OK.....I have all tires balanced again with a new alignment. I was told that my front rotors had some warping and shook when the brakes applied. I was aware of the shaking sometimes once in a while with the brakes. Could that cause the shaking in the steering wheel? Perhaps hub bearings?

Any info would help! this is driving me nuts !

Thanks!

 

warped rotors should only cause steering wheel to shake/vibrate when brakes are applied. how bad is the shaking at 60? if it's subtle then it just might be the road. how's the wear on the tires? if the tire wear is uneven that would also cause shaking at certain speed. my guess is to get new tires then re balance and re align.

 

That happened to me too gemballa..I took a road trip down to NC to see my brother after spending 3 years in Iraq and once I got there noticed that after a certain speed my steering wheel would shake a little bit once i did about 50 to 70mph or so and even worse when I pushed the breaks in. I had it taken in to a shop and the guy said it was because when I had my front breaks done the people didnt rotate my rotors or something like that. So I had them do the front breaks over and sand the rotors down..Now its back to normal.

 

what he said

also check the axles. see if there's grease around and out and try pushing, wiggling and pulling, if it too loose you got an axle problem...

 

My problems with wheel shimmy are only while braking from speeds above 50 mph.

Once, the dealer put on two new rotors under warranty without asking, so there must be something...they know and aren't telling. (Typically, they didn't replace the pads!)

Two mechanics I trust said the the wheel lugs need to be torqued.

Once I had my wheels rotated and the shimmy appeared. After rebalancing, it went away.

After 10K+ miles, the shimmy is back. I'm considering new rotors and pads.

 

usually if you change the rotors you also want to change the pads too. if tires are cupped then get new tires and re-align and balance. once the shaking occurs, its good to address these problems all together.

 

I own a 2003 CLS 6-speed. I had vibration like that once. Thought I needed re-balancing. When it came time to put my summer`s back on, the mechanic asked me if I had vibration when I drove. I told him yes. He told me that it was from build up of whatever where the weel goes on. He basically cleaned them up with a grinder I suppose, and the problem went away. Anyways you could try it. Hope this helps.

Chunky

 

flat spotting is also something to consider. low profile tires (50 and below) are prone to flat spotting. high performance tires are like memory foam pillows. the longer a car sits with the weight bearing down on the tires, the more severe the flat spot. the car will shimmy the first few miles until the tire warms up and regains its shape. that's why it is always important to drive your car 5-10 mile before you have any wheel related work done to it. if you are going to store a car for weeks and months, you should first drive it for 5-10 miles and then set it up on blocks or any stable platform where the tires are not touching a flat surface.