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  1. #1
    Member AB'sLs1's Avatar
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    Steering wheel shake at over 50???

    alright so i just did my tie-rod ends got an alighnment and a balance and my wheel still shakes at about 50 and i dont know what the problem is??? i think its a bad ball joint somewhere but im not sure where.... i need help asap suggestions, storys, things to look for....any and alll help is welcome

  2. #2
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    02 vette vert

    Quote Originally Posted by AB'sLs1 View Post
    alright so i just did my tie-rod ends got an alighnment and a balance and my wheel still shakes at about 50 and i dont know what the problem is??? i think its a bad ball joint somewhere but im not sure where.... i need help asap suggestions, storys, things to look for....any and alll help is welcome
    tire balance is first on the list, maybe a mistake on alignment, like incorrect toe-in? usually a bad or worn suspension part would be found during alignment, but not necessarily depending on whos doing it. dont rule out a bent rim, but you would have felt that before. you should have felt bad suspension parts before too so im going to say bad balance or bad alignment. sorry, you said "still" shakes at 50, so it could be any of these.
    Last edited by dklowrider; 06-09-2009 at 12:56 PM.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Y2KArcticSS's Avatar
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    I've never heard of a place that will do an alignment if you have bad ball joints, they inspect that first (to try and get you to let them install some new ones most of the time, gotta get more business )

    I would agree with the above post, have them check wheel balance again, that's probably the cheapest option.

  4. #4
    Member DaddySS's Avatar
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    2000 Camaro SS Conv.

    Wheel shake is almost always:
    Balance
    Bent rim
    Bad tire
    Dirt/water inside tire

    It is almost never:
    Alignment
    bad ball joints

  5. #5
    Member AB'sLs1's Avatar
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    red
    1998 Z28

    Alright im not to fond of this tire shop but they r cheap.....they put my wheels on the balancer and they said the balance kept changing( little red light should have went off in there heads) well i drove it home and it was shaking worse then ever.

    let me rewind he alittle bit.... i got these wheels off my buddies wrecked grand sport vette after his accident the wheels started leakin air.... so ive been puttin air in the tires about every week....this has been going on for a few months now.

    now as we all should know an air compressor just brings air in from the atmosphere and there is water in the air( little green light went off for me here when i thought about this)

    the answer to my problems i think is water!

    what that tire shop should have done since the wheel wasnt balancing properly was dismount the tire and exposing the water but this place isnt the greatest just cheap

    i know one of the wheels is bent but not enough to feel the shake i have in the wheel


    well do i get in A for my homework... or an F for not getting the wheels checked before i put them on my car?

    let me know if u guess think my theory is correct?

  6. #6
    Senior Member Y2KArcticSS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AB'sLs1 View Post
    Alright im not to fond of this tire shop but they r cheap.....they put my wheels on the balancer and they said the balance kept changing( little red light should have went off in there heads) well i drove it home and it was shaking worse then ever.

    let me rewind he alittle bit.... i got these wheels off my buddies wrecked grand sport vette after his accident the wheels started leakin air.... so ive been puttin air in the tires about every week....this has been going on for a few months now.

    now as we all should know an air compressor just brings air in from the atmosphere and there is water in the air( little green light went off for me here when i thought about this)

    the answer to my problems i think is water!

    what that tire shop should have done since the wheel wasnt balancing properly was dismount the tire and exposing the water but this place isnt the greatest just cheap

    i know one of the wheels is bent but not enough to feel the shake i have in the wheel


    well do i get in A for my homework... or an F for not getting the wheels checked before i put them on my car?

    let me know if u guess think my theory is correct?
    The water MAY be a problem, but I'm thinking with that wreck comes a warped wheel...a lot of the times a warped wheel is undetectable until put on a balancer...when the balance point changes like that, that almost certainly means your wheel is warped. How do I know? I have a slightly warped front wheel myself, you can't even tell looking at it, even with it off of the car, but it is...just ever so slightly...my tire shop did the best they could, and I have no shakes that I can feel, so that's all I could ask for.

  7. #7
    Member AB'sLs1's Avatar
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    THanks for the input YSK i appreciate it... but im still kinda thinking water only because for months i never felt it untill this past month i think that by me fillin the tires almost every week for about 6 months it was just bulding to a noticable about amount... but i could be wrong ....its most likely a combo. of both

  8. #8
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    i work in a tire shop, just got off from Belle tire matter of fact, and ill tell you now its a bad balance. If it kept getting different numbers than theres something wrong with the tire, or the balancer. ask them to recalibrate the balancer and try again. if they say no walk away, it takes less than 5 minutes to calibrate both hunter balancers at my shop. Even if there was water in the tire it would find the low spot almost every time, so you wouldnt feel it at 50. if they calibrate the machine and you still have issues, than dismount the tire, check to see if there is anything inside and rotate it 180 degrees and re balance. If there is a bend on the lip you will see it almost immediately, but no matter what you can see any imperfection on the balancer by just spinning the tire and inspecting it(or you can balance the bare rim.) if there is no bend and its leaking out of the bead than more than likely there is built up corrosion which any halfway decent shop can grind down, bead seal, and re mount the tire. all of these options at my shop could be dealt with and diagnosed in less than 20 minutes and fixed accordingly. If they cant do it right, don't go there.

    One more thing, make sure they use weights on the inside and outside the tire. I prefer the sticky weights that go inside the barrel, they don't damage the face of the rim.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Y2KArcticSS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AB'sLs1 View Post
    THanks for the input YSK i appreciate it... but im still kinda thinking water only because for months i never felt it untill this past month i think that by me fillin the tires almost every week for about 6 months it was just bulding to a noticable about amount... but i could be wrong ....its most likely a combo. of both
    Another thing you could do, but this will cost you a bit more money with the shop, is have your tires rotated, that will remove any chances of water being in there, and if you have them rotate the front to back and vice versa, you will see if it's actually the wheels or the tires causing your problems, your shaking will move to the back (you'll feel it more in your butt and at slightly different speeds) if it's your tires.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Y2KArcticSS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by That1SpeedFreak View Post
    i work in a tire shop, just got off from Belle tire matter of fact, and ill tell you now its a bad balance. If it kept getting different numbers than theres something wrong with the tire, or the balancer. ask them to recalibrate the balancer and try again. if they say no walk away, it takes less than 5 minutes to calibrate both hunter balancers at my shop. Even if there was water in the tire it would find the low spot almost every time, so you wouldnt feel it at 50. if they calibrate the machine and you still have issues, than dismount the tire, check to see if there is anything inside and rotate it 180 degrees and re balance. If there is a bend on the lip you will see it almost immediately, but no matter what you can see any imperfection on the balancer by just spinning the tire and inspecting it(or you can balance the bare rim.) if there is no bend and its leaking out of the bead than more than likely there is built up corrosion which any halfway decent shop can grind down, bead seal, and re mount the tire. all of these options at my shop could be dealt with and diagnosed in less than 20 minutes and fixed accordingly. If they cant do it right, don't go there.

    One more thing, make sure they use weights on the inside and outside the tire. I prefer the sticky weights that go inside the barrel, they don't damage the face of the rim.
    What he said, especially about the sticky barrel weights

  11. #11
    Member AB'sLs1's Avatar
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    red
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    i do get the sticky weight they dont make an eye sore on ur wheels....but as for the rotating front to back ... i did that myself nothing changed but everytime i fill one wheel with air i check the rest causeing there to most likely be water in almost all of the wheels.... i really put myself in this spot.

    i just got off the phone with another tire shop...this shop i really like but much more expensive... the man i talked to told me that most likely im probably right with this water theory but he was also wondering y the cheaper shop didnt dismount the tires when they couldnt get an accurate reading and pretty much called them dumb

  12. #12
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    That would be because the way they do business is dumb. have the new shop balance and if its a good shop they wont stop till they fix the problem or at least diagnose what needs to be fixed. That's how we always do business unless the customer is being absolutely ridiculous and will not listen to reason. you just need to find someone who will do good work and be confident enough to do it while your watching them.

  13. #13
    Member AB'sLs1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by That1SpeedFreak View Post
    That would be because the way they do business is dumb. have the new shop balance and if its a good shop they wont stop till they fix the problem or at least diagnose what needs to be fixed. That's how we always do business unless the customer is being absolutely ridiculous and will not listen to reason. you just need to find someone who will do good work and be confident enough to do it while your watching them.
    since u work at a shop... do u think my theory has some logic to it and is higly possible?.... seeing as how i have never had this problem before this month and nothing has happened to the car to change the wheel or tire other then the amoount of condensation ive been putting in the tire

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by AB'sLs1 View Post
    since u work at a shop... do u think my theory has some logic to it and is higly possible?.... seeing as how i have never had this problem before this month and nothing has happened to the car to change the wheel or tire other then the amoount of condensation ive been putting in the tire
    no matter what, if you go to the same place for air, find somewhere else, you need a compressor that has an air drier. if you have a compressor at home, you need to at least put an in line moisture accumulator on there or something. that must be a serious amount of condensation youre pumping. that is if you do find a lot of water inside. you did say that 1 rim is bent. how do you know its not enough to cause the wheel shake? popping a tire off the rim is too easy to even be discussing whether or not water could be the problem. pop it off, or get it popped off and look.

  15. #15
    Member DaddySS's Avatar
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    I give you an A on theory and now let's earn that A in results - take it to the good shop and let them figure it out and fix it!

  16. #16
    Member AB'sLs1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dklowrider View Post
    no matter what, if you go to the same place for air, find somewhere else, you need a compressor that has an air drier. if you have a compressor at home, you need to at least put an in line moisture accumulator on there or something. that must be a serious amount of condensation youre pumping. that is if you do find a lot of water inside. you did say that 1 rim is bent. how do you know its not enough to cause the wheel shake? popping a tire off the rim is too easy to even be discussing whether or not water could be the problem. pop it off, or get it popped off and look.
    where i live we seem to have ALOT of moisture in the air cuz every compressor ive ever touched here puts off a good bit of condensation... but as for that bent rim....i had been DD the car and a few weekend runs at the track for the past 5 months i never had this problem and nothing significant happened like massive pot hole hit or anything.... i think the moisture just kept building and build till it finally got to a noticeable amount then found a low spot and made a mild shake now the new balance put the weights in the wrong spot and upset my balance completely

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