Question about steering wheel vibration at 20 to 30 mph (CV joint, SUV, brakes)
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My front-wheel drive car has this issue with steering wheel vibration where it tracks straight when I take my hands off the wheel, but the wheel oscillates about a quarter inch clockwise, followed by a quarter inch anti-clockwise, and keeps on doing this back and forth while going down a straight road. I hear a bit of light clunking accompanying this steering wheel oscillation. Anyone have any suggestions as to why this might be happening?
Could be a lot of things. My vote for most likely would be a tire belt failure or possibly imbalance. Elsewice, tie rods and control arms are a likely culprit. Bearings are possible. If Front wheel drive it might be a CV joint (expensive) or if rear wheel drive it could be a universal joint (less expensive). It could be a loose lug nut. it can even be a brake/rotor problem but that is pretty unlikely.
My suggestion - take it to a mechanic so you can get a more accurate diagnosis than you will from people who can't either test-drive your car or put it on a lift and actually see what condition your front wheels/suspension, etc., is in.
I had a similar problem about two moths ago. Replaced both tie rods. That didn't fix the problem, although the left side needed replacement anyway. Turned out there was a broken belt in a tire side wall. The big challenge was finding 185/70x13 tires.
Only if the problem started happening all of the sudden:
Before taking it to a mechanic, look at the inside area of the rims to see if there some debris, mud, ice, whatever... attach the tire ed to any of them. Also look at the tire treads to see if these is something stuck to them.
I remember long ago while driving a 1987 Civic Si to Alaska that the front end started vibrating like that. I din't realize that I had driven over some road oil (liquid asphalt), and a bunch of gravel had stuck to it. I had to use a common (flat tipped) screw driver to pry-out the oil-covered gravel from the grooves.
I had a similar problem about two moths ago. Replaced both tie rods. That didn't fix the problem, although the left side needed replacement anyway. Turned out there was a broken belt in a tire side wall. The big challenge was finding 185/70x13 tires.
I could have told you it wasn't the tie rod ends. Steering wheel oscillation is caused by:
Front tire/wheel balance/runout problems MOST COMMON, EFFECTED LITTLE BY BRAKING OR ACCELERATING. LOW SPEED IS BULGING BELT/RUNOUT, BENT RIM, WILL ALSO BE PRESENT AT HIGH SPEED. HIGH SPEED ONLY, IS POSSIBLY JUST BALANCE.
Brake rotors "warped," thickness variation, COMMON, HAPPENS ONLY WHEN BRAKES APPLIED
CV joints bad. LESS COMMON HAPPENS WHEN ACCELERATING.
Grossly loose steering items such as bolts holding steering box/rack and pinon to frame are loose, can cause A "DEATH WOBBLE" WHICH IS SO SEVERE AS TO BE SCARY AND COMES ON SUDDENLY. SEEN OCCASIONALLY. On certain trucks and SUVs Ford 4WD diesel, for example, when no specific cause can be found it may be necessary to add a steering damper. If a steering damper already exists it may need replaced.
These guidelines can help you identify problem before replacing parts. Re' tires, simply rotate front to back and see if that changes it.
Last of all, shimmy NEVER indicates a need for an alignment except possibly indirectly in that misalignment wore one or more tires unevenly into the cords.
In my sports car I was getting a vibration at higher speeds 60-70 but it would go away over 70. I thought it was something to do with the front end but it turned out to be my old tires. They had plenty of tread, no dry rot but something was going on inside that threw the balance off. I bought new tires and it solved all my problems.
I second checking your tires and maybe swapping the fronts to the back.
You should get this checked out soon because the problem could get worse and cause a crash.
Everyone's guessing cuz no one knows what exactly is he driving. Front end side to side oscillation depends on steering configuration and will be different for old school parallelogram configuration vs rack n pinion one.
Thanks for this thread. After reading it, I checked because we have a similar vibration. Turned out to be broken belt, plus the tire as very worn anyway. Just got back from replacing two of them.
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