Steering Wheel shaking at 40+ MPH
Discussion
Afternoon all,
My partners car (2006 Hyundai Getz 1.4) has started to develop a very strange steering wheel shake when driving above 40MPH. If it was shaking at 40MPH all the time, it wouldn't be so odd, however, it only happens every now and then. E.g. you can do going 70MPH and the steering wheel feels perfectly normal. The shake is only about 1cm, so not dangerous as such, just worrying.
Has anyone had this sort of issue before and do you have any idea what it could be? Thanks for your help.
My partners car (2006 Hyundai Getz 1.4) has started to develop a very strange steering wheel shake when driving above 40MPH. If it was shaking at 40MPH all the time, it wouldn't be so odd, however, it only happens every now and then. E.g. you can do going 70MPH and the steering wheel feels perfectly normal. The shake is only about 1cm, so not dangerous as such, just worrying.
Has anyone had this sort of issue before and do you have any idea what it could be? Thanks for your help.
I had a similar thing recently, except the entire car was shaking, all except the steering wheel, which was fine. Was worst around 60 mph, and went away if you went faster/slower.
Turned out to be a stuck brake caliper on the rear - worth checking if that's the case on the front here? Giveaway will be one wheel dirtier than the others.
Turned out to be a stuck brake caliper on the rear - worth checking if that's the case on the front here? Giveaway will be one wheel dirtier than the others.
I'm going with one of the front wheels being slightly buckled. My experience of unbalanced wheels is that the movement becomes noticeable at a certain speed and then gets progressively worse, whereas a buckle's effect gets more noticeable as a certain speed is reached and then tails off at higher speed as the frequency of the vibration increases to the point where it is almost 'tuned out' as the rotation speed of the wheel increases.
Unbalanced wheels throw the steering from side-to-side whereas buckles cause up-and-down movement which the suspension masks at higher speeds.
I've seen plenty of examples of buckled wheels where a tyre fitter has tried to compensate for the buckle by adding balancing weights. It'll work fine on the balancing machine when the wheel rim is under no load and spinning in free air, but the problem still arises (although somewhat lessened) when it is on the road.
Unbalanced wheels throw the steering from side-to-side whereas buckles cause up-and-down movement which the suspension masks at higher speeds.
I've seen plenty of examples of buckled wheels where a tyre fitter has tried to compensate for the buckle by adding balancing weights. It'll work fine on the balancing machine when the wheel rim is under no load and spinning in free air, but the problem still arises (although somewhat lessened) when it is on the road.
Edited by r11co on Tuesday 7th November 07:25
TwistingMyMelon said:
start with easy cheap options, check tyres for any damage or wear, make sure they are correct psi
Get a garage to balance the wheels
I bet wheel balancing will fix it, should cost about £10-30 depending on place
^^^^^^ that. Go with simple options first and work up.Get a garage to balance the wheels
I bet wheel balancing will fix it, should cost about £10-30 depending on place
Thread resus, our Octavia Scout has developed a low-frequency steering wheel oscillation at 30-40mph. Tracking was done yesterday but no improvement. All tyre pressures are correct. Might that be a balance or a bent wheel problem? Just that it's a weird oscillation at low speed rather than the shake that you get (usually at higher speeds) with unbalanced wheels.
As others have said previously, start with the cheapest options. You've done the tracking already. Next step for me would be to get the wheels balanced.
Anecdote: A few years ago i had the steering wheel shaking at a certain speed, turned out to be wheels out of balance, tyres had probably done about 20k miles, so either a weight had come off or they had worn slightly unevenly. The balancing fixed it.
Anecdote: A few years ago i had the steering wheel shaking at a certain speed, turned out to be wheels out of balance, tyres had probably done about 20k miles, so either a weight had come off or they had worn slightly unevenly. The balancing fixed it.
As you suggest, I would be looking to get the wheel run-out checked as even a fairly large bend can actually be "balanced out" but can only be seen if you are actually looking at the rim when the wheel is spinning.
Alloys can be straightened if it isn't too bad, someone on here did it a few months back & I have also done 2 myself.
Alloys can be straightened if it isn't too bad, someone on here did it a few months back & I have also done 2 myself.
Thank you. I have noticed a mysterious ding in one of the alloys. The other half may well have done that and 'forgotten to mention it'. Will take a pic when I can bring myself to go and look at the bloody car again. I've wasted enough time on it this week trying to sort out a different mystery ailment.
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