So, I never had any problems with front end shake or play in the steering wheel while driving until the other day after I took my car in for its yearly state inspection (damn Virginia and its laws). After I left the place, I stayed on regular side streets getting home so didn't notice anything crazy. The next day, I got on the freeway, and as soon as I got up past 60 mph, my steering wheel had a ton of play in it (going from nothing to something, it felt like alot). So I got the car home so I could check out everything and noticed that it was ridiculously hard to get the lug nuts off the wheels. I got the wheels off, checked everything out, which turned out to be nothing I could see at the time, and put the wheels back on and torqued them to the 80 ft pds. Got back on the freeway and the shake was gone.

Would the wheels being way over torqued really cause that much play in the steering wheel? Or should I get everything checked out for the shake?

Thoughts?