# Steering wheels shaking at freeway speeds



## pepperjack13 (Jun 20, 2010)

The steering wheel is shaking when driving at 50-60mph and I don't know what could be causing this. I know you are probably thinking wheel alignment/balance or rims. But i don't think is any of them. 

My car currently has 17 rims with 205/45 tires and I noticed such problem about a month and a half ago. So I thought wheel alignment. I took my car to a local mechanic and they did alignment, balanced and rotated the tires, and replaced both inner tie rods. But none of this fixed the problem. So I took the car to pep boys to do wheel alignment again thinking that probably the other mechanic did not do a good job. $75 poorer and 4 hours of boredom later did not fix the problem. They said that even after the alignment the steering wheel was going to shake a little bit because the car needs new tires ASAP. Well, the problem is still there and the steering wheel shakes a lot more than I would attribute to the tires alone. 

The tires look good. They do have like 15% thread left but they don't have flat spots or anything like that. Do you think it is really the tires or do you think it's something else?


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

They may not look bad, but can you see the belts inside?
Might have slipped or split belts inside the rubber that you CAN'T see.
How about rotating the fronts to the rear and see what changes...
You've got 15% tread left... Sounds like it's time for new tires to me. Those 205/45's on 17's...one really good curb shot or pothole and they're done.


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## pepperjack13 (Jun 20, 2010)

It could be that, the car behaves the same way it did when one of the tire had a leak and the psi went down to like 30 (usually 38psi all around). The first time I took the car to the shop they rotated the tires and there was no difference (the pair of tires switched to the from are different).

Actually I am still trying to decide if I should get 15's or stick with the 17s and just get new tires, I just wouldn't like to find out that the problem is still there after getting new rubber or rims or both.


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## STEALTHY SENTRA (Sep 1, 2009)

New tires can and will make a BIG difference. All season or summer performance is what u prefer?


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## pepperjack13 (Jun 20, 2010)

I usually buy summer tires since phoenix is usually very dry. I have gone through 2 sets of tires before and never had this problem. I guess I am just going to get new tires and see what happens.


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## Rodrigo (Mar 26, 2003)

if i were u i would replace

ball joints
inner tie rods 
outer tie rods
control arm bushings 
rack and pinion bushings. 

and tires as mentiond


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## Nismomatt4527 (Sep 15, 2009)

Ive got the same problem and even same set up (205/40/17). I go for new tires on monday at noon. We'll see how that helps. The only thing i would have left is control arm bushings and they look like they're in decent shape. We'll see how it goes.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

Alignment out of spec won't directly cause a wheel shimmy; only indirectly as it wears the tires out. Shimmy can be attributed to loose steering componants, play in the wheel bearings, bent rims, bad tires or out of balance wheels. Aftermarket wheels and oem wheels that use stick on weights can be very difficult to balance. Wheels need to be balanced on two planes for best results...even better is to have them "force balanced" or balanced on a radial tire balancer. It not only balances the wheel, but matches the low spot of the rim with the stiff part of the tire (the part where the belts overlap). Hunter's website can tell you where there's a shop with a radial balancer in your area.


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## Nismomatt4527 (Sep 15, 2009)

Thats awesome. I had no idea about the force balancing but the SmartWeight Technology alone is enough for me to get my wheels and tires balanced by the tire shop acrossed from my dads shop. They have the Hunter GSP9700 (top of the line). Put that on the checklist for monday afternoon. Thanks SMJ.


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## pepperjack13 (Jun 20, 2010)

Oh yeah I remember reading about something like that in one of those Modified Magazine or Import tuner. I also remember that it can be a little expensive but it's an option. New tires are my priority right now before I go with any thing like that or replacing suspension components but good thing you brought it up, I couldn't even remember the name of it.


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