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Car Problem Need Advice

joker5656
i have a 99 pontic grandam and the steering wheel shakes at around 65mph. doesn't do it when i brake but just when driving. what could this mean?

i just had the tires balanced and rotated yesterday
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Comments

23 comments

Date Votes
  • Jacob2008
    broken belt in tire?

    maybe it needs Alignment
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  • awinds
    Loose lug nuts ??
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  • fishkiller41
    Steering "RACK" is shot..[V]
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  • slipgate
    Many cars do that. One thing to check is take it to an alignment place that is able to do a high speed balance on your tires. This requires a special balancer that can spin the wheel at 70mph. Most only spin it at 45 mph (ask the guy).

    This made all the difference in my 300m. Got rid of 98% of the high speed shimmy/shake.
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  • bhale187
    Did it does this before teh rotation? If it only occurs at a certain speed range it is probably the tires. I'd bring it back and tell them to recheck the balance.
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  • HandLoad
    First, I'd say bad balance job - either the balance is off, or a lugnut is loose, or some rust/gunk is under one lugnut.

    Second, if your tires are over 50% worn, they can be in balance, but be stiffer sidewall or tread on one side, and when you are going at just the right speed, it excites the wheel/suspension system at a harmonic frequency.

    Third, Have you ever/when did you last replace the shocks?

    Fourth, investigate the wheel bearings.
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  • v35
    You have either a bent wheel, an out of balance tire or a defective tire.
    You can jack up one side at a time,with hand brake on, and see if a tire hops or wobbles and if the rims run true.
    If the rims run true, have the tires balanced.
    Forget bubble balancing, it doesn't work.
    The best balancing is called Road Force Balancing and is more expensive. Second best is spin balancing.
    The shop will tell you if you have a bad belt.
    If a wheel is bent it can be straightened. Don't balance a tire on a bent wheel.
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  • Mossbergboogie
    Bad ball joint or tire rod end.
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  • Johnnylikesguns
    No one said anything about the brakes
    A stuck caliper hasa been know to cause a lot of shakin
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  • bayl778
    Had a similar problem and balancing did not help. New tires and it was like a new car.
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  • yoshmyster
    I was going to say too much lead or not enough on the tire. Then again the tire could be defective (is it old or new?). Loose lugs sounds the best since they may have forgot to tighten it or broke off a lug or two[V].

    Also so check to see if you got guts and fur under the car. Your bestest buddies may have left you a gift.
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  • JustC
    it's a bad front tie rod
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  • mond
    quote:Originally posted by chrishiher
    Bad ball joint or tire rod end.


    x1 [;)]
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  • frog21
    Bad tires,loose wheel,tie rod end,ball joint,wheel bearing,strut,alignment.
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  • mango tango
    Start with the cheap and simple thing, have your front tires balanced, one of the wheel weights could have come off.
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  • 1911a1-fan
    i go through about 3 sets of tires a year, if it does it only at a certain speed {usually 5mph apart, say between 60-65, 57-62, it is a tires, it could be balance, broken belt, cupped out, i always retighten the lug nut three days after getting any work done on them

    1. find a very smooth flat surface, drive the car at idle from a complete stop in a strait line, if you feel it rocking it is a broken belt, if you had them rotated from opposite sides, and it has been several miles since the last rotation this could be it, did they use a spin balancer or bubble?, if you feel stop and go resistance you may have a warped rotor

    2. find a parking lot, turn hard as you can to the left, then to the right, listen very carefully for noise, popping, grinding, if you hear anything GET IT ON A RACK EMEDIENTLY, it could be anything from a tie-rod to a wheel bearing, if it is a wheel bearing it will also show itself at high speed, if it goes out, and locks up your wheel can LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE

    3. do a physical and visual inspection of your tires, watch running your hands around it, if a belt has broken through it may be a very sharp piece of steel that will get you at least once, go around the tires looking for a bulge, then look at tread wear, not just from the front like most people do, look at tread depth around the entire surface, if one side looks like tread depth is different, your tire has cupped out, and become egg shaped

    4. it requires you to jack up each wheel, and you really need to know what your looking for

    edit: a broken shock can also cause wheel hop, and cup out your tires
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  • buschmaster
    quote:Originally posted by joker5656
    i have a 99 pontic grandam and the steering wheel shakes at around 65mph. doesn't do it when i brake but just when driving. what could this mean?first off, try replacing the steering wheel.
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  • joker5656
    well the tires are new, about 5000 miles on them if that. I'll take it back up there and see if they have a high speed alignment machine (Sears is where i took it), they always do a good job for small stuff. It wasn't doing it before that i noticed.

    What is this tire belt? (power steering???), I'll have to check the ball joint (CV Joint right??)

    thanks for all the replies, i would of responded earlier but had to work[:(][:(]
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  • buschmaster
    "tire belt", or when someone says "broken belt", they're talking about the strands of steel wire that are under the tire tread. (as in, steel belted radial.) those are those wires you see sticking out on a blown out tire where the tread came off.

    when you get new tires put on, sometimes the first few mile or so you drive away from the store you can hear a belt pop. because the tire is brand new and a belt or 2 may be weak, they haven't been driven on yet. the rest of them are ok for the life of the tire.

    if your tire is old (ok, yours aren't) some belts might break, then the rubber stretches out a little and of course the tire isn't as round as it used to be. so you get the wobble. you could tell that by looking at thetread pattern, there will be 1 spot with more wear where the rubber is out of round. normally any wear goes all the way around the tire.
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  • bamafan
    Wifes car was doing the same thing about three weeks ago. Come to find out, a wheel weight had fallen off. Had the tire re-balanced. Everything is A OK. Might be the same for you.
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  • Captplaid
    Bent rim on the back is not noticed. Move it to the front and now you have a problem.
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  • joker5656
    well i definitely take it in on Monday and get them to rebalanced and check the rim and tire. if that doesn't work then i move to the CV joint
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  • badcompany
    maybe there is a possum loadged in your suspension
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