What could cause my steering wheel to SOMETIMES vibrate when going down smooth stretches of freeway at 70 mph? I'll be driving along and my wheel will be rock solid and then two minutes later it's shaking like crazy to the point where you can see the wheel bouncing back and forth by almost an 1/8-inch. And then it goes back to being solid again.

Car is '08 Type S with 77k miles. I just had factory remanufactured rims with existing Michelin Pilot A/S installed two months ago. The front tires had regular even wear but I moved them to the rear of the car. Tires that are now up front were worn evenly and had good tread when balanced and installed. Air pressure is dead even from left to right (37 psi front 34 rear). Alignment checked out to be good with everything being close to the middle of OEM specs with the exception of the rear camber on both tires being closer to the more negative limits (but still within). I don't believe camber has much to do with steering wheel vibrations directly.

Any thoughts why the wheel sometimes vibrates and sometimes not at all when at the same speed?

 

the oem type s wheels are easily bent. there could be minor bends that you cant see with your eye. you'd most likely be able to tell when its on a tire machine spinning though.

you would think that with a bent wheel, a vibration would be there constantly, but it can be sporadic.

 

But shouldn't the tire machine balance out any wheel imbalances when I had the refurbished wheels/tires installed? They were RoadForce balanced with that fancy Hunter machine.

 

I know your answer as I had the same problem. Here it is straight to the point. Your steering ball joints are gone. They need replacing. I had the same problem. Once the ball joints go then the alignment goes on vacation as well. Get new ball joints installed and then get an alignment done right there and then.


At 60mph my car was fine. Once I passed that speed the steering was shaking. The shaking usually is strongest when going straight. My car did not pull to one side or the other.


At smooth stretches the problem is worse.


If the ball joint pops out you can lose a wheel. Don't delay as this is dangerous. Ask the mechanic to show you a new ball joint vs your worn out ones and you will definitely see what I mean.


Now get to it. Your safety is at stake.

 

It depends. There could be bends that can never be perfectly balanced out. Most of the time that happens if when the wheel is has a side to side vibration, instead of up and down

Road force balancing is one of the best but it cannot do the impossible

 

I had the same problem, it was cause my axles.

 

I had some steering vibration issues and it ended up beig a direct result of tough1one axles I had from advance auto. The steering wheel would shake terribly at higher speeds but also especially under harder acceleration.

After I got new oems installed 80 percent of the vibration completely disappeared. Now I think what's left is the tires in conjunction with maybe some of the old oem suspension in the front end (only thing I've installed is Tein Advance coils)

Hope this helps.

 

If your ball joints are bad, can't you grab the tire/wheel (with car jacked up of course), try to move it and actually see movement or play? My car is quiet going down the road. Would there be any noise if they were on their way out?

My old '93 Prelude had worn ball joints and you could see a lot of play when you moved the tire/wheel with your hands.

 

First and cheapest is take the wheel tires back to the tire shop and have them balanced again. If that doesn't solve the issue take your car to a mechanic or alignment shop you trust and have them check the ball joints and axles. Also could be your steering mechanism.