Julia

I just noticed that my steering wheel begins to shake side to side when I get to about 70mph. Skippy was sitting for about 2 weeks without being driven (tail light issue). I finally got him on the road and noticed the shaking. I drove for quite a bit to see if it was just flat spots from sitting, but it still does it. About 2 months ago i got all new tires and an alignment. It was perfect on a long tour I took him on so I can't figure out why it is doing this now. I did take the wheels off and repaint them and put them back on after that trip. Could I have done something wrong when I put the wheels back on?

84_Carrera

Mine does it occasionally Julia (84 Cab); I've replaced the front wheel bearings, and have been told by the PO that the wheels did it for him occasionally too - when he rotated the wheels on the hub by 1 lug nut at a time, he was able to reduce it to a minimum. Maybe you threw a wheel balance weight?

Edit:
I've also noticed over the past week the car hasn't done it (yet) with the new 17" Mille Cup 1's & new tires.

ron mcatee

Julia, on one of the five wheel studs on each corner of the car, there should be a painted spot. On mine they are RED. I put the hole in the wheel where the valve stem is located on that painted lug. I also put the wheel lock on it too. Try that and see if it works. has always worked for me. If not that, have the wheel balance rechecked.

Tim993

I had the same problem on my '86 and was able to cure it by having the front wheels rebalanced.

DanS911

Ditto the front end of my '76 is so sensitive I get the front wheels balanced before every event.

Julia

Sounds like a plan. Monday morning to the tire shop and have that checked! Thanks guys!

Dan Cobb

I had the same issue with my 74, but after removing the aftermarket lockers and re-indexing the wheels (rotating so the valve stem was aligned w/ the painted lug), the problem went away w/o the need to rebalance.
+++

Julia

I didn't even know I had a painted lug bolt. I probably put them on wrong after I painted the wheels. Prior topainting the wheels I had no problems at all. Guess what I'm doing today???

ron mcatee

Julia, the paint is on the outer end of the threaded lug that the lug nut screws onto. Painting the wheels shouldn't have affected them. Also, if the dot (red or white, etc., is faded, use nail polish to redo them. Any color will do as long as it sticks and you can see it.

Ron McAtee
Longhorn Region, Treasurer
San Antonio, TX
38 year PCA Member

Julia

Ah, found the painted nut inside the lug area. It was a nut that had red paint on it, not the actual lug bolt, correct? Do I need to do that on all four or just the front? I'm going to take him for a ride to see if just doing the front will work. Did I mention that jacking up the car is not my favorite thing to do?

r911

- paint should be on the stud
- do all 4
- husbands are for jacking up cars

Julia

Ok, all four- Husband left on a driving tour with his 968 buddies. Left the little wife at home to take off her own wheels...

r911

neighbor...

Julia

Got it jacked up myself. I did not see any paint marks are the rear lugs at all. There was some yellow paint on the center area on one half so I turned the valve stem towards that, but don't know if that helps or not. On the fronts the paint was on a nut in the recessed area in between the lugs and not on the lugs themselves. Could someone have taken the paint off or can it wear off completely? I did as Ron suggested and put red nail polish on the lug end where I put the valve stem on the front wheels.

Julia

Well, I just took him for a drive and didn't notice any improvement. I think it's off to the tire store in the morning to have them checked.