BeelzeBob

So I'm chasing around a steering wheel shake. I've done the alignment thing twice, and the wheel balance thing...twice. So now I've got the front end up on blocks now checking the bearings and looking to see if there are any cracks (had a crack in the back rim that was recently fixed) but all looks good. So I set a 4x4 post end next the tire as close as possible and rotate the tire around. The driver side seems pretty spot with very, little variance. The passenger side shows more variance, in one spot it'll hit the 4x4 and most of the rest of the wheel stays clear of it. I'm not sure how much could be tire and how much rim and if it makes any difference at all. Does anyone have knowledge in this area?

The other thing someone mentioned to me in conversation was that if the steering box has old/bad fluid in it then it might not hold steady pressure. I did have the engine out last winter so the steer box was off it. I did not do any bleeding of the lines upon reassembly. But I'm really not sure where/how to go about it on these cars, or if this is even a reasonable theory. The fluid looks clean and actually appears to be overfilled.

Thanks for any advice.

Dr_Strangelove

When I was looking for the cause of a steering wheel vibration of my own, I took the car to a Discount Tire to have my tires road force balanced on a Hunter machine, based on the machines' stellar reviews online. As soon as the machine spooled up to speed, the wheel started shaking very violently, and he shut it down immediately, and waved me into the service bay. He knew my wheel was bent instantly, based solely on this behavior. I find it interesting that you've had your wheels balanced twice, yet you are visually able to see that they're out of round with a 4x4... I would think if your wheel is that out of round it would make the wheel balance machine dance like mine did.

And for what its worth: I got new wheels and my ride is perfect. Not suggesting this is your problem, per se, but figured people would be curious.

dgi 07

There is a no tolerance for having a bent wheel. It's either bent or it's not.
Some bends, depending on size, you wont feel at all. Some, bends, you feel and then some.


Get the wheels straightened by a reputable company. Personally, I use Alloy Wheel Repair Specialist. Decent prices and they know their stuff.

BeelzeBob

Thanks. I called the local Hunter Rep using a phone number lookup I got from this site. As it turns out at least one of the places I used for balancing had this machine. I asked him if skill level of tech running machine matters and he said yes to some extent. So my theory is that a very slight deviation may not have been detected. The warped margin on the rim looks to be about 1/16 of an inch.(I haven't measured gap diff yet.

BeelzeBob

I'm super close to buying a set of wheels, thinking that is the issue but didn't want to blow a bunch of money and not solve it. I recently had a cracked rear wheel and it was repairable. I think I it was Alloy Wheel Repair Specialist that repaired it. I'm going to recheck and receck the roundness again. I just wasn't sure if the tire could be imperfect enough to make a difference or if very slight bending would be normal. The shake is not terrible but definitely there so a slight bend would make sense. Thanks.

Atrox

BeelzeBob

You're probs right, I just need to quit being a cheapskate and do it.

dgi 07

Bent wheel. Cord could have shifted in a tire. Some tires are naturally difficult to balance. there is a bunch of factors that could cause the vibration.

This.