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Vibration in steering wheel at 60mph

JulesMaximus

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
I've been suffering with a bit of a vibration in the steering wheel at freeway speeds lately. Any idea what to look for as the cause?

My struts are good, tires wearing evenly, nothing out of balance that I'm aware of, tires properly inflated, haven't hit anything, and I had an alignment recently. Tie rods were replaced about a year ago. Car is a 2003 Nissan Maxima with 110,000 miles on it.

Update: Well, the vibration has been getting worse so I took it in yesterday and it needs 2 new front tires and an alignment.
 
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Out of balance tires? Did you happen to see if a weight fell off?

Or

Is there a humming noise associated with it? Could be a wheel bearing as well.
You can also check the wheel bearing by jacking up the front of the car and seeing if there is and "play" in the wheel by trying to wiggle it back and forth.
 
Something might have gotten stuck in the wheel.

Part of your tire might have ruptured in the tread or the sidewall (happened with my last winter tires).
 
I'm kind of leaning toward tires too. I've had these tires on here for a few years and probably around 40,000 miles. They are Riken Raptors, tread wear has been even but I'm thinking they are nearing the end of their life despite the fact that they still have some tread depth.
 
Cars develop vibrations at 110k miles, check the basics like tire balancing, wheel bearings, ball joints, etc. if it's not obvious it's probably something you'll just have to live with.
 
JCH13 said:
Something might have gotten stuck in the wheel.

Part of your tire might have ruptured in the tread or the sidewall (happened with my last winter tires).
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I remember the first time I took my car to the track.. I thought I broke my car driving home due to the amount of OPR on my tires.
 
JCH13 said:
Something might have gotten stuck in the wheel.

Part of your tire might have ruptured in the tread or the sidewall (happened with my last winter tires).
Click to expand...


Ouch, were you driving them over the speed rating, or was it a random event?
 
Ferzerp said:
Ouch, were you driving them over the speed rating, or was it a random event?
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They were old, shitty, and dry-rotting a bit.






Also drove over the speed rating once or twice :awe: triple digits are sunlight, and every once in a while we all need sunny days.
 
My winters are H... A far cry from the Y's I have for the summer, but I don't see myself going over 130 in the winters anyway 😛
 
You recently balanced your tires does not mean that its balanced. I got my tires replaced at Firestone and took their lifetime alignment rotation balancing plan. First of all whenever I go there they don't have time for me, I have to pick up at the end of day around 7, never ready before that and then its never really fixed, I always get the vibration, sometime at 60, 70 or 80, its never perfect.
 
tires agreed or its the brake rotors does it only come and go at 60? on my cobalt once i had my tires rebalanced and still had a vibrations i did my pads and rotors and it went away. try a rebalance first and then mabye look into your brake rotors
 
kornphlake said:
Cars develop vibrations at 110k miles, check the basics like tire balancing, wheel bearings, ball joints, etc. if it's not obvious it's probably something you'll just have to live with.
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😕

If it's not working properly, there is a fix.
 
Black2na said:
tires agreed or its the brake rotors does it only come and go at 60? on my cobalt once i had my tires rebalanced and still had a vibrations i did my pads and rotors and it went away. try a rebalance first and then mabye look into your brake rotors
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this x1000. The only other problem I've had similar was caused by a failing wheel hub assembly, but that's much much much much more rare.
 
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2219182 ... it looks like you were already reading that thread... and yes mine are aftermarket wheels... I sold the stock 19s 500 miles in. I just gotta live with it at this point I guess. Plan on another set soon to change it up, probably will have a similar issue but with luck maybe not.

What I really want to know is - does this hurt the vehicle mechanically (various parts) if driven with the vibration long term? Exdeath was talking about tie rods.
 
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rh71 said:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2219182 ... it looks like you were already reading that thread... and yes mine are aftermarket wheels... I sold the stock 19s 500 miles in. I just gotta live with it at this point I guess. Plan on another set soon to change it up, probably will have a similar issue but with luck maybe not.

What I really want to know is - does this hurt the vehicle mechanically (various parts) if driven with the vibration long term? Exdeath was talking about tie rods.
Click to expand...

Yes. Wheel vibrations will put lots of extra load on car, particularly the wheel bearings, and will cause them to wear out and fail faster. Tie-rod bearings can also wear out faster.
 
jlee said:
😕

If it's not working properly, there is a fix.
Click to expand...

Anything can be fixed, but it might not be worth it. With over 100k on the clock and close to 10 years, a minor vibration might be caused by 10 things that are slightly worn, sway bar bushings, control arm bushings, tie rods, ball joints, struts, wheel bearings, tires, CV joints, drive shafts, alignment... Every part on the car is going to show some wear that may or may not be causing the problem. It's difficult to guess which part specifically is the culprit when everything has some minor wear, you end up replacing things one part at a time and the problem never goes away or you end up replacing everything at once and it cost more than the car is worth. My suggestion was to look at the things that are easy to diagnose and repair, if it's not one of those things I'd just accept that I drive a 10 year old car with 100k miles and live with the vibration.
 
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