Slight Steering Wheel Wobble

[Solorange]

When I reach speeds of 50 or greater I get a slight wobble in my steering wheel. Any idea on what could be causing it? So far I ruled out warped rotors because I dont feel any brake pedal vibration when I brake. I checked the steering tie rods and they are straight and tight. I checked the axles and they are straight and tight. I could have the aligment and wheel balance rechecked, but think this is highly unlikely since this was done last November. Is there something here I maybe missing?

Thanks,
Chris

[ThurzNite]

I had that in my old camry, it was the hub bearing.
I'd go the route of getting wheels balanced, and going for that alignment. Tell the guy doing the balance to inspect the suspension while he's in there, and tell the alignment guy the same thing.
Worse case is some really bad caster due to frame damage. Ick!

Just to add a bit of info with the wheel bearing. To test, you're supposed to get the wheel off the ground, grab top and bottom of the wheel, and jiggle. I've had bad bearings in other cars and maybe 1 out of 5 jiggled in that test.

Dr J

[GzNutz]

I second having the wheels balanced. I too just developed a high speed (58-72mph) steering wheel shake and need to get the car in to a tire shop. Only seems to happen at or between those speeds.

Hopefully your wheel just chucked a weight off.

[yaddadaimsayin]

i been havin that issue too. I'll try it out.

[Black Bob]

If possible (especially if it's free or under warranty) I would have the wheel alignment checked again if the wheel imbalance is not the issue. Alignments do NOT have a given length of time of when they go back out of alignment. Hit enough of Ohio's infamous potholes during and after winter can potentially have you visiting the realignment shop every week.

Also, because it's free and easy if you already have a torque wrench, check the torque on the top bolts on your front shock towers.

[ThurzNite]

Hopefully your wheel just chucked a weight off.

Never seen or heard of that happening, but it's possible. How common is that?
Dr J

[Black Bob]

^^^Depends on how much you curb rash. Depends on if the tire tech actually knew what he's doing. And most importantly if just plain old "Murphy's Law" rears his ugly head. Theoretically flinging a weight off during normal driving should be rare but realistically it can happen.

On my Gen 2 stock rims, they put square-strip weights deep inside the rim that is only adhered with an adhesive not the old-style "rim-crimp weight" (which I think is not possible on the rim anyway).

[GzNutz]

^^^Depends on how much you curb rash. Depends on if the tire tech actually knew what he's doing. And most importantly if just plain old "Murphy's Law" rears his ugly head. Theoretically flinging a weight off during normal driving should be rare but realistically it can happen.

On my Gen 2 stock rims, they put square-strip weights deep inside the rim that is only adhered with an adhesive not the old-style "rim-crimp weight" (which I think is not possible on the rim anyway).

Exactly, I can see in the brake dust the outline of where the stick on weight had been.

[Solorange]

Just another point for the tire balancing idea. I just put my summer wheels on Tuesday. The wobble happens with both the stock wheels and aftermarket wheels. I guess there is a likely hood that both sets could be off balance. Ill be checking the wheel bearings seeing if I can wiggle the wheel when its in the air.

[Solorange]

I put the car up in the air today and tried to wiggle the wheels to see if the wheel bearings are shot. There was no wiggle. I have no idea because its got to be one of these things discussed in this thread. I guess Im going to take it in for another alignment and to check the wheel balance.

[JSTKVC]

I've had that issue before and if it only occurs at a specific range of speed, very likely wheel balancing issue. Try wheel balancing before spending more on an alignment.

Speaking of steering, regarding the clicking sound on 2004-08 Solaras and Camry that's well documented on TSB... I've read in this and other forums as well as a trip to a dealer that it is resolved by greasing or replacing the intermediate shaft. My car's out of warranty so I have to pay. The price difference between these two options is double. Anyone have just the greasing done and if so did it resolve the issue permanently? I was told by the dealer it's more of an annoyance then a safety issue so they said don't bother. (rare for a dealer SA to tell you NOT to spend the money)

[Solorange]

The clicking sound is a rotating sound so I don't think its a swaybar thing.

However Ive had swaybar creaks after installing the TRD swaybar. This is normal though. You just have to grease the swaybar when it starts. An alternate solution that lasts longer is to wrap the swaybar in teflon tape in the area where it comes into contact with the bushing.

[Solorange]

For those of you curious of what the issue was... It was the tires. When I wore in the inner tire edge because of a camber issue I had, it wore uneven translating to the steering wheel wobble. I bought new tires toda and the wobble is gone and so is the added road noise. I also took the car to NTB to have the alignment done, which they checked and said it was already good. Not sure how much I really trust them anymore, but I bought one of those 3 year alignment packages from them a year ago. I may take it back to Goodyear where I found they do great alignments because they found the camber issue after many other shops never found it. Just need to wait a little while to have Goodyear check it because I need to let my wife cool off since she is pissed because Ive been spending too much money on the Jeep and Solara lately.

[Black Bob]

^^^I've been going through all types of trust issues with particularly tire shops. I got my wheel alignment done at a Meineke which sent me on my unmerry way with loose shock tower bolts and 'drifting' issues. After getting it re-checked at Conrad's and being told it was completely off I took the 'Lara back to Meineke where they had to take it to another shop to get it done correctly because now I had proven their machine wasn't calibrated. Funny thing is I disliked all tire chain stores because one took advantage of my old lady by BSing her into replacing her her tires after 4k miles and the other tried to BS me on shocks years ago. The learning lesson is I have to focus my attention on the individual good shops within those chains rather than the whole chain because otherwise I would be stuck with only independent shops which are not good (period) in my area. Owners of independent shops around my way have taken a page from oil change franchisers' book--pay a poorly trained kid $6.50 an hour to be shop manager to watch over other untrained kids making $6 an hour and just sit back and worry about profit stream. Running a business involving changing oil, air filters and wipers is one thing but running a business that also involves installing mods, replacing gaskets and rebuilding trannys is another.

[Solorange]

Yep I have to agree, most of the tire chains are hit or miss and its usually how much the person really cares and how well they are trained. I don't trust any of the locally owned mom&pop shops in my area either. They are all those ghetto rent-in-roll places. This Goodyear place near my house is the best I found so far. I never really considered the dealership for an alignment, just because of the price, but I wonder if they are just the same... Eitherway the wheel wobble issue has been figured out for me so Im happy for now!