Shaking Steering Wheel

[GAHOO]

This is my first post but have done alot of research on this forum. I have a 2003 Turbo with the stock Chrome 17" wheels. I am having a problem with a shaking steering wheel, not a vibration. This does not occur all the time, it comes and goes. I usually start to notice it at 55-60 MPH. For example, as I was driving down the highway at about 60, everything was smooth and normal. All of a sudden I get this severe shaking in the steering wheel, as I go around a curve, still going 60, it goes away, and as I go into the straight, everything is fine. The road is smooth, the tire pressure is good. About two months ago I had to have the tires replaced because of a tire defect (Goodyears RSA's, 17"). Of course the tires were balanced and an aligment was done. I recently had an oil change and tire rotation at the dealer. However, this started occuring before the tire rotation. I took it to the dealer and explained the problem and also mentioned to check the lower control arm bushings and the rack and pinion (after researching this, I have found these to be problems). After about 45 minutes he pulls my car up and says I need to take it to Goodyear and have them check out the tires, they suspect one of the tires are bad. I have an appointment for this Friday with Goodyear to have the tires checked out. I do not think the dealer even checked out the lower control arm bushings or the rack and pinion. I also think that the tires are going to check out fine. Since this is a come and go problem, I do not think it is the tires or the wheels, if it was, the problem would occur all the time, wouldn't it? This problem happens at least once a trip maybe even more depending how far I am driving. I have a feeling I will be visiting my dealer after visiting the Goodyear shop. Does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be or has anyone had the same problem? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[bigtommy83]

I had a problenm like that on a minivan. Intermittent wheel shake. There was about a half gallon of water in the tires in the front. You said the wheel shook with new tires on the front, and it still did it after the rotation? Did you have all 4 replaced? Well, if you replaced them with Goodyears, there probably is a bad tire. Or a couple. If they have a road force machine, have them roadforce it. You have a roadforce problem caused by a mismatched tire and rim. Wouldn't be the first time I ever seen something like tat...or the tenth...

[GAHOO]

quote:Originally posted by bigtommy83

I had a problenm like that on a minivan. Intermittent wheel shake. There was about a half gallon of water in the tires in the front. You said the wheel shook with new tires on the front, and it still did it after the rotation? Did you have all 4 replaced? Well, if you replaced them with Goodyears, there probably is a bad tire. Or a couple. If they have a road force machine, have them roadforce it. You have a roadforce problem caused by a mismatched tire and rim. Wouldn't be the first time I ever seen something like tat...or the tenth...

[GAHOO]

I had all four tires replaced under warranty, but at different times because Goodyear had two in stock an had to order the other two tires. If it is a bad tire or tires, wouldn't the steering wheel shake all of the time? Unfortunatley, the manager at Goodyear told me there is not a road force machine in the Savannah area. If is abad tire

quote:Originally posted by bigtommy83

I had a problenm like that on a minivan. Intermittent wheel shake. There was about a half gallon of water in the tires in the front. You said the wheel shook with new tires on the front, and it still did it after the rotation? Did you have all 4 replaced? Well, if you replaced them with Goodyears, there probably is a bad tire. Or a couple. If they have a road force machine, have them roadforce it. You have a roadforce problem caused by a mismatched tire and rim. Wouldn't be the first time I ever seen something like tat...or the tenth...

[RobGT]

Had a shake above 80mph that went away after I got new tires...
My $.02

[RossiePT]

I am pretty new to the forum as well. I also experience the shaking sensation as well when I reach speeds in excess of 60mph. I had an 02 Limited PT with stock Goodyear tires on it and it did the same thing. The tires wore out at about 18000 and replaced them with Michelins. The problem never occured again. IMHO, its the Badyears that come on the car.

[ptgtcb]

Does the shimmy happen when going straight or just when making slight turning on the freeway?
I have experienced wheel shimmy when turning at speed on the freeway and found a lower ball joint with excessive play was the cause, this was on a BMW.
Do you get any steering wheel movement when driving at slow speeds, let go of the wheel 10/15 mph and if it shakes and it does not have to be a lot, it most likely is a bad tire(s).
If you get a shimmy at a certain speed, like 55/60 mph going straight and you can accelerate through it, it most likely is a wheel balance problem.
The stock GT wheels can be sensitive to higher speed shimmy and can not really be properly balanced because you can not attach a weight to the outer most part of the wheel, no lip on the face of the wheel. Any balancer set up to attach weights to the inner part of the wheel, inside lip and center of wheel is only a compromise and calculates to what it may take to balance the wheel, this is the one thing I run into all the the time with customers is that they want their wheels balaced but do not want weights on the outside, no guarantees!
If it is only when turning at speed I would suspect excessive play in some joint in the steering linkage, lower ball joint, tie rod joint (inner or outer) and possibly the rack & pinion bearings/bushings. I have also experienced this with a faulty front shock/strut in some instances.
This is all assumptions and the only way to determine would be to actually t/s the problem. Tough when you can not look at the car!
We have a Hunter machine (CA. sorry) that can measure road force variation and I have found many new tires way out of specification, especially pirelli pilot sports (crap and noisey). I do not see many goodyear tires as to comment on, not to mention mounting and balancing tires sucks and I do not like doing it so I try to stay away from it(hide)!.
Good luck and let us know what you find.

[GAHOO]

I finally got my problem solved on friday. I first went to the Goodyear shop in Savannah and they checked out my tres and said nothing is wrong with them. So after that I went back to the dealer and informed them of what Goodyear said. They took the car in the back and the mechanic wanted me to come back to talk to me. He explained and showed me that there is nothing wrong with the steering or anything else. He said I needed to get the car on a road force machine to get the tires and wheels checked out. I stated that the other day that the guy a Goodyear said there was not one of those machines in Savannah (they are very expensive. He said there is one at another tire shop (Savannah Tire) which is about one mile from here. The service manager said he would call down there and get me in as soon as possible and that the dealer would take care of the bill. I went down there and after about an hour, the owner of the place called me up to the counter and said that the tires and wheel are all OK, as far as being perfectly round and everything, but all four wheels were out of balance, and that they took care of it and I should not have any problems. I asked him if they had to put weights on the outside of the wheels and he said no. He also said that on wheels like mine (Stock GT chrome wheel) that using a road force machine, and a good tire mechanic, you do not have to put weights on the outside. I looked at my wheels before I drove off and you could see some of the weights on the inside of the wheel. It drives perfectly, no steering wheel motion at all and the ride is great. I asked him about the tires I have and even though he doesn't sell Goodyears, he said they are great tires and all the local police cars have them. For now on, if have have problems with tires or have to get new tires, i am going to a shop that has a road force machine to get them perfectly balanced. Thanks to everybody who gave me some advice. That is what makes this forum great, good people, wholike helping others. Thanks

[ptgtcb]

[?]
Glad to hear your problem is solved! Funny that it would only shake when turning, but funnier things have happened and goes to show it is almost impossible to T/S over the wires.
As far as the weights on the out side of our wheels it is not possible since they do not have a secure place to mount them and if you did, it would look like hell! I'll I was saying is that it is a trade off by not being able to weight the outside and If you have a set of wheels that are giving you problems then this will only make it harder to try to balance.
Again, glad to hear your problem solved!