I have a 5th gen SportShift lude. My steering wheel shakes when I hit about 40 mph to about 70 mph. Somtimes it fades away after 70 mph but sometimes it persists.. I have no idea why. I checked the rotors. the front ones were warped and I got them resurfaced and so that isnt the problem. I have a bent rim but thats on my rear.. I shouldnt be feeling it this much... I am starting to get real worried as I am taking a 900 mile trip soon. Could someone please give me suggestions/opinions as to what the heck this is and what I would wanna do?

TIA

 

i would go to a shop and besure your wheels are balanced. Also have them check your CV axle because if it has not already gone out, then it might be about to go.

 

wheel bearings..tire pressure/tread life.. check all that. hope it isn't the bearings. (have a shop check that)

 

I got the 4 wheel alignment/balancing done.. what does the CV axle do ? i will check on the bearings but my car has only 40k miles on it.. would that still impact it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by aries4urlife &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i will check on the bearings but my car has only 40k miles on it.. would that still impact it? </TD></TR></TABLE>

the bearings can go out at any mileage if you have struck something with that tire. for example a pothole, a curb, something like that. my moms 2002 accord with 7000 miles on it had the bearing go out because she hit a pothole. she asked me what was wrong with it, i drove it and told her the bearing. she didn't believe me cause the "car was so new". (she knows a decent amount about cars) well she took it to honda and sure enough it was the bearing.

 

it sounds to me like it could be your tie rods. I know that if the tie rod ends are going it can shake at a speed then pull out of it. I would check those.

 

Would you believe that it is still possible that the rotors are not set up correctly. Honda says to machine/resurface them ON the car. This is real important because there is some runout that must be taken into account. You also need to make sure that the wheel/tire combination is properly balanced and mounted on the hub.
NEVER use an impact wrench to tighten the lugnut-EVER!! Do not allow anyone to use a Torque stick on the end of the gun-EVER! Trust me on this one. Sadly too many people do not know how to use an impact and the rotors and wheel centers take a beating. If you are as concerned about this as I am-take your own Torque Wrench with you to the shop and set it to 80 foot pounds (Honda Spec). Did you know that many tire stores tell you that alloy wheels must be retightened after 25 miles? This is another possible cause of your vibration problem.

Hope I've shed a little light on this.

 

wow! didnt know that this problem could escalate so bad.. tie rods.. I dont even know where they are located on the 5th gen lude.. if they are bad, do they cost much to replace them?

jc.. do you mean that I have to tighten my wheels every 25 miles? I know that the 4 wheel computerised alignment came out with a little toe in up front and it was corrected.. only a month ago.. i thought that was the problem but that didnt make it go away.. I am making a list of things to check this weekend.. keep the suggestions coming.. thanks to all..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sephro &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it sounds to me like it could be your tie rods. I know that if the tie rod ends are going it can shake at a speed then pull out of it. I would check those.</TD></TR></TABLE>

if it was tie rods they wouldn't have been able to do the alignment. i'm not saying they didn't attempt or just charged you for the work without doing anything. but you can't align the front wheels with a bad tierod.

 

I was in the garage when they did it.. and so i know they didnt just come up with some numbers.. even though i have no idea how to work those machines.. or what they do..

 

cv axle will usually click for 6+ months before they break. I would say it is your bent rim. The slightest thing wrong with rims or tires has wigged me out before and the problem has always been less than a 50 fix.

 

definately check the bearing/hub assembly...so quick to go...and it shakes like a *****!!!!