My steering wheel is shaking, but only sometimes?

[JetBlack3]

Sorry about another steering wheel shaking thread, but I searched and couldn't find an answer to my problem.

Ok get this:

My steering wheel shakes, but it shakes at completely random times. Example: I was driving to the gym today, and the steering wheel was shaking pretty bad between 60-70. Then on the way home I was cruising at 65 (there was a cop behind me) and it was fine. Same freeway, same road condition. WTF.

I've read some stuff about how the bushings or lower control arms may need replacing, or that the rotors may be warped, but if one (or more) of those are the case, why wouldn't the steering wheel shake all the time?

Got any ideas?

[wahwill]

How bad does it shake? If your only getting it when driving at freeway speeds then I would guess your wheels are out of balance.

I have a slight constant vibration and changed everything, control arms, tie rods, bushings, wheel balance and rotors, motor mounts, steering guibo and still have it... good luck fixing the issue!

[Volf]

Just refresh the whole front suspension. Not that bad of a job and not terribly expensive. And the car probably needs it anyway.

Shake can come from a few things:
Tie rods
FCABs
Control arms
Steering rack play (hope its not this)

Warped rotors will only make it shake when you're braking.

Only other thing I can think of is to rotate your tires from front to back. Maybe you've got some funky tire wear (which would mean you need FCABs at the least)

[chowfunstudios]

FWIW,

I had been dealing with a strange issue with the steering wheel never being able to center. Sometimes straight sometimes 11 oclock sometimes 1 oclock. This would happen after hard turns or u turns. I would also get a slight shimmy in the steering wheel as well.

Turned out it was the RTABS. Got new ones and the issue was fixed. But the shimmy was still there.

Got an alignment and the shimmy and the vibes were gone.

[Volf]

REAR trailing arm bushings were responsible for your steering wheel to not be aligned correctly?



No. Sorry.

[kornkid8600]

REAR trailing arm bushings were responsible for your steering wheel to not be aligned correctly?



No. Sorry.

Uhh I changed out my RTABs out 2 months ago. After I was done my steering wheel was no longer centered. After I got it aligned it was centered properly again. The RTABs itself weren't why though. It was the way the RTAB bracket went back in there.

[T.Dot E30]

You do know that the rta is where you adjust rear toe from right? Bad rtab Can effect toe alot.

REAR trailing arm bushings were responsible for your steering wheel to not be aligned correctly?



No. Sorry.

[Lowflight]

When your wheels are out of balance, you can drive in and out of the vibration. In addition, some tires need 5-10 miles to warm up after sitting overnight due to the belt settling.

Get the wheels and tires ROADFORCE balanced by someone with a Hunter 9700 balancer.

[JetBlack3]

When your wheels are out of balance, you can drive in and out of the vibration. In addition, some tires need 5-10 miles to warm up after sitting overnight due to the belt settling.

It's interesting that you say that, because when I was driving TO the gym my car was cold and I only drove about 5 miles, and i guess it was somewhat warm on the way back.

wahwill: How bad does it shake? about a cm up and down. But if the wheels were out of balance, wouldn't it shake every time I'm driving between 60-70?

Volfinator: JUST replace the front suspension, haha. Maybe this shaking problem will be my excuse to get sport shocks/struts!

Thanks guys

[Volf]

Uhh I changed out my RTABs out 2 months ago. After I was done my steering wheel was no longer centered. After I got it aligned it was centered properly again. The RTABs itself weren't why though. It was the way the RTAB bracket went back in there.

You do know that the rta is where you adjust rear toe from right? Bad rtab Can effect toe alot.

Apparently I am the dumb. How on earth does this effect the alignment of the steering wheel?

[Moron95M3]

get your tires road force balanced.

I just did the same exact thing -

new steering rack
new tie rods
new RTABs
LCAs 30k ago.

still bad vibes...

threw on my old shitty tires, no vibes.

roadforce balanced my good tires (both wheels apparently are slightly bent) but it fixed 95% of the vibes.

[Chokingdogs]

I gots the same deal......

Random vibes in the steering wheel at various speeds. I too thought of the "cold/settled tires" theory, as it seemed to happen first drive of the day. That theory was subsequently debunked one day when I jumped in and hit 65 MPH within 5 minutes and had zero vibes.

It is totally random now, sometimes it vibes a little all the time, sometimes really bad first drive then goes away, sometimes nothing at all, and sometimes nothing at first then gets progressively worse, sometimes at all speeds, other times only 50 MPH +, and yet others a low speed only.

I guess it doesn't matter too much, as I have on the schedule new LCAs, innner and outer tie rods, and UUC LCABs to install. Just waiting to hit powerball so I can buy the LCAs and tie rods.

Apparently I am the dumb. How on earth does this effect the alignment of the steering wheel?

Volf.....I believe if the rear is out of alignment enough, relative to the front......it will make the car try to "steer itself" away from something other than straight ahead, in doing so you have to over compensate with the steering wheel in order to keep the car straight. Nothing is wrong with the front end alignment, you're simply correcting the error in the rear's alignment. My theory anyway...

[T.Dot E30]

Apparently I am the dumb. How on earth does this effect the alignment of the steering wheel?

You are dumb if you believe the rear alignment doesn't effect the steering of a car, if the rear toe is off the wheels won't be aligned and the steering wheel will be off because the front will be going one way and the rear the other or something like that.

All 4 wheels need to aligned, it's not only the front wheels that effect your cars alignment.

[Volf]

I gots the same deal......


Volf.....I believe if the rear is out of alignment enough, relative to the front......it will make the car try to "steer itself" away from something other than straight ahead, in doing so you have to over compensate with the steering wheel in order to keep the car straight. Nothing is wrong with the front end alignment, you're simply correcting the error in the rear's alignment. My theory anyway...

This makes perfect sense but not what I was talking about.

You are dumb if you believe the rear alignment doesn't effect the steering of a car, if the rear toe is off the wheels won't be aligned and the steering wheel will be off because the front will be going one way and the rear the other or something like that.

All 4 wheels need to aligned, it's not only the front wheels that effect your cars alignment.

I know full well that proper alignment the rear suspension has much to do with the proper steering of a car. What I'm talking about is how does the rear suspension impact the position of the steering wheel when the front is aligned properly and the front wheels are facing straight ahead. There are no mechanical linkages to the steering wheel besides to the steering rack, and then the tie rods.

I understand that when the car is in motion it'll cause pull, but sitting still how can the rear suspension effect the steering wheel when the front wheels are pointed straight ahead.

[T.Dot E30]

I understand that when the car is in motion it'll cause pull, but sitting still how can the rear suspension effect the steering wheel when the front wheels are pointed straight ahead.

It effects the position of the steering wheel to keep the car straight, for example if the rear is drifting the car towards the right, even if the front is straight this will effect the steering wheel position by having to be slightly towards the left for the car to go straight.

The OP clearly says when he is making a u turn, so im not sure what you are saying about the car being still? The car needs to be rolling before you can figure out if it aligned properly.

[Volf]

I think this is where I got confused. I was interpreting it as the literal position of the steering wheel on the linkage to the rack. Like the wheels being pointed straight ahead and the steering wheel is turned 90 degrees to either side.

I know full well about what you're talking about. Of course you'd have to steer to correct. Sure sign of needing an alignment.

I appears I misread something. I don't feel dumb anymore. Just illiterate

[Winter]

So what was it? I assume you finally fixed it!

I have an intermittent steering wheel wobble as well.

Started during the winter, when temps were in the 20's.

I get on any highway and travel five or six miles and then the shimmy starts.
Dont know what triggers it. Doesnt seem to be speed related,
other than the fact it doesnt usually kick in on back roads.
Maybe steering around corners and stuff keeps it at bay.

Its more like distance traveled at speed is the trigger.

But its a serious wobble that vibrates your hands off.

If you let go of the wheel it wants to go to the right,
so alignment is off as well.

Slowing down off the highway it gets worse and worse instead of better, till you finally stop.

But once you get going again, it doesnt come back for awhile.
It mysteriously stops, or resets itself.
Or maybe it starts again a mile down the road. You never know.

It doesnt stop if you shift into neutral and coast.
All the lug nuts are tight.
The tires do not have any bulges or issues.

After you stop and park. You can hear this metallic 'plink' noise every 15 seconds,
like something under the hood is contracting, leading me to think this whole thing is heat related.
That some front end component is getting really hot and creating this steering wheel wobble.
That noise is also new.

Its like a poltergeist!!

More input requested!

[marvinstockman]

When it happens, pull over and check for a hot wheel/rotor. If so, you've got a sticking caliper or partially collapsed flex hose. Scared me the first time it happened, and confused me until I figured it out.

Whatever you do, don't replace random parts until you check for the 'heat'.

[mmark.]

Sorry about another steering wheel shaking thread, but I searched and couldn't find an answer to my problem.

Ok get this:

My steering wheel shakes, but it shakes at completely random times. Example: I was driving to the gym today, and the steering wheel was shaking pretty bad between 60-70. Then on the way home I was cruising at 65 (there was a cop behind me) and it was fine. Same freeway, same road condition. WTF.

I've read some stuff about how the bushings or lower control arms may need replacing, or that the rotors may be warped, but if one (or more) of those are the case, why wouldn't the steering wheel shake all the time?

Got any ideas?

Does the question pertain to an E36 or something else?

m

[RightYouAreKen]

I've had this theory over the years that variable vibrations like this might be due to two different, slightly out of balance wheels, becoming "in phase" with each other from time to time. As you know, each wheel rotates at different speeds if you're turning, so it makes sense that sometimes different wheels will "line up" and apply force at the same time, causing vibration, where other times they are aligned such that they cancel each other out.

Also, I've got a vibration that occurs over bumpy roads at freeway speeds. I'll hit a bump and the wheel will vibrate for a second or two. I'm fairly positive that's either a bad tie rod or bad control arm bushing, compounded by worn out shocks.

[hide1]

I'd be willing to bet 95% of these cases are related to stuck/ sticking brake calipers. . precisely why its so hard for everyone to track down; since it wont be remedied with a 'full front suspension rebuild' haha smh

[Winter]

Does the question pertain to an E36 or something else?

m

E36 here.

[mmark.]

Infra- red remote reading thermometers are cheap.
Go for drive then check front caliper temps..
You'll likely see a 300-400 degree delta. Change the hot side .
If the problem has been going on for a while, think about the Wheel bearing on the hot side also.

m

[Haifisch M3]

I'd be willing to bet 95% of these cases are related to stuck/ sticking brake calipers. . precisely why its so hard for everyone to track down; since it wont be remedied with a 'full front suspension rebuild' haha smh

Agreed , had this happen several times, the rebuilt calipers just don't hold up like originals. The reason the shake is intermittent is because they don't always stick. Easy way to identify the culprit is to touch the rims. The hot one is the one with the sticking caliper, easy to identify.

[TriniSpeC]

I had a wobble, decided to change everything, bought control arms from the dealer, condor FCAB's and z3 rack.