Steering Wheel Vibration

[easysurfer]

My car is in the shop overnight. The problem is the steering wheel vibrates when the car goes 65mph or above.

What may be the cause? A balance of the two front tires at the car place didn't stop the vibration.

According to the following quick search...there's two possible causes...
1) in imbalanced wheel or 2) loose front end parts

Vibration in Steering Wheel While Driving - Car Problem Diagnosis - Zimbio

 

[Animorph]

The balance check should have caught any tire/wheel problem. I agree with loose front end parts then. Wheel bearings or worn shocks are a couple of possibilities.

 

[Texas Proud]

The balance check should have caught any tire/wheel problem. I agree with loose front end parts then. Wheel bearings or worn shocks are a couple of possibilities.

Not true anymore.... I really do not know what it is (this might get me to look it up), but there is something about 'road force' in a tire that can not be balanced out.... the only way to determine is to do a road force balance....

They had something on one of the car shows the other day and the example given was a tire with 15lbs of road force (again, do not know what it means) that was in spec of the manufacturer, but made the tire unusable.... they said 'throw it away'....

 

[easysurfer]

Got a call back from the car place. They re-balanced all tires (previously, only did the front two). I gonna pick it up tomorrow and test drive it (traffic too busy for them to test before closing) to see if the rebalancing solves the vibration. If not, gonna drop it off to them to look at closer.

The did look at it from the suspension side and can't see anything goofy on with that. So as they say...to be continued...

 

[Alan]

Could also be a problem with the tires themselves.

http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/vibechart.pdf

 

[Gumby]

Got a call back from the car place. They re-balanced all tires (previously, only did the front two). I gonna pick it up tomorrow and test drive it (traffic too busy for them to test before closing) to see if the rebalancing solves the vibration. If not, gonna drop it off to them to look at closer.

The did look at it from the suspension side and can't see anything goofy on with that. So as they say...to be continued...

Did they also do an alignment, front and rear (if applicable)?

 

[easysurfer]

Did they also do an alignment, front and rear (if applicable)?

So far, just a rebalance of all four tires. If my test drive tomorrow comes up positive (that is, still more vibration), then I take it back in on Wed, for them to look closer. I really don't think the re-balancing will solve the vibration, but I suppose I shouldn't speculate, and just be patient.

I remember one time for another incident, there was this clank noise every time I'd hit a little bump. The place thought is was a loose muffler, but eventually found out the problem was a rusted battery bolt.

So, initially, it's time to rule out/on the obivious (reblance?) and proceed from there.

 

[Avalon]

What make/model car are we dealing with? How many miles? Hunter makes a machine that adds road force during balancing if you can find a place that has one.
Hunter GSP9700 Wheel vibration Control System solves wheel vibration and tire pull problems that balancers and aligners can't fix

65 mph makes me think wheel bounce due to a front strut problem. Could be a number of things though.

 

[easysurfer]

What make/model car are we dealing with? How many miles? Hunter makes a machine that adds road force during balancing if you can find a place that has one.
Hunter GSP9700 Wheel vibration Control System solves wheel vibration and tire pull problems that balancers and aligners can't fix

65 mph makes me think wheel bounce due to a front strut problem. Could be a number of things though.

1996 Neon, about 135K. Thanks for the link.

 

[Htown Harry]

I recently went with the fix-it-all-at-once plan for my 2002 vehicle with 100,000 miles.

There was quite a bit of deferred maintenance. The car had an old recall for strut mounts that I had never acted on. The struts (or the suspension connecting arms & bushings) squeaked over every speed bump and pothole. There was a clunk when shifting from reverse to forward, likely a pending failure of one or both of the CV joints. The brakes had never been overhauled and were noticeably weaker than when the car was young. The tire guy said I needed an alignment. The steering wheel play and shimmy didn't feel dangerous, but were noticeable.

The drive train and the exterior / interior condition of the car remain good, so I figure there are another few years of trusty service possible. So, somewhat on faith, I bought a service manual, made a list of all the undercarriage parts that I though could go bad before 150,000 miles and made a single order to a big internet parts dealer, Rockauto. Total cost $1000.

Then I went over to the working class side of town one Saturday morning and went in search of a mechanic willing to put on a trunk full of parts for cash. Found one two-man shop willing to do it for $700. They were agreeable in part because I was willing to leave the car for several days for use as a filler job. That total creeped to $800 before the job was done, but it was legitimate extra costs.

YMMV, of course, but it worked for me. The car feels tight as drum now.

PM me if you're interested in more details.

 

[easysurfer]

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you ended up saving a bundle.

I have a friend whose husband's family used to own a car repair business. She jokingly say, "I married him for the free car repairs." She was just being funny, but think about how nice that really must have been. If the car konks out, she knew who tell to go and fix it.

 

[Animorph]

Not true anymore.... I really do not know what it is (this might get me to look it up), but there is something about 'road force' in a tire that can not be balanced out.... the only way to determine is to do a road force balance....

They had something on one of the car shows the other day and the example given was a tire with 15lbs of road force (again, do not know what it means) that was in spec of the manufacturer, but made the tire unusable.... they said 'throw it away'....

I think that would apply more to new tires. IF OP hasn't just bought new tires I don't think that would be it.

 

[Nords]

The problem is the steering wheel vibrates when the car goes 65mph or above.

Serious question-- is there a reason to drive the car faster than 65 MPH?

Hawaii's top speed limit is 60 MPH, and most of the highways are 55 MPH.

 

[ratto]

Have you had the front drive axles checked? If balancing wheels doesn't yield anything, then maybe it's time to suspect the drive axles. Also have the engine mount double checked.

 

[2soon2tell]

Could be tread separation or out of round tire. First thing make sure the tires are balanced properly.

 

[easysurfer]

Serious question-- is there a reason to drive the car faster than 65 MPH?

Hawaii's top speed limit is 60 MPH, and most of the highways are 55 MPH.

Believe it or not, usually I don't drive over 65 mph.

When I do mostly it's for safety reasons (to blend in traffic when everyone else is going 75+).

 

[Telly]

Since the vibration is felt in the steering wheel, a very simple test is to swap wheels front and rear as pairs. If the vibration is gone, then obviously look into the wheels/tires that used to be on the front. If the vibes are still there, then look into front end/drive. With that many miles, the inner CV joints on the axle half-shafts are a possibility, which is where ratto was going.

Serious question-- is there a reason to drive the car faster than 65 MPH?

Hawaii's top speed limit is 60 MPH, and most of the highways are 55 MPH.

Beep Beep! We have 70, 75 & 80 MPH speed limits... that's what the signs are... real speeds are "somewhat" above that. "Somewhat" is a very subjective term.

 

[Dimsumkid]

So far, just a rebalance of all four tires. If my test drive tomorrow comes up positive (that is, still more vibration), then I take it back in on Wed, for them to look closer. I really don't think the re-balancing will solve the vibration, but I suppose I shouldn't speculate, and just be patient.

I'm a little confused on the resolution here. You first mentioned the front end was vibrating at 65+ mph, you had the front wheels rebalanced and now they rebalanced all 4 wheels to correct the problem? Seems like they're just doing work just to bill you here. They can check to see if your wheels need balancing or not. There's more things to check for front end vibrations that others have already mentioned here...suspension, bushings, tie rods, bearings, etc. Maybe check your sway bar links too, easy to miss a broken one and they're pretty simple to fix.

 

[travelover]

There are three major causes of wheel vibration. Tire / wheel imbalance, tire force variation (caused by non-uniformity of tire carcass including flat spotting from sitting, carcass separation and manufacturing variation) and concentricity issues like a damaged hub or wheel center.

I'd rotate the front tires to the rear to see if the issue is changed. If so, examine all the tires by measuring run out with a dial indicator gauge on the center as you rotate it, while installed on the vehicle. If you have a run out over a millimeter or so, you may have a tire starting to separate or a damaged rim.