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So, the steering wheel shakes sometimes...


Zero1
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That's right, I said sometimes. Only after 60mph. I've noticed it isn't all the time, but after 60mph is where it will start. I've also noticed I can somewhat feel it while my left knee is resting on the door panel. I've also noticed the water in the water bottle in the cup holder ripples quite a bit.

 

I've looked at the bushings, had the tires balanced and rotated, rotated them again, checked the wheelbearings.. Nothing seems to be loose.

 

Any ideas?

 

I really hate chasing vibrations, especially after a 2 year stint under a Discovery 2, vibrations plague those things and are always expensive.

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Already have an appointment, thanks for the suggestion CNAM. Wife took it out over the weekend and told me it pulls left a bit.. lol. I don't usually associate vibrations with alignment.

 

If an alignment doesn't affect I'll check in.

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I had this problem with my summer tires. First I pulled the front tires off and got them balanced, made it a bit better but the steering wheel was still shaking on the highway. I fixed it by rotating the tires on the front one at a time to the back vibration is completely gone.

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Sounds like a balance issue. Alignment won't cause vibration. But bad struts will cause the wheel to wobble over bumps due to the tire hopping. Check for fluid leaking around the struts.

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Struts are dry, tires have been balanced twice, and rotated just as many steering wheel shake only occurs at, or after 60mph.

 

Doing the alignment is really just because I'm not sure if it's ever been done.

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It's pretty common for vibration to come and go due to the slight imbalances lining up or going out of phase with each other.

Since the front tires don't both travel the same distance when you are turning (or even going straight if there are differences in pressure), they will always be lining themselves up differently.

When the heavy spots are in phase, you feel an accentuated vibration. When they shift to out of phase you feel nothing.

 

I'm not sure exactly how accurate balancing machines are. Meaning, I'm not sure what their allowable tolerances are. Or if the operator took the time to calibrate the machine.

 

Also, they may have simply done a static balance. Meaning it's balanced vertically, with all the weights on the inside of the rim. But if this is done and there are differences in balance laterally between the inside and outside of the rim, your steering wheel will shimmy left/right at certain speeds.

If this could be the case, try asking for a dynamic balance. The balance machine tells them how much weight to add on the inside as well as the outside of the rim to balance it. That's if you are willing to have weights visible on the outside.

 

And lastly, there could be an out of round condition that can't be balanced out, but the tires will bounce just as they would if out of balance. The solution for this is a "road force balance" where a drum applies 1000lbs of force to the tire as it spins it. If it detects that it's out of round, it will indicate that the tire should be rotated on the rim to try to pair the rim's low spot with the tire's high spot and it could (not sure about this) specify adding more weight near the low spot. In effect making it out of balance in a way that will help to compensate for the tire's high spot.

 

That's about all I have to say about balance. I can tell you that my current set of tires are horrible and I've had them balanced 3 times and it's horrible. I'm pretty sure the tire carcass is bad on all 4 of these tires and that they must not be round.

 

good luck.

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Oof... thanks for the suggestions. There was a dynamic Balance the second time around, how well calibrated the machine was, I have no clue.

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One dumb thing to check, does it have the right lug nuts on it? A friend of mine had the wrong kind of lug nuts for her wheels (switched from alloys to steel wheels that needed different nuts), and she said it shook the wheel a bit when she got up towards 60.

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One dumb thing to check, does it have the right lug nuts on it? A friend of mine had the wrong kind of lug nuts for her wheels (switched from alloys to steel wheels that needed different nuts), and she said it shook the wheel a bit when she got up towards 60.

Not sure to be honest. My Mallfinder just turned 63k, so I'd just assume so.

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The tires probably have a hard spot on them from sitting to long in one place

 

Lol, might use that as an excuse to buy new wheels and tires... not a fan of the stocks rollers.

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Check the torque on your bearings/hubs as well, I had an annoying vibration after putting new tires on - I assumed it was a balance issue the tire shop rebalanced all 4 and swapped around the vibration would not go away. Into the shop my mechanic checked the front end and found the right side was loose. Tightened it up problem went away,

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May check the torque on the anti sway bar end links. Do you have manual hubs? Could be the front driveshaft. On the other hand a U-Joint in the rear could cause odd vibration.

 

Jack up the truck and do the 12 and six shake on the tire for wheel bearing and the 9 and 3.

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No manual hubs I'm aware of. It's completely stock aside from the radio. I've considered the u joints as a possible issue. Won't go any further until I check the bearings and front axles though. Need to make the time for it.

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