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steering wheel shakes after 80mph

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Old Dec 5, 2003 | 01:09 AM
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vincetti24's Avatar
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steering wheel shakes after 80mph

Went to get new front pads and resurfaced the rotors, but it still does the same problem. Heard warped rotors might cause it but i got them resurfaced. What else can it be? Also my front brakes still make the wining sound. I'm guessing that pads need to be broken in but that was last week. thanks for the info
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 03:00 AM
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JBza's Avatar
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Most likely your tires are out of balance. Could also be a bent wheel but you would probably feel it below 80.
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 03:09 AM
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Originally Posted by vincetti24
Went to get new front pads and resurfaced the rotors, but it still does the same problem. Heard warped rotors might cause it but i got them resurfaced. What else can it be? Also my front brakes still make the wining sound. I'm guessing that pads need to be broken in but that was last week. thanks for the info
I've got the same thing on my 98. Always feel it the worst about 60 mph. The thing is, now I can feel it as early as 40 mph. By 75 mph it is starting to be felt less. Since for me it's not wheel balance or alignment, the forum has said it could be tie rod ends. When the car was jacked I looked at the front susp. and nothing seemed to have any play, but I did notice that many of the bushings were brittle and cracked. Imho Nissan could have spent probably $10 to $100 more on a lot of the parts and we wouldn't be having all these issues on cars that haven't even reached 100k yet. Take the front strut boots for example, probably $2 more and they wouldn't all be torn on our cars. I'm not willing to do tie rods just yet, but maybe that's the cause. Good luck.
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 05:45 AM
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Tires squared off?
try this simple test. Raise both front wheels. Start car, engage gears, watch the edges of the spinning wheels: should be even. I had once "bouncing" edges that prompted me to replace tires. Were 75% worn anyway back then.
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 06:20 AM
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Warped rotors will cause shaking when you step on the brakes. If it's shaking all the time get an alignment and have the tires' balance checked...maybe one of the weights came off.
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 07:23 AM
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Originally Posted by JBza
Most likely your tires are out of balance. Could also be a bent wheel but you would probably feel it below 80.
i was gonna say the same thing about the tires. My cousins camry did the same thing wit these rims/tires that were messed up. i rotated my tires and i can so super high speeds (120+) and no shaking...never really had any to begin with...
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 07:49 AM
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Originally Posted by Frank Fontaine
I've got the same thing on my 98. Always feel it the worst about 60 mph. The thing is, now I can feel it as early as 40 mph. By 75 mph it is starting to be felt less.
Same thing happens to me. I dont feel anything until around 55mph it progresses until around 75mph.

I have New Rotors & Pads (less than 1k miles)
I just had to get one of my tires patched though.
I have new SS Brake lines (Not sure if that matters)
Tires have about 5-6k miles on them.
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted by twiggy144
Tires squared off?
try this simple test. Raise both front wheels. Start car, engage gears, watch the edges of the spinning wheels: should be even. I had once "bouncing" edges that prompted me to replace tires. Were 75% worn anyway back then.
Excellent point!
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 12:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Tight_Whip
Same thing happens to me. I dont feel anything until around 55mph it progresses until around 75mph.

I have New Rotors & Pads (less than 1k miles)
I just had to get one of my tires patched though.
I have new SS Brake lines (Not sure if that matters)
Tires have about 5-6k miles on them.
Maybe it could be the tie rods, because I spent the money on the balance and alignment already. One thing to make note of, the tires DO have an uneven wear on the outside front shoulders. And that showed up after about 10k when I went to 18's. Since the 18's + rims came from Tire Rack, at that time I doubted wheel balance but redid them. It's annoying, but I'm living with it for now.
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 01:43 PM
  #10  
DoGGy
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my **** shakes when i brake and when i got 60+. i gotta do all that too
Old Dec 5, 2003 | 03:25 PM
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Discount Tire will balance your tires properly for 50 bucks by counterbalancing the tire to the wheel. They do this by measuring the 'road force' for each wheel and minimizing the 'out of balance' by spinning the tire on the rim to it's 'sweet spot'. I had this done immediately after buying my max, and actually found out one of the new Conti tires were defective. The car shook horribly from 60 mph upward; now smooth as a baby's butt.
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