Hey guys. I been chasing this problem for months, I have a pretty bad steering vibration in excess of 60 mph. It's a 93 civic. The whole steering wheel will shake hard basically wobble. If I go past 80 mph it just shakes worse and worse. Feels like the wheels wobble at that time too.

I have replaced tie rod ends, axles, passenger side wheel bearing, rotors and pads, deleted both brake dust cover shields, driver side front lca,

I noticed when moving the inner tie rod it was very easy, if I moved it upwards with my hand and let go it would fall. Is that normal?

 

Wheel balance

 

Yep, and/or new tires.

Have you tried rotating them front to back and see if that changed anything?

 

Stock or aftermarket wheels? Bent rim possibly... But a rotate would help see if it's a bad tire or wheel...

 

Had a similar issue with my Civic last year. However, I noticed it before I hit higher speeds. Jack the car up and check for worn spots/bulges on your tires.
Let us know what you find out.

 

Actually I have 1 bald rear tire, but I have a extra set of 14s put the backs on, because I can't fit them in the front.

Front tire is 185/75/13 about 50 percent back I tried 195/55/14 about 80 percent in the back. It didn't shake as bad at 60 but at 80 is the same.

 

Usually the treads coming apart on the tires.
If they're old or close to bald, this is most likely your issue.

 

Is there any way to check to see if its my inner tie rods? There is NO play in in the 9-3 12-6 position. Just wanna know before I drop 350 on tires.

 

You can lift the front end, have someone rock the steering wheel side to side, use jackstands and be safe and stuff, get under and look at the linkage, you'll see any play as your assistant rocks the steering wheel.
Or you can lift it up, safe and stuff, get under, grab the inner tie rod and try to move it side to side, you will be able to see some play.
You should be able to feel if there's any play with the front end up doing the 9-3 12-6 though, if it's souper tight, well it's tight.

 

Yeah no play in those positions. I do notice with the car on the ground and moving the wheel I can see the inner tie rod moving, normal?

I'm probably just gonna go for tires because these are cheap discount ones, and they scream on the highway and all around at 40-45% except one is at 60% so a balance will be done as well.

 

If you can see the actual ***** moving while the rest of the tie rod is still stationary, the tie rods are worn out.

 

Unless you buy cheap, shitty tires, tread or ply separation is EXTREMELY rare, and would give symptoms well before 60 MPH. I don't know why you even tried considering it "most likely". Not only is it not most likely, it's actually not very likely at all.

You say there's no play in the wheels, but then you say you see the tie rod moving when you wiggle the wheel. Those two things don't jive with each other. Which is it? When you're doing the wiggle test, are you doing it with the steering wheel locked?

 

There's NO possible way this could be a wheel balance issue.

JK. Its likely a wheel balance issue.

 

Indubitably.

 

Dis fukn guy.

 

Sorry, for some reason I'd assumed he'd already gotten them balanced.

 

It's all good You're trying to be helpful, which is always good, but never assume. I can't begin to tell you how many threads have gone on multiple pages because there was a simple solution that everyone assumed the OP had already tried.

 

I can see the boot moving is this what you mean?
There is no play in wheels when it's jacked up and look for play in 12-6 and 9-3. But when I move the steering wheel, I can see the boot of the inner tie rod moving and even when on the ground. So this is play right? No I'm not doing the tests with the wheels locked.

 

You should do it with the steering wheel locked, to eliminate rack movement. The boot will move a little bit, because there's a ball joint in it that's trying to move. If you don't have any actual play in the wheel itself, that's fine.

 

Well I do notice play in the steering wheel. If i turn it all to the left and turn the steering wheel will not come back. Going over bumps I have got a loose steering feeling. I do get wandering every so often. I have took it to get aligned at les schwab and they tell me they can't find anything.

They said the front end is tight. From the alignment sheet I do have a caster issue, only on the passenger side because I replaced the driver side lca. I have -3.4 degrees in the front -1.4 in the back. I have the sheet somewhere, but I believe the caster was -0.2 on the front pass.

 

If your steering wheel isn't returning from lock, that's an alignment issue. Play in the steering wheel with no wheel reaction is pretty frequently caused by an old, worn U joint on the steering column. Again, your vibration is likely a balance problem. Have your wheels/tires balanced by a shop that can do a proper road force balance. A free floating balance works, but not as well.

 

Wait wait... Off topic a tad, but would a worn U-joint cause some knocking sounds coming from the column area if I'm shaking the wheel side to side (just as a test, at a stop)? Everything else is tight and I deleted power steering.

 

If it was severely worn, I could see it making a tapping noise. I don't know about a knocking noise, though, but different people will interpret noises differently, so I'm going to say "maybe."

 

Alright thanks NAR

 

I have this issue also. 98 civic. Had both front wheel bearings replaced about year ago. Tires have good tread. Steering wheel vibrates from 65 to 85mph, but is fine at 90mph. I don't prefer doing 90 everywhere.


I noticed when I replaced the front rotors while I rotated driver side hub without the rotor on it sort of oscillated back and forth instead of running true.


Would that be a balance issue or something worse?