires and alignment. This is just a slight shaking back and forth, just enough to be annoying, not enough to make the car scary or undrivable and it only happens right around 70 mph. Any faster or slower than that and it goes away. The car is going back to the shop on Monday so they can figure out what's wrong with it.
The passenger side wheel bearing broke in the process, so that was replaced with a Napa bearing. I was meticulous in my work and every bolt was torqued to spec. When I was finally done with the brakes and lower BJs, and almost done buttoning everything back up, I noticed the torn CV boot. By that point, I was so frustrated with the car and because I had never replaced a CV axle before, I took it to a shop to have it replaced. This is the same shop my family has been going to for over 20 years and they always do fantastic work. This is also the shop that did the tires and alignment. This is just a slight shaking back and forth, just enough to be annoying, not enough to make the car scary or undrivable and it only happens right around 70 mph. Any faster or slower than that and it goes away. The car is going back to the shop on Monday so they can figure out what's wrong with it.
The easy thing to try is to swap tires front to back. Or reduce air pressure in the front tires to reduce the effects of them being out of round(if they are, and new tires can be).
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
The easy thing to try is to swap tires front to back. Or reduce air pressure in the front tires to reduce the effects of them being out of round(if they are, and new tires can be).
And the old tires had the same out-of-round problem? Not likely.
The easy thing to try is to swap tires front to back. Or reduce air pressure in the front tires to reduce the effects of them being out of round(if they are, and new tires can be).
And the old tires had the same out-of-round problem? Not likely.
If the shake is bad at times, particularly after hitting a bump, you may have an idler arm that needs to be replaced.
The shake is very constant, it doesn't matter if I'm going over bumps or a smooth road. This car doesn't have any idler arms.
Excessive Brake Rotor Runout.
Jim
Jim
Front end parts ( shocks/control arms/ bushingings) can NOT cause a shake or vibration they are inanimate objects that have to be acted on to move. Once in motion they can make your front end feel like its going to fall apart. If you have a vibration it has to be caused by a moving part. Everyone here has touched on some possiblities. Your vibration is being caused by your CV shaft or your tires/wheels. Tire balance issues can be traced easily as they they will cause a shake at a specific speed. If a tire is out of round or seperated it will shake or wobble at any speed. You say your vibration is constant. This would point to a CV shaft problem or miss installation...One last issue..Some rack and pinion steering systems will pulsate when the pump is starting to go out..The is caused by a bad seal. This will also cause your steering wheel to shake or pulsate..
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The shop is re-balancing the tires. I'm 99% sure it's a defective CV axle, but they refuse to replace it. (probably because they know they'd have to do it for free) How much you wanna bet rebalancing the tires WON'T fix the problem? (Remember this problem was there with the old tires too, and was still there, no better or worse, with the new tires. AND it started immediately after the new axle was put in). I should've just replaced the thing myself. I'm gonna buy another axle and either replace it myself, or have my uncle's friend do it for me. There's $180 I'll never get back.
Tell that shop to fix it or you will sue and also report them to your states automotive repair licensing bureau. They will listen.
These kinds of stories make me appreciate my indy mechanic even more. If I have a problem, they don't stop until I'm satisfied. And it never costs me more than the original estimate. Everyone should insist on that level of service. Don't let them bully you into accepting less than satisfactory service. And I agree, it's probably a defective CV axle.
UPDATE: I finally got around to replacing the CV axle myself and guess what? No more vibration!! Replacing it was way easier than I thought it would be, I should have just done it myself in the first place. Oh well, lesson learned.
Originally Posted By: exranger06
UPDATE: I finally got around to replacing the CV axle myself and guess what? No more vibration!! Replacing it was way easier than I thought it would be, I should have just done it myself in the first place. Oh well, lesson learned.
That is good to hear.
Thanks for the update.
Jim
UPDATE: I finally got around to replacing the CV axle myself and guess what? No more vibration!! Replacing it was way easier than I thought it would be, I should have just done it myself in the first place. Oh well, lesson learned.
That is good to hear.
Thanks for the update.
Jim
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