Question about steering wheel wobble

[rocksteady_racer]

Ok I slid off the road yesterday cause it was icy, plowed through a sign and ran through some ditches. The car is in pretty good shape. The steering wheel shakes slightly above 40 and get's gradually worse the faster you go. What could this be? Is the tire misaligned or something? Nothing looks broken or bent and the wheel is looks completely straight - no broken tie rods or tension rods or anything like that. Thanks in advance. I put a new tie rod on and tension rod and it seems a little better. Still wobbles a little. Steering rack maybe or just the tire? Those are the only two things I can think of. Thanks alot.

[drifterRS]

the wheel might have gotten messed up and is now unbalanced

[airforceone451]

I had this problem, although I didn't slide on some ice or anything. All I did was took the steering wheel off and retightened some of the stuff. It was pretty steady after that.

[rocksteady_racer]

Just go to a tire shop and get remounted and balanced and it should be fine maybe?

[rocksteady_racer]

Any other suggestions

[drifterRS]

that may be one of the problems i would definately check that out tho

[LongGrain]

this may sound stupid. but take your wheels off and see if they got all packed with snow when you went off the road. this will cause them to not be balanced anymore. the exact same thing happened to my dad, he took it to the shop. they realized it was just snow packed in his wheels, and they charged him $100 to get it out lol.

[rocksteady_racer]

Ok I got the tire mounted and balanced the one that went off in the ditch and no luck. The rim doesn't look bent and there doesn't seem to be any suspension problems. I just put a new tie rod and tension rod on after the accident(was wobbling before that). No luck. Maybe new tires and it will stop doing that? Or my next guess would be the steering rack is screwed up but I can't see anything damaged on it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[jspaeth]

Yeah, ice frozen in the wheels could put them out of balance, and the fact that it gets worse with speed tells me that it's a balance issue...

IT's likely you threw off your alignment....I mean even though snow seems soft, as it compresses, it can pack a punch

Check alignment, check tie rods, have wheels rebalanced, check alignment more

[rocksteady_racer]

I replaced the tie rods and the tension rods so I don't think it could have been them unless the stock toe was out really bad but they were the same on both sides... I'm going to go with tires because I can't see anything else wrong. Like maybe snow or dirt got inside of them? Or the rim is bent but that doesn't make any sense. I did plow over a sign which might have hit the steering rack but I didn't see any damage there. Weird.... Well thanks alot for all your suggestions I dropped it off at a shop and have them look at. It's driving me nuts LoL.

[Phlip]

One time, back when I owned a 91 Supra, I was racing myself and went into a curb.
Replaced everything you did preemptively, since I was going to anyway, got an alignment/balancing and NONE of that fixed the problem...
Turned out my wheel was bent, I replaced it for like 10-20 bux and problem was fixed...
I don't know what kinda feet you have on yours, but that is seeming to be your issue.

[240XTC]

I had the same problems........wat i did was lift the front and checked to see if there was any play in either of the wheels....from there i saw my steering rack and ball joints were bad...the only way i knew for sure that it was the steering rack was when i removed the boots...

[PhilthyS13]

I also had wobbles after hitting an island. (It was dark and over a hill). I replaced all that and it turned out to be a blown flca bushing.

[sxe]

unbalanced tires, or if u slammed on the brakes u cud have warped your rotors depending on the situation, being that it was icey, the rapid heating and cooling process is plausable... that or your alignment..

[bo2o]

take it to the alighment shop and let them check if everything is streight. and kould be your bushings being shot.

after that check your tires. and brakes.

brakes being warped and new pads on un turned rotors that happens.

[rocksteady_racer]

It could be the brake rotors maybe. They are stock 300zx rotors with EBC Red Stuff Brake pads so they may have warped nothing visible though. I took the tie rod off the end and I didn't see anything messed up on the rack... My guess is the wheel the only thing I could think of. I put new tie rods on after the accident and aligned them to stock spec and I don't think the alignment would cause that bad off a rumble. It's really odd too because it'll be stable up to 35 then it'll start and if you let off the gas it'll get really bad as your stopping (without using the brake). It's at Pep Boys now see what they say about it because I gave up. I didn't see anything wrong with the steering rack, nothing loose or broken on it so I assume tire/rim still. Thanks for all the help guys at least I'm not the only one who's had this problem :) Maybe the hub came loose? I doubt it they are ichiba racing hubs and didn't look loose. Doesn't seem to be any play in the steering rack when I was working on it. O well I'll keep you guys posted

[Ca_laurier]

k i work in a tire shop and here are the things i look for when i get a car in like yours

1: rebalance the wheels (use a digital machine and watch for bends) also check the tires at the same time for flat spots
2: check the front end for damage (play in the tie rods, inners and outers)
3: spin the tires while the car is jacked up in the air, shows if your hubs have been damaged
4: check suspension
5: check the alignment

in all honesty i can put money on it that your hub is bent. could be the spindle as well.

[!Zar!]

k i work in a tire shop and here are the things i look for when i get a car in like yours

1: rebalance the wheels (use a digital machine and watch for bends) also check the tires at the same time for flat spots
2: check the front end for damage (play in the tie rods, inners and outers)
3: spin the tires while the car is jacked up in the air, shows if your hubs have been damaged
4: check suspension
5: check the alignment

in all honesty i can put money on it that your hub is bent. could be the spindle as well.

9/10 times the lca bends before the hub or spindle breaks.

But enough curb surfing will eventually deteriorate the wheel bearings.

[Ca_laurier]

lol you would be suprised. i have a 2004 jetta right now that went into the ditch and the LCA is fine but the chick bent the spindle and the shock. just waiting to hear back from her if insurance will pay for it since a new spindle from VW is $700

[!Zar!]

lol you would be suprised. i have a 2004 jetta right now that went into the ditch and the LCA is fine but the chick bent the spindle and the shock. just waiting to hear back from her if insurance will pay for it since a new spindle from VW is $700

Wouldn't doubt it.

I was only stating from a 240's standpoint.

Every car responds to shock differently.

[rocksteady_racer]

I took it to pepboys and they didn't tell me what is wrong with it. They did say it needed new wheel bearings but they are ichiba racing hubs and it's not like the tire hit anything it just went up on dirt? Maybe the bearings just need to be replaced and pressed in and it'll be fine? I'm taking it down to my mechanic on wednesday he should be able to figure it out. The control arm doesn't look bent or anything and the hub doesn't look broken but I'll try lifting it and wobbling the wheel - that will tell me if they hubs are messed up right? I mean I replaced the tie rods right after the accident and they weren't broken then so maybe the hub bearings just got jacked up. Well I'm going to go wobble the wheels and see what happens. Thanks for the advice guys

[rocksteady_racer]

ok I checked the rims. I tried wobbling them. They move a very very small amount maybe 2mm of wobble. Would that be causing the steering wheel shaking? It's about the same on both sides so ? Thanks in advance.

[!Zar!]

Ichiba hubs SUCK...

So you need to replace those wheel bearings anyways.

They wobble near straight out the box.

haha. Some boxes the bearings fell apart before installation.

[rocksteady_racer]

That makes sense. I'll get my mechanic to swap them bearings out then and hopefully he figures out how to fix it, whatever it is LoL.

[EDacIouSX]

i had that wobbly feeling... it was the alignment.