When I drive at high speeds (over 65) on the highway I will sometimes feel an odd vibration, the steering wheel will shake back and forth. It is fine most of the time but often does it in short bursts when I am driving over uneven pavement or hit a bump. Does anyone have an idea on what it might be? My car sat for 4 months. I am thinking I may need a wheel balance/alignment. It could have something to so with the steering though. Help?

 

Could be alignment, tire not balanced correctly, front end damage or a bad tire. I forget what it's called but a defective tire can do that. If you feel it only on one side and swap it to the other and the vibration changes sides as well then it's the tire. Either a bad balance or a defective tire. Chewed up rotors that need to be cut could give you a shimmy as well. Most likely a bad balance since you state only over 65. There's a really good alignment shop down there that mostly does high end sports cars but can't remember the name. You should take it to them as most places don't have the skill to adjust the FD properly.

 

Because the car sat for 4+ months I figures the tires got some flat spots. I only have 175 miles on my new motor so do you think I should give it a while before I have it realigned? I will probably swap the suspension with my CYM so I will need it soon anyways.

Thanks for the help!


Any more suggestions?

 

Separated belt (in the tire)..... is what you were looking for

Also a badly warped rotor will cause this as well. But I would check your rims and tires first for balance etc.

-J

 

Almost sounds like you have one bad shock. If you can jack the car up, look at the shock and see if it looks wet or damp on the shock body.

For an excellent tire balance, try c2racers on Vickers street. http://www.c2racers.com/

For alignment, try Vista Brake or Lutz Tire & Service. There was another one in Clairemont that the BMW CCA guys use a lot but I forget the name.

 

my voteis on the seperated belt or bad balance somewhere..

 

Have you hit any pot holes lately?

 

Poor alignment will NOT cause a vibration, ever!

Separated tire is possible, bent rim is possible, bad wheel balancing is more possible than anything else.

Rules of thumb (almost always runs true):
#1. Vibrations in the steering wheel = problem comes from the front half of the car, since it is the half that is in control of steering. (makes sense right?)

#2. Vibrations at higher rates of speed, but vibration disappears at "XX" MPH = wheel balance problem

#3. Vibrations at low speeds, but seems to worsen around 15 MPH and never disappears, just gets more rapid = bent rim OR severely damaged suspension part.

 

This is NOT true....Though very rare, caster can be SO far off that it causes your steering wheel to shimmy.

-J

 

Do you mean toe? I could see extreme toe possibly creating a vibration, but only because the two front wheels would simply be at a battle with each other, kinda like doing a 45MPH FWD burnout everywhere you go. You would be able to hear the tires screaming for help.

But I can't see caster causing this. When I said alignment couldn't cause his problem, I'm speaking from a realistic, real-world standpoint. Of the thousands of vehicles I've aligned, I've never seen even the most extreme cases (L: -1.5 R: +8.5 caster) cause even the slightest vibration. It sure would rip your arms off trying to keep the car straight though, lol.

 

No I meant caster. Caster is: The return-ability of the steering wheel, what keeps the steering wheel "wanting" to go straight. Think of a tricycle when you were a kid, if you let go of the "steering wheel" when you were cruising down the sidewalk what happened?....It started to shimmy and shake till it made you fall off. That's because a tricycle has 0* of caster, there is nothing causing it to want to stay straight.

If you don't have a enough positive caster the wheel CAN NOT wright itself (has no return-ability) and CAN cause a shimmy.

Don't get me wrong, this is mainly for the sake of argument but it IS possible. Also you're right toe (in excess) can also cause a shake.

-J

 

^ I disagree.

I have never had incorrect caster or toe cause a shimmy or shake in the wheel and I have experienced both bad caster and bad toe. I have had incorrect caster or toe cause the car to steer poorly or not hold a straight line and things of that nature.

A vibration is usually caused by a bad/blown leaking shock, bent wheel, bad tire, unbalanced wheel or bad suspension bushing.

 

The car couldn't have gotten in an accident sitting in the garage 4 months.

Will bad shocks do that? I new before my car blew its engine and sat that it had bad shocks. It didn't vibrate at all before though. Maybe sitting for a while did them in. I twill be changing the shocks within the next few weeks.

 

REread the first sentance while keeping in mind the last sentance (first part) in post #11....
I said it's mainly for the sake of argument. And if you don't believe my first sentance then you might not know what caster is entirely.

This is NOT very real world I'll agree with that. I've done 1,000's of alignments myself, I know.

-J

 

In that case I would say it would more likely be a flat spot on the tire from sitting....

-J

 

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned tie rod ends. That will cause steering shaking/shimmying. They are a relatively inexpensive repair as well. replacing mine got rid of the shaking/shimmying in the steering wheel at high speeds making the car feel like new.

 

I did.

 

I'd try rotating the tires first (start with the simple stuff), move the front tires to the rear and the rear to the front, does that "move" the problem to the rear, or does the "feel" of the vibration change? If so, then the wheels and/or tires would seem to be the trouble. If not, start looking at the front suspension parts.

 

Will do

I am going out of town tonight so I will have to wait until I get back

 

Yeah, I got it into my head that tie rod ends were steering system parts.