so the past month or so ive noticed that say when i start my car and leave my house... i get on the road and when i get up to about 50 mph or so my steering wheel starts to "wobble" back and forth, not vibrate, but shake back and forth as if i was driving over a road full of potholes or something?? anybody have any ideas?

 

Probably bad tie rod ends. You could also check to make sure your Rack & Pinion mounts aren't loose. Make sure the bolts are tightly securing it to the frame.

 

Jack the car up like it has a flat tire. Grab the wheel at top and bottom and try to move in and out
Then grab at each side and try to wobble back and forth
Check both front tires this way
If either condition exist, or neither- a trip to an alignment shop will tell if you need parts replaced or tires or what.

 

I've had a similar problem but my steering wheel sorta vibrated along with my brake and gas pedals.

I was going about 70 mph on the highway, until it got to the point where my cousin who was sitting next to me freaked out and made me pull over.

After I pulled over, got out the car, nothing seemed wrong, until I saw that one of my lug nuts from the front passenger wheel was missing, and the other 4 were soo loose that I was able to unscrew them myself. The other 3 wheels also had loose lug nuts, and the worst part was, I didn't have my wrench in the trunk.

We ended up tighting it the best we could with our hands using a piece of cloth, and had to stop every 2 miles to redo it again.

Good thing I pulled over, cause if I woulda kept on driving for maybe another couple of miles, my wheels would fly off, and I'd be history...

btw, what could cause the lugs to come loose like that?

 

A: Failure to properly tighten them to 80 foot pounds after rotation or other reason requiring wheel removal
B: Angry Ex

 

I already have an idea of what happened. I got into an argument that same morning at work with the valet guy who parks my car. well I guess he never wanted to park my car again and decided to loosen all the bolts on the wheels....

 

Could also be a bent wheel

 

If thats the case- go to the BOSS of that place and ask if they have security cameras,
and have him keep an eye open on the guy.
If someone loosens your lugs, thats forseeable death, Manslaughter at the least and possible Murder charges...this is America~

And the owner would take heat because its his employee, and he may be doing it to others.
You may catch a serial killer~

 

1 bent rim and shaking the nuts loose-- I would almost believe, but all the wheels? NOPE!
Some years ago, the shop kid failed to torque the lugs on the race car trailer. Driving over the mountain and Zing in the mirror then another Zing, hmmmm, pull over, missing lugs and had to borrow ones off the tow vehicle to get home

 

more than likely just a wheel balance issue..

or you hit something and bent a tie rod..

bent wheel, etc.. the higher speed you go the less it does it?

 

my brother's car does the same thing at the same speed, your wheels are mostly bent

 

I have this happen when my wheels need to be balanced again. Normally happens to me on my last rotation on a tire... then it needs to be replaced.

 

I bet anything you have a bent rim. The exact same thing happened to me and I was lazy and just bought new rims for it and the problem is gone. You might wanna check our all four rims and also how long has it been since you've had an alignment done? Might be time.

 

If you have good tread on all 4 tires, rotate them, balance, and fill air to proper levels. Front tires wear differently then rear tires, so 90% of the time, a rotate and balance will fix so long as all 4 tires have good tread and aren't choppy.

 

if u got another set of rims or can get a set, swap em, easiest way to see if its the rims or suspension related..

 

got wheels balanced and front alignment fixed, all is well, only prob is my brake rotors... suttle shaking when braking hard, mechanic mentioned i'll need new rotors sometime...