Help me figure out why my steering wheel is shaking...

[02legacygt]

ok so I got new rims that were spun balanced before they got put on my car, perfect, only needed minor slight correction (weights), and i got brand new contienental tires to got with them 195/55/16 on me BE, the next day i got the car aligned. I have had this set up for about 1 month , over the last couple of days i have noticed my car as magically developed parkinsons disease, meaning i can actaully watch my steering wheel shake!!!!!

it starts slow when im driving slow and prog. gets worse as i got faster, then at about 60 it stops, and at about 80 it returns again!

checked all the wheel weights none look missing but that would be my first guess
I have hit nothing so i doubt the rim is bent
im going wed. to have all the tires spin balance to check them out!
the shocks are fine


however with my previous rims this is the same problem i was having!!!!

what should i look at in my underbits mabye like a broken control arm or something

some one want to give some advice???

[Grafton]

alignment perhaps

[Huffer]

Firstly - please correct your thread title. "whats wrong" doesn't really encapsulate the problem description. "shuddering steering wheel at all speeds" does a better job. Something like that.

Second - I vote the following causes:

lug nuts/wheels not torqued or mounted correctly; wheels still out of balance; frozen brake caliper (I kid you not about this one).

[)2edline]

One by one, all 4 of my brake calipers froze. I got killer shake ever 3 weeks. I thought it was a ghost haunting me, but it turned out to just be bad luck.

+1 to Seized Calipers.

[Zedhead]

I just got done with a brake fluid flush, and new Hawk pads.

I'm pretty impressed with the design of the disc brake's.
Pretty simple design, with easily cleaned, lubed, replaced slides. So if it is a frozen caliper. I'd say it'd be a pretty easy fix. If Parts are needed, prolly won't be to expensive.

[02legacygt]

hungh..... sorry!, yeah when ever i create a thread i never know what to call it, but i digress

ok like i said im going to have the wheels spin balance on wed. if that doesnt tell me a root cause i will check out the caliper, however i just did the brakes and that was the suggestion last time i was having this problem, and i visually and manually check every caliper out, took all the slider pins out greased them, made sure they were doing there sliding and reinstalled...

anyone else???

[Zedhead]

How many miles on the axles? When they get worn out they can cause a wobble.

Grab um and jerk them in all directions. There should be No play.

[ivwarrior]

Jack the front end of the car up and with the tires 2-3 inches off the ground, support the car with jack stands. (Somewhere OTHER THAN the control arms) Now, grab each front wheel at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions. Wiggle the tire back and forth. Does it feels loose or tight when you try to do this? Repeat the procedure with your hands at the 12 and 6 positions, same deal. Then, stick a pry bar under the tire, and try to lift straight up.

I'm betting somewhere in all this, you'll find it feels loose somewhere. Have someone else look under the car and see what's causing it. Inner or outer tie rods, or ball joints would be the likely culprits.

If none of this makes sense to you, or you don't have the time/tools/whatever to do it, when you take the car to get the wheel balance checked, tell them your issue, and ask them to check these items for you.

[02legacygt]

yeah the fiances' brother is the manager at a local tire place, its just trying to get there when he is there, which is tommorow like i said before. Im sure he will check that, Ive seen him do it before when i was having these exact same problems! He said here was nothing wrong with anything chassis side, that it was my rims.

now im not sure.... i really hope in all of this, its something stupid like a wheel weight or the belt shifted on my tire.

there is 86k on my car right now BTW!

[d1giPhux]

I second the checking of the lug nuts.. i forgot to tighten mine down really good one time.. and it gave me hella wobble. Was an easy fix at least. If its not that.. maybe one of the weights fell out?

[Huffer]

hungh..... sorry!, yeah when ever i create a thread i never know what to call it, but i digress

So... you decide not to do anything about it? You can EDIT your first post. How about you do that? It may just help someone else in the future who experiences similar problems.

[02legacygt]

[)2edline]

you can also check calipers easy by - after driving, when you get out, if its been a lengthy drive that isn't just like 5 minutes, you might notice wheels to be considerably warm due to seized calipers creating lots of brake heat.

[02legacygt]

yeah no, i rechecked the calipers tonight!, there perfect, however i regreased them just to be safe! but they were sliding beautifully!

[02legacygt]

well it looks like a belt shifted on my pass front tire!, so looks like im getting some new tires.......

[Mejium]

Yeah I have the same exact problem, only my steering wheel only shakes from 60-80mph, and I get to enjoy all 35 minutes of my vibrating steering wheel while driving to college one way. I had the wheels balance rotated and aligned, and I don't have any seized calipers. The Subaru dealership said it might be the uneven wearing of my tires, but I have yet to do anything about them. Just though I'd add another diagnosis to this problem.