I got a problem that I hope you guys can help me out with. It's been bothering me for years and I'm finally feed up with it.

Here's the scenario:
When I'm driving on the freeway, the steering wheel has a vibration at around 70 MPH. It dissappears above 73 and below 68. The vibration itself seems very similar to out of balance tires, but I know that it's not because I've had the tires balanced.

Here's what I've tried so far:
I've had all the tires balanced
and the wheels aligned

My car is a '94 LS coupe, with a stock suspension.

Thought's anyone? I really don't feel like replacing parts until I find the right one.

 

Balljoints maybe?

Greg

 

I would check the axles and balljoints. The axles are slightly more common with G2s and I'm not sure about G3s.

It could also be the pads following warped rotors which causes wheel shakes as well, but you didn't say you were braking so...

 

.....and to add, you might wanna get your wheel bearings checked. New they're about $50 a piece. If those bearings begin to go out, you'll have annoying vibrations at higher speeds like what you're experiencing.

just a recap of things that make the steering wheel vibrate...

- warped rotors when braking
- unbalanced wheels
- car out of alignment
- possibly warn axle joints




[Modified by Katman, 7:22 PM 7/31/2001]


[Modified by Katman, 7:23 PM 7/31/2001]

 

Thanks for the advice. It's seems the consenous is that I should get the ball joints looked at, or look at them myself, although I'm not sure what I'd be looking for.

I think that the ball joints are likely the culprit because I forgot to mention a couple more things that are probably relevant. I've 165,00 miles on the car and I'd think it's about time to change them. Also, I know it's not the brakes because there is no excess vibes while braking.


[Modified by Lowball, 4:01 AM 8/1/2001]

 

Have you rotated your tires front to rear to see if the vibration point changes? Might be a belt seperating on a tire.

 

Make sure your wheels are ballanced, I had that problem on the highway when my wheel weighs came off once..

 

correcting the tire pressure?

 

One more thing... I had an impossible-to-diagnose steering wheel shake in my '91 Civic... it turned out to be the wheels. I had 17" TSW's and one of them was manufactured improperly (hub register not concentric with rim). I only found this out when the tire balancing guy put the bare wheel on the balancing machine to see what the hell was going on... you could see the wheel was warped. Replaced the wheel, fixed my problems.