Alright, here's the first part in a two-parter: I just had some work done to the Max, as follows: Tranny rebuild, controls arms replaced, upper tie-rod ends replaced, ball joints replaced, end links replaced, new tires put on, all motor mounts replaced, subframe bushings replaced, alignment performed. Now, with all that said and done, while she shifts like a dream, the damn steering wheel shakes when going 60mph or above.

So, obviously something is wrong...but wtf could it be?

I'm selling the Max very shortly, but I DON'T want to pass this off to the next owner...

 

bent wheel?

 

Came to mind, that was the only thing I could think of. FACK. Where can I get that checked out?

 

we have upper tie rods? i thought they where inner and outer/

 

Inner, my bad. Same difference, just depends on how you are looking at it.

 

Either bent wheel or bad balance.

 

you can have any tire shop check for a bent wheel. all they have to do is spin it on their little fancy balancing machine and they can tell you..


btw, you can also check yourself by looking at the outside or inside of the rim

 

i jacked my car up and spun the wheel and i could tell that I had a bent wheel.

 

damn, that will suck

 

Probably a bad wheel balance......do the easy thing first and just swap the front wheels for the rears and see if that affects/improves the front end vibes.

 

I was thinking the exact same when I was driving this morning. Ok, let's see if this takes care of this one...

 

You just had all this work done, paid for it and now you have two problems that you didn't have before.

And the reason your not bringing the car back to the mechanic who just did this work is?

 

Who said this problem did not exist before the repair was done?

 

Dan- Have you considered wheel bearings and sway bar bushings as well? I didn't see that on your list, but it is part of that front end too.

 

Old warped rotors will do that every time. Does it get worse under hard braking? Make sure the wheel is put on correctly as well, I've seen some losers tighten up one side of the lug nuts first before ever putting the others on resulting in a wobbly wheel. You can jack up the car and put her in drive and hold your finger to the rim and feel for any whobble. Obviously be careful not to let it snag on anything.

 

Not rotors...apparently it isn't happening when braking, just when the car gets above 60 MPH.

This is a bent wheel or bad balance as stated before; most likely a bent wheel because of the balancers they use these days. It could be slightly bent where it is not visually noticed.

Rotate the tires front/rear and see if it changes. If it does, then rotate one side front/rear and you can determine which wheel/tire is the problem.

I have a very slightly bent wheel and notice it gives me vibration when accelerating during a certain MPH range. Interestingly enough I posted this a while back and never got around to rotating the tires. The tire shop noticed it when changing a flat tire with a nail in it. Gotta get it fixed now...

 

Same problem here, when i get over 60 it shakes, strangley sometimes over 70 it stops shaking for a while. Mechanic said I needed 4 new tires.

 

You first thread better be REALLY good.

I'll try the wheels first.

Par - the sway bar bushings weren't changed out, and the bearings aren't providing any of the telling 'whub-whub-whub' signs, so I am hoping the wheels hold true.

One thing at a time, wheels this weekend! Thanks, all!