[zimmerDN]

I just recently noticed that the steering wheel is vibrating a lot at high speed. It's almost like it's pull left & right really quick. The car has no problem tracking straight when I let go of the wheel.

The shaking on happens on certain road surface. I can go through a stretch of the highway with lots of vibration on the steering wheel and 10 kms down the road it's fine again.

What gives? I never noticed this before. The car is 04 sedan with Kumho ASX has 10k on them.

 

[karl_marxx]

my guess is if is only does it on one strech of road, its probley that road, is the road bump are all ur tires full of air and at what speed are you going.

 

[zimmerDN]

I always check my tire air pressure. It happens usually at 60mph or more. It's happening on stretches of road where I never noticed before when the car was new. I remember my first impression of the car was how steady it felt even at high speed.

 

[zoom_craigy_zoom]

I know you said that the car tracks straight when you let go of the wheel, but when was the last time you had an alignment done? That is probably one of the number one causes for steering wheel shimmy.

 

[ViperKillerWannabe]

Shaking like you describe could be a worn balljoint. When you go to get an alignment done, have them check the balljoints as well.

 

[maudi3]

A "sawing" motion back and forth is normally caused by a defective tire.

[quote author=zoom_craigy_zoom link=topic=68625.msg1186199#msg1186199 date=1170614017]
I know you said that the car tracks straight when you let go of the wheel, but when was the last time you had an alignment done? That is probably one of the number one causes for steering wheel shimmy.
[/quote]

Alignment has nothing to do with a vibration.

[quote author=zimmerDN link=topic=68625.msg1186123#msg1186123 date=1170611168]
I always check my tire air pressure. It happens usually at 60mph or more. It's happening on stretches of road where I never noticed before when the car was new. I remember my first impression of the car was how steady it felt even at high speed.
[/quote]

Have you had a repair done on any of the tires?

 

[mickberna]

Unless is has everything to do with that particular road surface, the most COMMON explanation for vibration in your steering wheel is that one or more of your tires are incorrectly balanced.

Get your tires checked.

 

[NYKNIGHT]

may be warped rotors, check that out as well

 

[VRMS6]

In this order do the following

1) Check tire pressures of your front wheels.
2) Balance front wheels (most likely cause of your vibration)
when the wheels are balanced they can tell you if you have a bent rim/broken/slipped belt in a tire.
3) If vibration is while braking have front brakes checked for wear/rotor warpage

alignment generally WILL NOT cause vibration in steering wheel...
worn/damaged ball joint generally will cause a looseness in steering again not a vibration....

 

[zoom_craigy_zoom]

I learn something new everyday....

 

[zimmerDN]

I did have a tire repaired on the back of the car. But that's the back so it shouldn't give off any vibration to the steering wheel. I also don't understand why it would only happen on certain roads and not all. More importantly it's never had that problem before on these roads.

 

[mattleegee]

Balance of wheels FTW!!!!
Also you could be being guided by other tires tracks, as in worn road with wider tires running through it at the same spot=you little tires dont fit into it, mostly caused by semi trucks

 

[Krupo]

If you get it all the time at higher speeds, though, ask yourself, "did you bump into anything with one of your tires?"

<sigh>

 

[thebeansoldier]

Need to have the wheels computer balanced. It should be free at the place you got your ASXs mounted. It could be as simple as a wheel weight probably coming off.

 

[mica3speedy]

Mine is doing the same. I'll have it looked at when I get an alignment; I haven't gotten one yet in the 3 years I've had the car .

 

[eatmypixiedust]

Wow, I'm glad I found this thread. Approximately 1-2 weeks ago, I noticed that my steering wheel would shake when brakeing from 75-65 mph. It didn't seem to happen on surface streets but mostly on the highways. At first I thought it was due to bad roads but then the shaking became a little worse. I didn't think it was the tires because I just got a new set (all 4) about 3 months ago.

I took my car to the dealer to have them check it out. I ended up having my front brake rotors machined and they replaced the front brake pads. They said that my front brake pads were in between green and yellow (green being the best). Since the repair, my car has been running smoothly and the shaking steering wheel has stopped completely. :jimmyt:

 

[swood]

I have a 2005 Mazda3 Sport with a stick. It has 18 inch RX-8 wheels and when I bought the dealership had just put on some new falken tires. Initially I didn't notice any steering wheel vibration and I don't know if it is because I just didn't notice or if the problem just got progressively worse. It eventually got so bad I took it in to Big-O Tires and had the tires balanced. That worked pretty well. It took about 90% of the vibration I had been experiencing at speeds above 60 mph. However, I have driven my friend's Mazda3 since then and noticed that she has virtually no steering wheel vibration at all. I am wondering if perhaps that something that is causing the steering wheel vibration also causes uneven wear of my tires, hence the progressive shakiness. I don't know. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

 

[mazda3owner04]

mine does that but only when breaking at high speeds, like around 70. 55k

 

[john_in_the_lbc]

you might have some uneven pad buildup on your rotors, or they are warped.

 

[lanny]

@swood: A 90% reduction means the tires are balanced better than they were, but still not good enough. That's typical these days: the knuckle-dragging mouth breathers at Big-O get away with a sloppy job because most of their customers drive trucks. Go back and make them do it right.