my steering wheel has some shaking from about 50mph and up. however this shaking is not consistent. sometimes while driving it will completely go away and then come back.

when the steering wheel shakes its fairly violent, however it doesnt appear that the front of the car is shaking too much.

i was thinking unbalanced front wheels, however i wouldnt expect the shaking to come and go. is steering rack bushings a possibility? some other bushing to look at?

i have the supernow tie rod ends and just replaced the steering rack recently. thanks for any help

 

Alignment off? Loose lugs?

 

I have that problem on my protege 5 too. It wouldn't cost much to balance it so I'd say start there. It didn't really help mine but the time it starts to wobble seemed to be a different interval than before I had it balanced. Also I have one bent rim that also may be the culprit.

 

i have checked the lugs many times. alignment is a definite possibility but i would think it would cause the shaking to occur all the time.

i will try balancing the front wheels, cant hurt.

 

No if it isn't balanced you really won't feel the shaking too bad at low speeds, well unless it's massivly off. Usually slower speeds meen city-suburb driving and the bumpiness distorts it so you dont feel it as much. My old LeBaron was fine normal driving but once I hit the highway it was horrid.. an alignment fixed it (though it turned out my font end was messed up cuz the car was out of wack a month later... or maybe it was the other ppl driving the thing... )

 

if an alignment and tire balancing (or new tires) does not solve the problem you have serious issues, nice vert BTW

 

the shaking doesnt occur all the time at highway speeds. so while on the highway it will shake for maybe a minute and then go away for awhile and then come back. no real method to it. thats why i thought it might be something mechanical coming out of place or something.

 

this might be out of left field and completely unrelated... but

i had some shaking before enough that i have these two change dishes in a console insert by the passenger seat... and the change in them would ******* rattle like you would not believe i mean harsh harsh loudness lol

i thought it was because i kareened sideways into a curb on ice once (like 2mph) and thought i bent a back wheel/rim whatever a little and it was wobble being introduced by that

but i was also having problems in reverse w/ sounding like a grocery bag was caught under my car or something

so i needed to fix the universal joint on the drive shaft (unfortunately my model that means the whole freakin drive shaft) and held off on it for lack of money

eventually my drive shaft popped off at 70MPH bounced off the road or undercarriage and back up into the floor sent my two change dishes up to the ceiling and about 300 pieces of change like shrapnel all over the cabin and my drink from mcdonalds all over the windshield like an exploding pumpkin... put a 4" dent in the passenger side console area where my plastic cupholder insert *used* to fit lol

anyway when i got the drive shaft replaced it didnt shake anymore heh

 

wow when my front u-joingt exploded i guess i got lucky

 

Poorly balanced wheels can shake at some speeds and then feel fine at others, regardless of how high those speeds are. Get them balanced at a shop that knows how to do wheels with stick-on weights/aftermarket wheels and ask them to check for play in the steering and suspension.

 

might Be Totally Off base here,but What kind of roads do you travel on?..If you have Crap stuck on the inside of the Rims(like mud) it will throw your Alignment off and make the Car have wierd steering..But anyhow,best suggestion is to get it checked out by a Front end expert and Get an Alignment.

 

Well being a manager in a tire store... sounds like out of balance tires. Normally out of balance does not show up till more high way speeds, and it will be inconsistent, because it can come back into balance at different speeds. Also how much trwad is left on the tires.... when you get to 3/32 there are wear indicators that shake real bad(safety feature). Lastly, wheels that require stick on weights to the inside can cause a lot of problems.... not a true balance, may take a few trys to get it right... go to a place that does lots of custom wheels, and make sure they use the duel weight placement system, not static balance, static balance does not work in the long run.

 

One last thing, alignment does not cause the shaking(well indirectly it will) it will begin to shake because the alignment wears your tires poorly, thus your tires become unbalanced or do not run straight no more. Only other thing would be bad tie rods/ball joints. But they would have to be ready to litterlally fall out to be shaking. Get them balanced.

 

yeh have you seen any footage of cars flipping at high speeds end over end? all that takes is dropping the drive shaft out w/o something to catch it underneath

im lucky to be alive because the housing under the drive shaft that keeps it from hitting the road was still functional

otherwise... front end meet asphalt rear end meet sky................................. :|