What's causing my Steering Wheel to Shake? (Only answer if you have experience)
 

Edit: Problem solved!

Did a search and didn't find many people posting from experience. At freeway speeds, my Steering Wheel Shakes. 1997 Infiniti I30 Auto.

- Happens regardless of applying the brakes. This is not a Rotor issue.
- Replaced Axels. Still happens.
- Balanced my Wheels. Still happens.
- Car was Aligned. Still happens.
- Car has never been in an accident.
- Update: (4/6/14) Replaced both Front struts. Still have the same shake.
- Update : (6/16/14) Replaced both Front Strut Mounts. Still have the same shake.
- Update : (7/12/14) Switched the front wheels and tires with the rear. Still have the same shake.

From researching the issue I'm thinking it could be the Wheel Bearings. The Wheels didn't really have any play while jacked in the air and the Steering Wheel DOES NOT move on it's own when I hit bumps so I don't see how it could be Tie Rods? I'd like to hear what you guys think? Only reply if you've had a similar issue on your ride.

Thanks,
- Jake

How new are your tires? You might have a broken tire belt.

Yes, not the same car..... I had bad tie rod ends in a Porsche 924. It would shake just like you described. So how are your tie rod ends?

I fought that problem when I first got my 97. It finally went away after I has a brake job and the rotors were replaced. One of them must have been out of balance.

Fwiw, I had my wheels balanced multiple time before they finally got it right and it eliminated my highway shake.

65,000 miles?
what a concept
long shot, but check the rack & pinion too

find a local shop that can do a road force balance on the wheels/tires...might be surprised.

Sorry, no experience...

Things I would look at (bearings, tires, rack & pinion possibly can have leak in high/low pressure hose which is quite common) have all been mentioned.

For me, I had a problem like this when I first got my car, it had old tires and was shaking at highway speeds (60+mph) and pulling slightly to the side. I got a set of new tires, had them aligned/balanced, and 90% of the problem went away. No more pulling to the side, but still had slight shaking at faster speeds (now above 80-90mph). I had to get another balancing done, and a very knowledgeable man with a Hunter road-force balancing machine did the job, he was the only one able to balance my tires properly and the problem went away completely. Been good ever since. Sometimes you need a high-speed balance when there's a very slight weight discrepancy between the wheels because regular low-speed balancing will not catch it.

That said, from my experience it's possible that your balancing is still not 100% on point. A very small weight discrepancy can and will do exactly what you're describing, and it will only ever do it at higher speeds. If it's happening at 60+mph, or 80+mph, that basically tells you how much of a discrepancy there is, the higher the speed at which this starts happening the less of a weight discrepancy you have and the harder it will be to balance correctly. Your alignment should be good, since you said the wheel doesn't move when going over bumps. But balancing can be quite a big deal, and more times than not the majority of tire shops do NOT get it 100% correct, especially if you have alloys/aftermarket wheels. Or maybe they do get it right, and maybe one of your wheel weights falls off taking your tires out of balance again. I would check that, and maybe think about a high-speed balance.

Hope any of that helps, good luck getting her fixed.

Haha

thats funny a have had the same problem and my car has 60 thousand miles look at your rims and possibly yours tires.Even brand new tires could have imperfections and i fought with the rims until i changed them .It was the rims and tires.

I hunted mine for about two years. Partly the steering rack bushing and mainly the drivers bearing. Never made noise but was really lose

+10

http://www.gsp9700.com/search/findgsp9700.cfm

There's no way to know if the tires are really balanced and what condition they are in until you get the HRF balance. There is a difference. Get a guy who will give you the numbers on each tire and find out if anything is way out.

Does the problem only occur in certain speed ranges i.e. from 55 to 70mph? Or does it start at some speed and get worse as you go faster and faster? The first is typically wheel or tire issues, the second is usually mechanical.

Before you do the HRF balance, manually check the wheels for true / round by rigging an indicator of some sort and slowly spinning them. You can balance an egg but it will still be an egg. Check all 4 - rear issues will often feel like front issues.

Swap tires front to rear and see if it changes at all.

Jack one side of the front end. Put a large bar under the tire (at least 3') and lever the wheel, checking for bearing play (12 and 6). Grab the wheel at 9 and 3 and check the tie rod end for play. Repeat for other side. Check rear wheel bearings too.

How old are your tires and how much wear? Check tirerack.com reviews for that tire and see if people report belt / balance issues with them.

First off dont go to townfairtire...go to sears.

Second, how much shake are we talking...we talking the whole cabin shakes like your teeth are chattering or is a lil shimmy in the steering wheel??

Check that your rims arent bent. Most like the front wheels. easy experiment is to rotate the tires. If the shimmy goes away u know its the front wheels.

Sears? Are you serious? Maybe it's just me but that's the last place I'd take my car for service. Drapes for my living room or a new refrigerator maybe, but not my vehicles...

New axles @ 65K miles? unreal!

check tire pressure, the manual says 29 psi, but this will cause wobble in steering wheel and heavy steering.

Bad struts cause shake too.

had same problem, was the wheel bearing. now have it again on opposite side haha. checked it and wheel has play.

Sup Jake
I had the same issue on my 98 maxi SE. I found my struts were the problem, my front struts where very bad and they were leaking for a while. My maxi has 120K on it. I know you have low mileage on your maxi but I would definitely check into the struts. Also, your tires can cause vibrations after rebalancing your tires and the vibration doesn't go away, check the tires for "cupping" on the tread. Keep us posted on your results.

prob wheel bearings or bend rims. A center bend rim can do that. I used to repair them, also the wheel bearings in this car are total junk. They go fast and the car lets you know about it.

Thank you all for the replies. I just replaced the front struts and still have the same shake. I had a shop inspect underneath the car and they told me "all suspension components felt tight" and that its most likely "a small amount of wear on everything acting as a combination" and that replacing all suspension parts isn't worth it due to the car's East coast rust and bluebook value, which I could understand. However, if I was to replace all the important suspension components up front, what list of parts would this be? I'm guessing its a long list of bushings, but if someone could provide me with a full list for the front it would be highly appreciated. I'd also love to hear what brands would be the best to use for this car besides OEM.

Thanks,
- Jake

Do you have aftermarket wheels? If you do have aftermarket wheels you might want to look into getting hub centric rings.

Swap the fronts tires with the rears and vice versa.....bad tires! If the suspension is good no worn bushings, tierod ends, balljoints, bearings, etc....it's your tires! Do they try to follow cracks and expansion joint lines it's your tires....

Update:

Replaced both Front Strut Mounts. Still have the same shake. Will look into getting a high speed road force balance for the front wheels but I believe I have had that done at discount tires once with no luck. May try again though. Also may look back into it being a wheel bearing issue.

have you tried putting the front wheels on the back?

I have experienced this firsthand. There are half a dozen things that will cause this, but in my case there was belt separation and my tire was egg shaped. My steering wheel was moving two inches at about 35-40 MPH. Here is an example.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...le#Post3399443

As others have already said, rotate your tires front to back and see if the steering wheel improves. Belt shift would be less visible, but have the same result to a lesser extent.

My thought exactly.

Miles arent the only cause of axel failure...a car can hav 2 miles on it and if the boots dry rot n crack while sitting, when u do drivem the dirt will get in and destroy them! these cars ar at least 15 -16 yrs old if not 19 yrs

Thread originator doesn't respond to well it appears nor does he/she communicate too well....We offer you possible solutions and you continue to be no responsive nor listen to the causes of a shake! We don't have enough Info about what speed this shake appears at or disappears at!!!! Strut mounts have nothing to do with the vibration you are experiencing! Several folks have referred you to getting a roadforce balance and I don't think you've done that yet! It's either tires, worn steerring linkage, worn balljoints, or worn axle bearing which would be making noise! Also check your rack and pinion mount bushings, maybe you should get a large pry bar and check your suspension LCA bushings and steering linkage yourself thoroughly it's something right in front of you! Again the easiest test now is to swap your wheels from front to back and the rears to the front!

:laugh: Steering isolator rubber cushion part in the steering column, tie rods, ball joints, control arm bushings, rim/wheel out of balance, unevenly worn tire, bent rim, bad wheel bearing, strut mounts/ strut bearing, warped rotors, etc. Way to many variables for us to guess. Take of video of you driving and the vibrations and we'll try to guess better.

I discovered this the other day on my max. I would get a shake from 20-30 mph. I was swapping out my passenger side motor mount and the shake went away with the new, and came back when I put the previous back in.

might not solve your issue, but I wanted to share.

Update:

Switched the front wheels and tires with the rear. Still happens. This is the latest of my attempts to address the issue. As far as road force balancing goes, I have had the wheels balanced at Discount Tires before and to my understanding they use road force balance machines when they do this. The vibration only occurs from 70mph and up. Maybe I'll look into Axel Bearings like CMax03 suggested or maybe it's the wheel bearings or new axels that are at fault. I'll keep investigating. I only use this forum to check on this thread so that is why I'm not on here much, but I won't stop checking on the thread until the issue is solved.

-Jake

Update: After I switched the rear wheels/tires to the front, I got new tires for the back. I still hear a "wobbling" sound, but the steering wheel shake is gone! Thanks to all for the help.

- Jake

you should get lower ball joint check, this cause my shaking at 64 mph, and up, lower ball joint was in pretty back shape