Okay, any time I get up to higher speeds, like over 70, my steering wheel starts to shake and vibrate, the faster I go, the worse it gets. Could this be anything other than the wheels not being balanced correctly? When I first got my wheels, the steering wheel shook pretty bad once I hit like 45, so I took them back to crappy a$$ Sears and made them rebalance all the wheels. Then after that it happened above about 55-60, so I took them back and made the morons rebalance them again. Now, I noticed last night when I hit about 90 on the freeway that it still does it. So basically what it boils down to is... is Sears just a pile of crap that doesn't know how to balance wheels? Or could there be something else wrong? Thanks in advance.. smile.gif

 

In my Elantra it happens about 80mph. I have stock 14in wheels and Yokahama tires. I was thinking about have my wheels rebalanced as well. If many people have the same thing though on different wheel and tire combos it may be a fault in the susspenion.
Anybody else?

 

Check the psi's on the tires,... On ALL 4 tires. smile.gif
Go to pep boys and buy a nice tire pressure gauge, don't trust the ones at the gas stations,...

Check for any bulges or blisters on the tires,... I doubt you'll get blisters, but bulges maybe,...

Other than that, it maybe your suspension, but do the basics first.


[ January 08, 2002: Message edited by: KayJai ]

 

It is either the tires balanced wrong, the Brake Rotors being horribly warped (you'd notice it when you stepped on the brake pedal), your have a CV joint going south, or the wheels are not mounted properly/lugs not tightened down properly.

Since the problem is IMPROVING each time Sears re-balances the tires....it seems to be something to do with the tire/wheel combination. I would as the MANAGER to personally re-balanance your tires, and YOU personally supervise the way they install the wheels/tires on your car.

Your average shop just slaps the wheel up there with one hand, then uses an impact wrench to tighten down one lug, holding the wheel in place, then goes on to the other three lugs. this is NOT the right way to do it.

Make sure they line the wheel up right on the hub ring. Make sure they put all 4 lugs on finger tight before torquing them down.

See if that finally resolves your problem.

 

same thing happened to me when I had my beretta GTZ, I took it to sears 5 or 6 times and it still did it so I took it to pep boys and they said a 2year old could have ballanced them better and I never had another problem(till I got t-boned by an LTD)thats why I now drive a tib.

 

Hmm, Random, I do notice a slight shaking when I apply light pressure to the brakes. How would I go about checking them? Just take them in to any local Pep Boys/Les Schwab and get a brake inspection? And thanks for the info, I did watch them everytime they put the wheels and tires on, and the first time they went "Oh, here's the problem, this wheel isn't balanced right" so they re-did all four, and it still does it. I am going to be getting new tires here in a month or two, so hopefully whoever does it will do it right this time. I think I'll have Pep Boys or Les Schwab put them on. Screw Sears. wink.gif

 

Any brake shop can inspect your rotors for warpage. Take it to 2 or 3 shops to make sure they all say the same thing.

 

Even though I concur with the balancing problem at Sears there are still 2 other things to look at that can be also causing the problem
1) The balancing machine is just to put a generic balance on all tires not including aluminum rims etc...
2) check the speed rating of your tires

 

3) broken belt

 

Raithan, I know I'm taking a stab in the dark here about your wheel balance problem, but, whereas it's winter, have you been driving in deep snow lately??
If so, that could be your problem...happens to me all the time. Snow and slush gets on your wheels, inside or out, freezes to ice and wow! your car will really shake, at high speeds in particular.
This really throws your wheels temporarily out of balance until it either thaws or you manage to clean the wheels off.
Probably not your problem, but just a suggestion.
Rod
2000 Tiburon SE 5-speed
Cardinal Red