Steering wheel vibration

Topic: Steering wheel vibration (Read 2068 times) previous topic - next topic

Steering wheel vibration

January 15, 2007, 11:57:33 AM

Hello everybody.

I have an 88Tbird sport. I have had a slight (but annoying) vibration in the steering wheel for a year now, as well you can feel it in the car , but mainly in the steering wheel. Four times in the last 2 weeks the steering wheel starts to shake alot, enough to make me stop the car on the highway to see if my lugs were loose, after ten minuits or so it goes away and again i have the slight (but annoying) vibration. Sometimes i get a moan in the front end and sometimes i get a dead clunk sound from the front right end.

I have had the tires rotated and balanced a hundred times, as well i am using Michelin tires.

I just got back from my mechanic, the front end is tight and everything semes fine, the only thing that was noticable was the bushings for the front swaybar are toast, i am going to get them raplaced, could this cause my problem, and does anybody have any other suggestions?

And my calipers seem fine too. As well this starts a 60mph and up.

Jeff

Steering wheel vibration

Reply #1 – January 15, 2007, 02:13:00 PM

The moaning is most likelt your front wheel bearings......Usually you can tell by getting the front tires in the air and giving a wiggle. If they are worn you will most likely have some play in them while wiggling. It will seem as if you installed the lug nuts but didn't tighten them even though they are tight.

Steering wheel vibration

Reply #2 – January 15, 2007, 05:33:06 PM

Ok wellyou say that the wheel vibrates. when my ujoints started going bad (this condition was progressive to the point it lasted a year actually) upon acceloration the steering wheel would vibrate. it got so bad that it was incredible that how much the wheel would almost vibrate out of my hands. so i'd inspect your Ujoints. ok, say they're fine and dandy. now the bearings will create a hum and vibrate the wheels. im sure you've done a brake job or had them done. the most common thing is to inspect the bearings and races and if there are no visible problems in the races or bearings, they will be reused. so i'd say go and get new rotors and bearings. that or if your good with a punch you can take your good rotors and punch out the races on the rotors and replace them. but if you damage the race in any way it will cause the bearings to fail in a matter of weeks. i'd go ahead and get the rotors with the races already in them, and the inner/outer bearings. if this doesnt solve the problem then there are a few things you could check. we have rack and pinion on our car. they have dust boots that can fail allow dirt and grit inside the actual RP unit. so check the boots. also check the ball joints. if you can, go back to your echanic and ask him if he has a dial indicator and have him check the runout on the rotors and wheels. wouldnt take the guy like 5 minutes. the problem with vibrations that come and go and all that it could be a million things.

Steering wheel vibration

Reply #3 – January 18, 2007, 07:24:02 PM

If nothing mechanical is obvious, it is possible that the steel belts in one/more of your radial tires have cut loose and causing this vibration--it is not rare for that to happen. My tires are ancient but I do not have a lot of mileage on them. Sometimes it can be just bad tires. If you rotated them around, that somewhat reduces the chance that this idea is possibe. Just the same, I thought I'd mention this if NOTHING else is obvious.

Steering wheel vibration

Reply #4 – January 19, 2007, 07:05:46 PM

sway bar bushings.... or stabilizer links i bet u

Steering wheel vibration

Reply #5 – January 19, 2007, 08:37:52 PM

when my sway bar bushings and links went bad, they went bad like a light bulb. and when they did go bad, it screwed up the right front strut. it caused such roll that the upper mount for the strut was illadjusted. was a quick tweak fix. but.. if they're rotting out... meh i dont know it COULD cause some type of feeling in the steeringwheel, but i doubt a vibration. but i'd check em anyway, and if you havnt already changed em, being a 19+ year old car, it needs to be changed anyway.

Steering wheel vibration

Reply #6 – January 20, 2007, 05:37:13 AM

do what paul said but get one wheel at a time off the ground and check for slop

You failed to mention if this is during braking. If so, replace your caliper rubber lines. Over time, where the metal crimp is that transitions the rubber to metal, the rubber will separate on the interior of the hose and cause the brake fluid to not be able to properly bleed back into the master cylinder.
This possibly being the case, your caliper will be partially enguaged all the time and this leads to a warped rotor. I chased this problem in my coug for about 3 years putting up with random vibrations in my steering. I actually classified it as violent.
My problems were a combination of three, the spindals which i devised an inexpensive workaround, the caliper lines and the ******adjustable inner tie rod end. Yes it is adjustable.

as also mentioned,, the race of your bearings are a topic. More importantly are the inner races. If they are able to free spool then your spindal needs attention. Its really simple as paul said to check for slop in the wheel. To locate the slop and fix it may just require you to tighten the spindal nut. If the shaking or vibration was that bad, i would open thing up and have a look anyway for safey sake.

couple other quick checks
if there is no slop, pump up the brake pedal then get back out and turn the wheel by hand. listen to the rotor/brake pads. If there is a significant change from s to nothing, then s to nothing then the rotor is warped.

next, remove wheel and inspect the thickness of each pad on the rotor. if the inner is wayyyyyy worn more than the outter, theres a problem with the brake fluid circulation. suspect calliper line or caliper.

next, take the car for a drive then stop and feel each rotor. if one is hotter than the other , then you just found your problem. ill be you report back saying your passanger side caliper is harder to compress than the driver side. There is a lot more fluid / line length involved when the passanger side is concerned.

in my DIY link below my sig, check out these items but pay perticular attention to these........

Rack/pininon removeal and tid bits
Tie rod end inspection and inner tie rod end adjustment (adjustment in the knuckle also)
Spindal wear and tear
Ball joint replacement

Steering wheel vibration

Reply #7 – February 12, 2007, 07:11:04 PM

Thanks Jcassity

So far i have replaced the Swaybar Bushings, this got rid of the clunks and grinding sounds from the front end of the car.

I still have the vibration in the steeringwheel, some times its real bad and others just there enough to be annoying!!! I have noticed that when it is real bad, and i hit the brake, it vibrates more harded once the brake is on, and the brake pedal pulsates. But when there is only a slight but annoying vibration, and i apply the brake, you can barely feel it in the brake pedal.

This all started when i had my rotors and pads done a year ago, once the car was on the hoist the spring was cracked and had to be replaced. My car was sitting way too high with the new springs, so i got another garage to chop 1.5 coils off. I didnot have the car on the highway for the week it was sitting too high, so i dont know if the steeringwheel was vibrating before i cut the springs, but i know forsure it was vibrating after the Springs were replaced.

I also discovered that the springs were the cheapest springs ever made, so my mechanic most likely used the cheapest rotors also.

Currently there are no squeeks that would make me think of bearings, and a few mechanice have done the shake test on the wheels and believe everything is fine (but its not)

Thanks for any info, and as soon as i have a day off i will try your suggestions.

Steering wheel vibration

Reply #8 – February 12, 2007, 09:46:50 PM

tierod ends maybe?