Unusual Steering Wheel Vibration Please Help

My steering wheel is vibrating starting at 64 mph & continues till about 80 mph. I am running 4 brand new Toyo Proxies on 18.8 offset 45 Konig Lace wheels. My tires have been balanced several times by different tire shops, They even replaced the front two tires & one rim because it was slightly bent... I am currently running a stock suspension, but I did have a set of H-Tech springs on my stock struts for about 5000 miles. But have since returned to stock due to hard winter pot holes in NH. The tires & rims have been checked, as well as the hub-centric rings. What the hell can it be Please help driving me crazy....

Bump still need suggestions on where to look next!!!

something that spins on your car is out of balance

something that spins on your car is out of balance

 

Thats what I thought the last three times. But everything checks out with the balance thing even had a high speed balance test done.

there's alot more than wheels that spin on you car

 

 

 

axles

driveshaft

clutch

flywheel

pulleys

gears

there's alot more than wheels that spin on you car

 

 

 

axles

driveshaft

clutch

flywheel

pulleys

gears

 

LOL this is true… But what would spin on my car that is not a rotor or wheel, & cause only steering wheel vibration at speeds between 64 & 80 mph… Ps it happens most of the time how ever their have been times when it is barely noticeable.:confused:

What happened when you rotate the tires front to back? If the vibration is still there, you can likely rule out tires. Any noises from something like a bad wheel bearing? You could also have a worn suspension component, bad bushing or something that enables one of the front wheels to wobble in the speed range you describe. How's the front end alignment look?

What happened when you rotate the tires front to back? If the vibration is still there, you can likely rule out tires. Any noises from something like a bad wheel bearing? You could also have a worn suspension component, bad bushing or something that enables one of the front wheels to wobble in the speed range you describe. How's the front end alignment look?

 

Haven't even thought about rotating them, that would make sense... No noise at all, I was leaning towards a suspension/bushing issue due to the car being lowered for about 5000 miles but I was not sure. I will try to rotate first & see what happens. The alignment was done once I bought the new tires... I will let you know what happens thanks…

check your wheel bearings?

Road force variation. It is common in inexpensive tires, and low profile tires amplify it. Basically one or more of the tires is 1. slightly out of round 2. has a hard spot in the tread that doesn't flex properly or a combination of the 2.

 

About the only way to diagnose this is the have the wheels/tires run on a Hunter GSP9700 road force balancer. It checks the balance, tire out of round, wheel out of round, for tread force variation. Sometimes these problems can be corrected with a proper match mounting, sometimes only replacing a tire or wheel will correct the concern.

Road force variation. It is common in inexpensive tires, and low profile tires amplify it. Basically one or more of the tires is 1. slightly out of round 2. has a hard spot in the tread that doesn't flex properly or a combination of the 2.

 

About the only way to diagnose this is the have the wheels/tires run on a Hunter GSP9700 road force balancer. It checks the balance, tire out of round, wheel out of round, for tread force variation. Sometimes these problems can be corrected with a proper match mounting, sometimes only replacing a tire or wheel will correct the concern.

 

Cool thanks I will have them look at that too. But I dont think Toyo Proxes 4 tires are cheep..

Kevin -

I have a very similar situation. I recently replaced all 4 tires and had bent rims repaired. Even so, I am experiencing a veeeeery slightly vibration @ 60-80mph; so small it can only be felt, not seen. From that speed, pressing lightly on the brakes produces a small but visible shake in the wheel which to me suggests the rotors are warped. To add misery, a whining noise has developed that might be the dreaded wheel bearing issue. So I've got to get the shop to check 'em out, but I'd say mwiener2 Th3Franz on the right track - check those items.

I get a little vibration while braking too. Dammit! Yeah, I just figure it's rotors. It's always something I guess. Money pits...

Vibration in the wheel when you lightly begin to press the brake pedal at speed is likely uneven deposits on the rotors, not warped rotors. OEM pads are notorious for leaving these deposits and causing this problem. Read-up on a proper brake pad bedding procedure on a website like Stoptech.com and then get yourself a decent set of street pads to keep the problem from happening again unnecessarily.

Kevin -

I have a very similar situation. I recently replaced all 4 tires and had bent rims repaired. Even so, I am experiencing a veeeeery slightly vibration @ 60-80mph; so small it can only be felt, not seen. From that speed, pressing lightly on the brakes produces a small but visible shake in the wheel which to me suggests the rotors are warped. To add misery, a whining noise has developed that might be the dreaded wheel bearing issue. So I've got to get the shop to check 'em out, but I'd say mwiener2 Th3Franz on the right track - check those items.

 

I get the vibration without touching the brakes, the steering wheel vibrates between 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch & is very visible. To add to the dilemma I now notice it only seems to happen once the car has been driven for a few miles. Basically once I hit operating temp its starts to happen, not to say its temp related I am just using it as a timeline.…

The car is going in wednesday so I will let you guys know more once I find out the results… Thanks for all the suggestions I would not even begin to know where to start other than the tires & rims.

@ trackhore - Deposits eh? That's gotta be it. I press the brakes a touch harder and the vibration stops which I wouldn't expect to happen if the rotors are warped. I get an occassional squeak out of the front brakes which the dealer told me is brake dust build-up. I need to get some good pads!

 

@ Kevin - But back to your thread. I consider 1/8-1/4" movement pretty significant, in other words, a large amount. I would be surprised if wonky bearings or warped rotors could affect that much feedback. Your comment about operating temp suggests to me it's a tire issue; possibly a defective tire. Once the tires warm up, the increased air pressure is changing the tire shape and the vibrating begins. You could check by measuring the start temp (cold), drive until the vibration occurs, then deflate the tires to their original pressure and see if it goes away.

have your wheels road force balanced?

Whenever a new vibration shows up, ALWAYS first just rotate your tires. If it changes, you've definitely narrowed it down to the wheels and tires. Now, just rotating just one side. If it changes again, you've most likely narrowed it down to those two wheels/tires.

 

If you can cross-rotate, then cross-rotate just one of the wheels/tires from the affected side. If it changes OR if it doesn't change, you should have it narrowed down to one wheel/tire.

 

Then check it for cracks/bends/etc.

 

Have it re-balanced or replaced as necessary.

 

Rotating is probably the cheapest and fastest way to narrow this sort of problem down.

 

Joe

Ok still need help. I had my car checked by a very good tire guy & was told the tires balance perfectly on the roadforce machine. He also rotated the tires & it is still an issue… He said the vibration is coming from the hub-centric rings… Is there anything I can do about this or do I have to purchase specific wheels that fit.

Also if i do need to purchase new rims I think the center bore is 64 mm... please help driving me crazy dont want to buy new rims, can i buy better hub-centric things or what...

Do you still have your stock wheels? If so, swap them on and see of the vibration still persists. I'm not sure I buy the hub centric ring theory, as those should only help the situation. But, I suppose it's possible there could be something wrong with them. Try install the wheels w/o the rings. The lug nuts should still center the wheels on the hub if you tighten them up slowly in a star pattern. Go for another test drive and see what becomes of that change.

Do you still have your stock wheels? If so, swap them on and see of the vibration still persists. I'm not sure I buy the hub centric ring theory, as those should only help the situation. But, I suppose it's possible there could be something wrong with them. Try install the wheels w/o the rings. The lug nuts should still center the wheels on the hub if you tighten them up slowly in a star pattern. Go for another test drive and see what becomes of that change.

 

I do have my factory rims with my snows on them... i will try that first, then the hub-centric thing.. & wll post my findings...

I had a similar problem and was having a hard time tracking it down. Completely went away when I replaced my torn LCA bushings with the AVO ones.

I'm going to side with the warped rotor chooice, since it happened to me with another car. The tier shops love those impact wrenches and don't care about coming close to the torque specs for lug nuts.

I'm going to side with the warped rotor chooice, since it happened to me with another car. The tier shops love those impact wrenches and don't care about coming close to the torque specs for lug nuts.

Rotors rarely warp and the OP's vibration occurs w/o the use of his brakes.

Barking cancels the effect of the warped rotor, dropping the speed or, the pressure of the pad against the rotor, I dunno.

 

I'm open on it being something else in the front end, I've come up against a warped rotor twice, once in my car and once in someone else's car. Excessive braking can overheat a rotor so, it's not always a tire shop.