steering wheel vibration will not go away

K

kms1990

Member
:
2011 mazda 3 hatchback GT
i have a incessant steering wheel vibration between 60-75ish mph (seems to smooth out above 80 but cannot tell as driving above 80 is hard in a big city) that i am trying to get fixed and i cannot figure it out. i have replaced control arms (balljoints as well as they are on there) and tie rods had tires changed and balanced with no issues with balancing showing a bent or bad wheel. i have inspected the cv axle boots and cannot find any rips, i hear no noises while driving or turning or while the vibration is happening. i jacked up each front wheel and spun them the passenger side made a slight squeak and driver side made somewhat of a grinding noise. this car is old and has 162,000 miles so its had some drive time. i hve put about a 1/4 of its worth in parts on it in the past month and i need to trace this down as it is killing my bank account, and i cannot keep throwing in money on a 12 year old car to not fix its problem.


so what would someone suggest is my next step? cv axle replacement or wheel bearings?
 
I was having the same issue with my old Honda. I changed out cv axles, lower Control arm/stabilizer, inner and outer tie rods, tires, even changed rims (old ones were curb rash to hell). Only thing left i didn't change was upper control arm and shocks/struts. I wound up hopping a curb and had to re work on the vibrating side, it changed vibrations from 80-95 to 65-80.
I was about to change out the entire assembly but decided to get a Mazda p5.
Sorry I know I didn't have an answer but if pot holes or curbs have been hit hard or constantly, it might of slightly tweaked something along the assembly.
 
i12drivemyMP5 said:
What about steering rack wear/slop or the steering rack mount bushings?
Click to expand...

^ what he said


and check you wheel bearing again, not unusual that you cannot feel the small movement. at high speed the small play becomes a vibration. check you shocks and all component, such as the crown of the shock.

get an alignment done
 
replaced all 4 struts and mounts 6 months ago just replaced control arms (this car only has lower control arms) and all tie rod ends (steering feels crisp and tight and if i change lanes at the vibration speed it seems to stop vibrating while wheel is turned but very hard to tell because when i have the wheel turned to change lanes at 70ish its only for a few seconds and i am ensuring i hold the wheel tight), when i jacked up the car again i noticed the a hum on both front wheels (just seems like regular cv axle noise as both sides make same noise at same level) but the passenger side wheel has a squeak at the same spot every rotation when i turn it. it does not appear to have any play or movement up and down or in and out though i am wondering if the bearing is flat spotted and the squeak is the flat spot.

its also not leaking any fluids
 
Last edited:
alignment was done 3 days ago and the problem was there before doing the suspension work(which is why i did the suspension work) it tracks fine as far as i can tell it just vibrates
 
i am down to that or cv axles, Valk. i just cannot tell when driving at speed the car makes no noises or if it does the engine is too loud to hear them. no clicking or thumping etc through turns or when backing up, the car does make a whine in reverse but its done that for years since my dad had it. now i have noticed if i coast and hold the clutch but put it in first it makes a similar noise to that reverse whine (kinda like anm electric race car but lower pitched and not loud at all, barley noticeable) but does not do it with the stick in any other gear while on the clutch or in neutral. checked cv boots again and did not see any rips i was using a flashlight to light it up really well. i need to fix this its costing me way to much time, money and stress.
 
Last edited:
we just did a wheel bearing on wifes car. steering wheel didnt really wobble, but the car rumbled at all moving conditions. i thought it was an axle, but when i had it up on stands i couldnt see the symptoms. hell i didnt even really think it was a wheel bearing, but i handed it over to mechanic friend and thats what he fixed. if the wheel was wobbling, id have said tires, but you said you did that already..

i did notice while i was checking things out that one wheel wobbled a good amount. best of luck with it.
 
yeah i had continentials and had them swap sets after finding defects on 2. that did not fix it now i bought michilen pilot sport a/s 3 and still the same. i am at my whits end with this and just ready to push this car into a lake. it runs great but this issue is costing me tons of money and i cant keep pouring this much money into this car with 162k miles on it, its just an average hatchback nothing more, granted it handles great but its no wrx sti or speed 3 is just a pretege with a stiffer suspension and a 5th door.
 
id be curious where your taking it that they cant figure it out. for what mechanics cost, you shouldn't be getting a car back that doesn't have what you described as fked, fixed.. maybe find a better mechanic.. or take it to the dealer. dealer expensive for sure, but they USUALLY know their s***.

i dunno. maybe its different in the us...
 
kms1990 said:
yeah i had continentials and had them swap sets after finding defects on 2. that did not fix it now i bought michilen pilot sport a/s 3 and still the same. i am at my whits end with this and just ready to push this car into a lake. it runs great but this issue is costing me tons of money and i cant keep pouring this much money into this car with 162k miles on it, its just an average hatchback nothing more, granted it handles great but its no wrx sti or speed 3 is just a pretege with a stiffer suspension and a 5th door.
Click to expand...

Are you confident in the tire shop's equipment and abilities? More often than not, a high speed vibration is always tire related.

I have had a lot of trouble with my local tire shop. His machine won't balance tires very well, and I always end up with a high speed vibration. I usually end up balancing them myself with the machine at my college. It's a Hunter road force machine that really does a nice job. My rear wheels are bent to s*** but you'd never know it by driving the car.

Some oddball things, like one big lug nut can cause a vibration too. A dragging brake and warped rotor can cause it as well.
 
stock wheels 205/50/16 tires it started before this set of tires and continues now i have never had a problem with these shops balancing them before even on this car and the tires i had before yesterday were balanced by 3 different shops and 3 different discount tires all saying they were balanced.
 
Valk said:
id be curious where your taking it that they cant figure it out. for what mechanics cost, you shouldn't be getting a car back that doesn't have what you described as fked, fixed.. maybe find a better mechanic.. or take it to the dealer. dealer expensive for sure, but they USUALLY know their s***.

i dunno. maybe its different in the us...
Click to expand...

i thought it was wheels or tires so i was going to places specific to them and concentrating on them, then i noticed my ball joints and tie rods were worn out so i had a mechanic friend help me with all that still persists i am going to have him look at it today and see what he thinks about the squeak noise i posted in the video link on this thread
 
I second the tire balance comment. I must have lost a wheel weight in the snow because I had a nasty vibration two months ago. After I did a low speed balance and checked it twice, the car was smoother. There was an initial improvement but after about 200 highway miles (Albany to Trenton) the ride smoothed out better than before the problem. I think there was a little bit of weird wear on the tires.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
  • Question
Protege5 Auto Transmission going out?
Replies
0
Views
817
rweaver
R
jawn
Vibration upon acceleration in 1st and 2nd
Replies
3
Views
1K
katapaltes
K
S
Use Power Steering Fluid or ATF in power steering pump?
Replies
0
Views
1K
ShinoBino
S

Latest posts

Back