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high speed wobble

Old Feb 22, 2011 | 12:03 AM
  #1  
imaudi5000's Avatar
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Unhappy high speed wobble

ok so the other day my car started to wobble at high speeds (60+mph)
i thought it was from the bad wind and snow but it was shaking again today on the clean/dry highway. i cleaned off all the built up snow from the rocker panels, tires, wheel wells, etc. but that didnt help. all the tire pressures are the same and the balance weights on the rims seem ok. is there something im misssing? anyone else with problem and know a solution? im gonna take it to a tire shop asap and have them check the alignment and balance but im confused as to why this would happen suddenly
 
Old Feb 22, 2011 | 06:39 AM
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do u mean the steering wheel is wobbling? Sounds like a wheel weight....
 
Old Feb 22, 2011 | 09:57 AM
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This happened to my wife the other day. It was frozen snow in the inside of the wheel. It slung out after about 10 minutes. Otherwise it could be a wheel weight, bent rim, bad axle which happened to me once.
 
Old Feb 22, 2011 | 01:15 PM
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i mean the whole car is shaking, like vibrating. it starts around 60mph and gets worse as you go faster, which makes me think its something with the wheels and not just the suspension or steering. the steering wheel is still centered and the holds a straight line and drives normal below 60.

the rear passenger wheel had a small amount of snow inside the rim and i tried to get most of it out at the gas station but it was still shaking.

like i said, i "think" the wheel weights are ok but i dont know how they are supposed to be originally. the front wheels each have 3 pieces and the rear wheels each have 1 piece. is that normal for factory rims and pirelli tires?
 
Old Feb 22, 2011 | 03:46 PM
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I can only suggest driveline pieces and tires. My axle went bad in the front and I thought the whole car was going to break apart. Happened gradual over a week and got severely worse. If you are AWD then other driveline parts possiblty. I usually check with the tire balancing and chase from there.
 
Old Feb 22, 2011 | 09:47 PM
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hmm it seems like it has gotten slightly better, but still vibrates at 70+ now
anyway, im taking it to firestone tomm afternoon so hopefully we can fix it and ill post back on here
 
Old Feb 23, 2011 | 11:07 AM
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yes i'll bet it's a bad tire (puncture or bubble), unbalanced tire, accumulation of debris on the wheel throwing off the balance. i had a screw in one of my tires for the longest time and i didn't know about it until the tire blew. the whole time the steering wheel would shake at high speeds. when i had the new tire put on it was like a brand new car.
 
Old Feb 23, 2011 | 07:08 PM
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I had a similar experience. I ran over what looked like one of those wire keys to remove your center lugnut cover. the car vibrated some, and I couldn't figure out why. When I got my tires rotated sure enough, on the right rear tire there was the hubcap key stuck in the tire.
 
Old Mar 5, 2011 | 05:18 PM
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sorry i never posted back lol
but it was fixed by rotating and balancing the tires. they didnt mention anything wrong with the tires so yea. now i just gotta catch up on all the other maintenance :/
 
Old Mar 7, 2011 | 07:02 PM
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Ok, here are my possible suggestions.

1st up is the wheel balance. Our wheels use an adhesive balance weight, and that CAN come off driving through snow. That threw the balance of my wheel off earlier this year.

Next up, how is your alignment? Is it possible that you've tapped a curb, or hit a pothole a little hard? Might be worth taking your car to a Tires Plus and have them do a free alignment check, just to see how far out of whack it is.

Lastly, check your cars undercarriage. There are thin plastic panels under the driver and passenger doors that hide things like fuel and brake lines to protect them from rocks and such. The bolts that hold these panels up tend to pop through the mounting holes. If that happens, the panel will drop on one side and your car will become very susceptible to cross wind. I've had this as an issue in the past, and a strong gust from the side had my car going wherever it wanted that wasn't a straight line. It's like having a sail under you.
 

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