steering wheel shake

Roofer · February 4, 2001

My steering wheel and my seats shake when I am driving. Ever since I put my wheels on, even my old Welds made it shake. The factory wheels were fine, but both sets of Welds make it shake. The wheels are balanced, but it still shakes. Some days are better than others and some speeds make it better or worse. Any ideas?

Thanks

Shaners · February 5, 2001

Are the wheels balanced on the inside? I know that it looks better, but it can cause vibration problems. I had a set of aftermarket wheels on my old Saturn that could not have the weights mounted on the outside because of the wheel design. They mounted the weights on the inside and I complained about vibration and the put stickons towards the middle of the rim. It fixed the problem.

The other problem could be runout in the new wheels. Check them with an indicator and see if they are straight. And finally, a problem which is also common is out of round tires. Good tire shops and customizers have "shavers" that they use to even up your tires by removing rubber in the high spots.

Roofer · February 5, 2001

Thanks Shaners. The wheels, I think are balanced with tape weights, but not sure. If the tire was out of round, will it wear down in time? I have about(not sure) 8-10K on them.

Thanks again.

Shaners · February 5, 2001

I believe as the tires wear (assuming they may be out of round slightly) that your balance would begin to be thrown off a little more. I have had tires before that were slightly out of round and at certain speeds they were OK and at others it was quite noticable. Also some tire shops feel that close enough is OK when they balance your tires. Now when they balance their own they get them perfect. I think the electronic spin balance machines have settings on them to adjust their sensativity. I'd take them to a good tire shop and tell them you need them balanced right on... Tires aren't cheap... and it looks like yours are prob about ? - ? each. If they are out of round I know they can shave the high spots off and maybe they can point you towards someone who has the proper equipment. I've seen it done on TV before, and what the do is mount the wheel on the machine and then come in with an electric grinder and touch off the high spots as the wheel spins. They also do this to clean up a tire if it is cupped, so maybe a good Off-Road shop could help you out.

Personally I'd have them turn up the sensativity of their spin balancer and have them balance them dead nuts!!! The front wheel on my sport bike has to perfect or I get vibration throuogh the bars... if it is even out 1/2 gram, then I feel it.

JohnGMC · February 10, 2001

roofer,at the shop i work at,we wont even guarantee to get rid of the shake when a customer has aftermarket wheels.The only ones that have been good every time are Alcoa's and boyds,about 1/4 of the rest of them shake.no matter what you do to them,and i dont know why.The balance up ok,rim isnt bent-maybe the design and offset agravate any tiny bit out of balance-I dont know-but i know a lot of pepole get frustrated and go back to stock wheels.The junkyard gets more for a set of stock aluminum wheels used than a new set of aftermarkets cost.

Roofer · February 12, 2001

Got my wheels fixed!!! It was my front passenger side wheel. It caused the truck to shake and pull to the right. I had the rear tire put on the front, and now it drives smooth as ice. I'm very happy!!!!

Shaners · February 13, 2001

Good deal!!! Was it out of balance???

Roofer · February 13, 2001

Wasn't out of balance, not sure what the problem was. It is on the back now and it causes no problems as of now, so I will keep it that way.

pipersierra · February 17, 2001

I have a similar problem. My truck has the factory rims and the useless uniroyal tires it came with. There is a real noticeable vibration in the steering wheel now. I had the tires rotated and balanced again (thats twice now since dec 1997) and I have low milage (about 34,000 miles). Do I bite the bullet and get rid of the tires, or should I look at something else first?

niko11 · March 16, 2007

I have a similar problem. My truck has the factory rims and the useless uniroyal tires it came with. There is a real noticeable vibration in the steering wheel now. I had the tires rotated and balanced again (thats twice now since dec 1997) and I have low milage (about 34,000 miles). Do I bite the bullet and get rid of the tires, or should I look at something else first?

Have same problem. Will try rotating