Shaking at 80
 

I've noticed as the speedometer nears and hits 80, the steering wheel starts vibrating pretty hard. It travels up my arms, and holding the steering wheel tight alleviates it only slightly. Are there any bushings related to the rack that are known for going out? The car has just under 119k miles.

My car used to do that. Get your wheels balanced. That completely cleared it up for me. Then go from there.

I won't ask why being able to do 80 comfortably is so important on the roads in the states, but balancing you tires and making sure your alignment is good are probably your best bets. Also making sure your tires are properly inflated and are equal on both sides of the vehicle.

it's not a matter of comfort. it's a concern (this is abnormally violent for any car). i just want to fix any possible problems with the car. if comfort was an issue, i would've bought a caddy. :cool:
thanks for the input.

also check your front wheel berrings
I've had mine up to 130 mph and it was scary smooth

blk87Turbo2 - 80mph is generally the speed people are driving on major highways here in the states

Check the tire balance first since it's easy to do ... could also be a bad wheel if cannot be balanced ... check the alignment, some places don't charge if alignment is ok.

if that doesn't solve the problem, come back here !

Hugues-

Check the tire balance first since it's easy to do ... could also be a bad wheel if cannot be balanced ... check the alignment while you are at it (does not hurt), some places don't charge if alignment is ok ... but it's probably the tires/wheels.

if that doesn't solve the problem, come back here !

Hugues-

tire balance is the most common. alignment could do that to, or a bad wheel bearing

you can tell if it's the bearing by slightly turning the wheel .. if the shake goes away, that's the bearing on the opposite side .. but I kinda doubt it's your problem.

Hugues-

I had the same problem. Re-balancing made it much better. But it's still not "scary smooth" as Nibiru says.

most likely the wheel balance problem....

it hasn't been that long since I lived in the states, LOL...last time I checked the limit was 65 most everywhere...no matter

Another remote problem I thought of would be worn bushings, but that's probably stretching it a bit...just something to look into I suppose.

P.S. I have a video on my site of me doing 150mph in my US Spec VW GTI, if y'all are interested I'll post a link in my signature

i had the tires rebalanced today, and went ahead and did a rotation as it was free :) I'll take it out later to test. the alignment is still a bit off, and i'll take car of it when i can afford to. bushings crossed my mind, but not wheel bearings. thanks for all of the suggestions guys!

Just because the speed limit is 65 doesn't mean that everyone does 65.

SoontoBe... you're CV axles can actually also do something like that as well. They would very likely be going bad at your milage, however, the fix is not cheap, so you should check all of these other things that were previously mentioned first.

how old are your tires. If the problem is worse at slower speeds then the belts in the tires could be separating. The only way to fix that is getting new tires.

tires are fine.

Sounds like it might be worn steering components, especially the ball joints, or wheel berrings.