My car was ok 2 days ago when I drove the car on the freeway, got home and parked it. The day after, I took off, got into the freeway, all of the sudden the steering wheel was vibrating hard. I did'nt hit any potholes, it was just out of the blue. I can almost certain that it was the front driver side wheel that was vibrating. No dent either. I thought the balancing weight somehow fell off but they were still sticking inside the wheels. Anyone knows what might have caused the vibration? bad axles? joints?
Thanks.

 

Try looking into the rotor. The rotor could be warped, just probably needed to be turned.

 

thks, but does it have anything to do with the brake rotor?

 

it might be your ball joints does it vibrate when you go over a bump?

 

No, it vibrates all the time and even worse at higher speed, I would say I can feel it about >45 mph.

 

its probably the ball joints or your rotors man, rotors especially when u brake and ur foot pulsates

 

i still think its your front end alignment

 

well if he is driving im sure its not going to be the rotors cause hes not stopping

 

it would be rotors if it was vibrating only when you were braking...

 

It could just be a bad tire, I have to replace mine about every 6 months. In the 1 to 2 months at least 1 of them start to shake the steering wheel, most of the time it's the front driver side. try switching the front driver side for the back.

 

[Sorry Joelfate, I was drafting this while you posted your reply. We're thinking alike.]

Any severe vibration in the front end, especially one that starts abruptly, could be very dangerous. You owe it to yourself to have it inspected as soon as possible.

Another possible cause besides those already mentioned is a tire that has gone out of round due to cord material breaking or tread separation. This can happen even to a relatively new tire. If the vibration is not noticeable until higher speeds, such as 45 mph, the faulty tire may not test out of round at rest. The centrifugal force of the tire rpms at higher speeds may be necessary to pull the tire out of round. A simple test is to swap the suspect wheel (front left, did you say) with a rear wheel and see if the vibration effect is different. If the tire is bad you've got to replace it before it comes apart on the freeway and gives you more excitement than you want.

A rather unlikely but very scary possibility is loose lug nuts. Easy to check, though.

 

Could it be that the tires needs to be balance? I have a similar problem when I'm driving 80 mph. When I drive 30 to 50 mph, I don't have that problem. I did an alignment a couple of months ago. I check the rims and the tabs are still there.

If you brake at high speed and the steering wheel started shaking, than is the rotor. I have that fix by resurfacing the front rotor.

 

Have you tried cleaning your throttle body?

 

10char

 

It is probably a broken belt in your tire.

 

if the car thumps ever so slightly between a certain range of speeds...usually lower speeds and then shakes at high speeds...you need to get your wheels balanced...you will be amazed how easily they can be thrown out of balance and how many people have out of balance wheels and drive on them all the time....it's just that most people's wheels are slightly out of balance so there is not shaking or thumping or anything....

when I locked up my wheels braking for 100ft one time, it threw my wheels way out of balance...the guys at the tire shop looked at my like I was crazy even driving on them (almost like they have never seen something so unbalanced)...anyway, my high speed stability was horrible!!! my car would kinda shake

if it's not that then maybe the ball joints or tie rods