Steering wheel shake/vibration issue

Hank3

Hank3

Asian Persuasion <><
Contributor
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2010 Mazda5 GT
There's been pretty good participation in kms1990's "wheel balancing issue" thread, however, I wanted to avoid piggybacking on to his thread in case the responses deviated from his situation. Although responses here might be similar, I wanted to respect his thread and not clutter it up.

So here's my story:

I've been experiencing steering wheel vibration when the car reaches speeds of 68-75 MPH. I've had my tires balanced two times in the past couple months now and the problem still persists. The confounding part is that it doesn't do it every time it's in that speed range. I regularly travel from one exit to another on our local Interstate here and I would say 5 out of 10 times the steering wheel will vibrate and the other times it doesn't. If it were a wheel balancing issue, wouldn't it occur every time it reaches those speeds? Could it be wheel bearings (haven't heard or seen an symptoms of them going bad)? Axles? Something else?

I've thought about having the tire place do a road force balance on my wheels, but when I brought it in one time, they couldn't replicate the issue on the Interstate. Would appreciate any feedback as I continue to troubleshoot and narrow down the culprit.
 
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Yeah im having a similar issue, but im thinking it might be something that's more simple like tie rods/bushings/axels/ball joints going out. Unfortunately there is a lot that can cause the vibrations. Im going to tear mine apart this weekend to try and figure it out. Maybe someone can lend their experience/expertise in on the situation. Ill be watching closely!
 
I did replace both control arms and axles about nine months ago with non-OEM branded parts when I did my clutch and flywheel. Those components might be causing the issues. I wouldn't be too surprised because when I replaced those items, I also replaced the master and slave cylinder with an non-OEM ones. I've had to since replace both with an OEM units. Sometimes it doesn't pay to play with non-OEM parts. And my car shifts differently these days as well but that's a whole another can of worms...
 
Yeah, I just replaced my control arms too which helped eliminate a ton of vibration, but I still get it every now and again. Going to try and rebalance the wheels to see if that helps if not, then the tear down will begin. I'm still thinking its my tie rods the car has over 145k on it and I haven't been "gentle" on her the last couple of years. We will see!
 
My vibration starts at 70 ish, not always, seem to depend on road.

the quality of tires place a role too. i went from kumho to continental my vibration was reduced by half.

Am still in the original control arm, and bearing, 227k on the clock.
 
I'm having this similar issue. I've replaced axles, rack n pinion tie rods, front end links and running Bridgestone potenza tires..
 
I have a very slight clunk in my front end but I'm not sure if it's related to the vibration. Think I need coilovers ;-)
 
Sounds like you definitely need coils L0w ;) just curious what is everyones side wall they are running? on my old wheels I had 205/50/16 with no vibrations at all, currently running 205/40/17 with slight vibrations at higher speeds but this is on 2 different sets of wheels too. Wondering if the correlation to having less sidewall would create a vibration in the steering wheel?? Kind of a long jump to that but curious to hear what others are saying.
 
I'm running 215/40/17 on MSP Racing Harts.

I do have my stock rims that have 205/50/16 on them. It's been about two years but I don't recall them causing any vibrations. I'll try and slap those on soon and see if the vibration happens with them on. Glad I'm not the only one :)
 
Hank3 said:
I'm running 215/40/17 on MSP Racing Harts.

I do have my stock rims that have 205/50/16 on them. It's been about two years but I don't recall them causing any vibrations. I'll try and slap those on soon and see if the vibration happens with them on. Glad I'm not the only one :)
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Yeah i have my 205/50/16s i might throw on tomorrow and take for a spin to see if it causes it ill post again in the afternoon!
 
My racing hart rims with 205/45/r17 are almost the same circumference as my stock rims and tires. My racing Harts are heavier and my tires have less meat but I think it's suspension related..
 
L0w_N_sl0w said:
My racing hart rims with 205/45/r17 are almost the same circumference as my stock rims and tires. My racing Harts are heavier and my tires have less meat but I think it's suspension related..
Click to expand...

that is right, your suspension has to do more work due to the heavier wheel, whatever the suspension is unable to dampen comes back to the steering wheel as vibration
 
Yeah that all makes sense, i actually just removed the hub rings that were on it before i put my new wheels on and it fixed the issue. Im driving around without the rings for now until i can fab up some new ones. No issues with steering wheel shaking or vibrating so im all set haha!
 
Update: So I've rolling on my stock rims for a few weeks now. Have had enough sample data by this point IMO :) Just to refresh, I did not have any vibration when I had the stockers on. My steering wheel shakes still at speeds between 68-75 MPH with the stock wheels.

Wondering what you all think about this theory: For about as long as I've had this steering wheel vibration, I've noticed the front passenger side brake squeaks/squeals in the mornings, after it hasn't been driven for a while, or after a rainstorm. In the morning, the brake emits a grinding type noise when I step on them - as if there's surface rust on the rotors and the pads are getting rid of it. It lasts for a few stops and then it's gone. But before it's gone, you can hear a rhythmic squeal. So maybe the rotor has a some brake pad deposit somewhere; uneven rotor; something to do with brake pads?

When I switched the wheels to stock a few weeks back, I applied some disc brake quiet goop on the pads and the grinding sound went away for about a week or two. Rhythmic squeaking was still there but very faint. So at this point, I'm wondering if some uneven brake parts (rotors, pads, caliper sliding pin, etc.) is causing the vibration in the steering wheel. Thoughts?
 
I noticed the other day my front driver side brake pad isn't wearing evenly. I haven't had time to investigate but I will look into it.
 
Many years ago, my car then (not P5) with front tires 235/45-17 would exhibit the front end shimmy whenever I got on the freeway and accelerated up to speed 65-70. The on-ramp is located a couple of miles from home. I also had the front end suspension checked and force balanced the tires on the Hunter machine with no improvement.

One day while I was cleaning the engine in my driveway, my German neighbor came by and shared a couple of non-chilled brews; more potent that way I guess. We somehow got on the subject of the front shakes on my drive to work everyday. He looked at my tires and provided a possible explanation why that would happen. He says, you have low profile tires and they are probably a little under-inflated (they were). Overnight the tires take a "set" because of the weight of the car. All 4 tires take a set, but the front end is more prone to shimmy because that end is looser. He says, try this...Instead of getting on the on-ramp right away, drive around for a few minutes and get those tires warmed up, then get on the freeway. I took his suggestion and damn was he right. No shimmy or shake. May not be your problem but wanted to share anyways.
 
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