Steering Wheel Vibration

RedScytheM3 wrote

Ajolives wrote

RedScytheM3 wrote

954MM wrote

So heres everything Ive tried to resolve my steering wheel vibration:

Road force balance (multiple times)
Alignment(s)
New Control Arms (Upper & Lower)
Coilovers (replaced stock EDC suspension)
- After first alignment, everything was perfect. Drove through some shitty roads and it came back. Got it aligned again, it felt fine but now its back.
New Wheel Hubs
Different Wheels (with new tires)
- The stock wheels produced the same issue. I borrowed the LM's to see if a different set would fix it.
Tie Rods checked and theyre fine
Took spacers off. Helped but vibration still there.
New sway bar bushings
Rotors and pads replaced in September

Only thing left is
- Steering Rack
- Steering Knuckle (Spindle)

My steering rack is leaking ����*♂️

How severe is the vibration?
Does it happen at all times and speeds?
Does it happen only on certain surfaces?

I get steering wheel vibration on a 3 mile stretch of freeway and it only occurs there. The first time I experienced it I thought something was wrong, but then when I started to notice the pattern that it only happened on that part of the freeway.

It's more of a shimmy than a vibration if that makes sense. It doesn't feel like the wheel will fall off, but almost like an out of balance tire on the front.

Is your 3 mile stretch graded concrete by chance? The steering wheel consistently does this b.s. on concrete, almost never on blacktop. I find when I do long sweeping on ramps and changing lanes the shimmy will "flare up" for a couple minutes then dissipate to almost nothing.

I haven't been able to track a true pattern, but it always has concrete highway, lane changing, and/or on-ramps in the equation. Maybe it's got something to do with a weakness when the suspension loads up laterally or something like that

I've been WFH since March, so my driving has been cut down drastically to say the least, haha. Haven't been out to investigate this further.

I see what you mean. The stretch of freeway appears to be smooth blacktop at 60 mph, but actually has a ridged texture that you can see when you're at a standstill in traffic. I think those ridges are being felt in the wheel. This post made me think of this because at speed the road appears perfectly smooth and makes the steering feel seem abnormal

At this point it seems like that's the only constant. I honestly have no idea unless it's like a super obscure design flaw. What do you think?

Same as everybody I guess
With a leaky steering rack
What are you planning on replacing it with? Reman or new and from where?

CIFUM3 wrote

Same as everybody I guess
With a leaky steering rack
What are you planning on replacing it with? Reman or new and from where?

I just got new motor mounts. Im gonna try that first. Then steering coupler. Then a new rack.

I always find my steering wheel vibration is bent wheel(s). Mostly the inside of the wheel not outside. I cant go six months without having to true one or two wheels. Then, as good as my wheel guy is, its usually out of balance after he does his mount and so called balance. That's a separate trip to a tire store with better balancing equip apparently. I find if the vibration starts at 70 or 80 and worsens with speed (and doesnt go away over 100) its bent and not a balance issue. Or I can just jack up the front and spin the wheel, if its visible then it's out of tolerance. That confirms my seat of the pants feeling. It's is usually front wheel but if the rear is bent bad enough you can feel it in the steering wheel too. As I type this 3 of my wheels are being true'd in the shop again. Both rears bent pretty bad.

when balancing on a normal balancer I couldnt get rid of my steering wheel vibration, even if the normal balancer reported a zeroes out perfect balance. I got my front wheels RoadForce balanced yesterday and I got up to 175mph and had no steering wheel wobble at all.

Ive had them road force balanced 3x. Whenever I get to 100+ its fine. My vibration goes and comes. Its annoying. It's definitely front end though.

954MM wrote

Ive had them road force balanced 3x. Whenever I get to 100+ its fine. My vibration goes and comes. Its annoying. It's definitely front end though.

What were the road force values? Do you know?

When I first had mine Road Force balanced, the tech said the values were 10-12 lbs or something. Got vibration from that. The next time, I went to a different shop and they said they got the values down to 6-7 lbs. The vibration almost completely disappeared. I can still feel it, but rarely, and only if I'm paying very close attention.

Can you post your alignment spec here? I just did mine.

All vibrations went away for me.

Updating thread, my shimmy went away with new wheels. Same tires on the front, new tires on the rear. Silky smooth all the way to 100+