Steering wheel jiggling back and forth at ~70mph

[sindows]

I recently bought new tires and when they were originally installed, I believe they didn't balance them properly. The entire car would shake pretty violently at 70mph so I took it back and they rebalanced the tires. The highway ride is much better now except there is a wiggle back and forth with the steering wheel at any speeds above 60. However the car doesn't vibrate or anything, just the steering moves back and forth on its own to a slight but noticable degree. I don't remember this being there when I had my old tires but I just wanted to make sure. Do I need to get them rebalanced?

 

[woodie1]

I suspect you have a bent rim or a tire that is a little out of round. It may not be possible to do anything more short of replacing the item at fault.

 

[Elstupido]

If you didn't notice the problem before, then I would say it is a balance problem, or possibly a tire problem, maybe being out of round.
Also check to make sure none of your rims are bent.

 

[sindows]

So it sounds like something that I'm just going to have to live with....

I don't think any of my wheels are bent as my tires have a 65 series sidewall...there is quite a lot of rubber to get through to hit metal...

 

[Elstupido]

Hell no, don't live with it. Take it back to where you bought the tires, and explain the shimmy. Have them drive it if nec, and have them rebalance. They should be able to tell a bent rim when it is one the balancing machine.

Other than that, I do know that worn suspension parts can cause a shimmy at speed. But if it didn't do it before, then this leads me to believe tire or wheel balancing troubles.

 

[Gillbot]

Could be an alignment issue, ball joint, tie rod or a balance/wheel runout issue.

 

[imhungry]

This happened to me and it was an alignment issue the first time and a brake pad issue the second time.

 

[MedicBob]

Easy way to check for out of round issues with the tire itself.

Jack up car/truck with tire barely off ground and rotate the tire. Use something placed very close to the tire as a gauge and see if it gets hit or there is a larger gap in a certain spot.

Tires don't always seat themselves perfectly on the rim.

 

[AMCRambler]

More than likely still an issue with tire balance. Check to make sure the balance weights are still there on the front wheels, they can fall off. I've also heard some stories on here about vibration and noise after getting tires balanced multiple times that still ended up being a balancing issue. I think they recommended finding a shop with a certain type of balancing machine that was supposedly the best out there and when they had done this it fixed the issue for good.