2008 Kia Optima Steering wheel vibrates back & forth as speed increases.

Steering wheel shimmys from side to side increasing violently at speeds over 50mph. 42,000 miles to date.

Steps already taken:

All Tires balanced - Steering wheel still vibrates.

Balance rechecked - still vibrates.

Found and replaced wobbly rim(whole rim sways), reinstall and balance tire - vibration in steering wheel is *reduced* but still occurs at over 60mph.


What are possible next steps?

Thanks!

On Wed, 26 Mar 2014 08:07:20 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

>Steering wheel shimmys from side to side increasing violently at speeds over 50mph. 42,000 miles to date.
>
>Steps already taken:
>
>All Tires balanced - Steering wheel still vibrates.
>
>Balance rechecked - still vibrates.
>
>Found and replaced wobbly rim(whole rim sways), reinstall and balance tire - vibration in steering wheel is *reduced* but still occurs at over 60mph.
>
>
>What are possible next steps?
>
>Thanks!

Something that's bent should show up at very low speeds. You can jack
up each wheel separately, and spin the tire, but remember to double
the speedo reading. To duplicate 50 mph, you want 25 on the speedo.
Remember too, that this is dangerous. If the jack slips, you're going
to have a serious problem, so start very slowly.

If everything is balanced, it's probably a drive axle, and that bent
rim is a clue that there was impact on one side. Anyway, get it up to
where it shakes badly on the highway, and then slip it into neutral.
If it's a balance problem, it shouldn't change at all. If it does
change, or goes away, it's probably an axle. Check the mounts, too.
They can aggravate a small problem.

An axle problem should also change depending on whether you crowd,
release, or float the throttle when the shake occurs.

Bill Vanek wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Mar 2014 08:07:20 -0700 (PDT),
> wrote:
>
>> Steering wheel shimmys from side to side increasing violently at
>> speeds over 50mph. 42,000 miles to date.
>>
>> Steps already taken:
>>
>> All Tires balanced - Steering wheel still vibrates.
>>
>> Balance rechecked - still vibrates.
>>
>> Found and replaced wobbly rim(whole rim sways), reinstall and
>> balance tire - vibration in steering wheel is *reduced* but still
>> occurs at over 60mph.
>>
>>
>> What are possible next steps?
>>
>> Thanks!
>
> Something that's bent should show up at very low speeds. You can jack
> up each wheel separately, and spin the tire, but remember to double
> the speedo reading. To duplicate 50 mph, you want 25 on the speedo.
> Remember too, that this is dangerous. If the jack slips, you're going
> to have a serious problem, so start very slowly.
>
> If everything is balanced, it's probably a drive axle, and that bent
> rim is a clue that there was impact on one side. Anyway, get it up to
> where it shakes badly on the highway, and then slip it into neutral.
> If it's a balance problem, it shouldn't change at all. If it does
> change, or goes away, it's probably an axle. Check the mounts, too.
> They can aggravate a small problem.
>
> An axle problem should also change depending on whether you crowd,
> release, or float the throttle when the shake occurs.


Swap tires Front/Rear. See if problem travels to rear. Very possible
that the impact that damaged the rim also damaged the tire.

Check the run out on the flanges of the wheel hubs as well. Could have
tweaked one enough to cause this.

--
Steve W.

what happened to cause the vibration???

4:02 PMm6onz5a wrote:

"what happened to cause the vibration??? "

Reread the steps in my o.p.: First we eliminated tires, and a bent rim.

Now the steering wheel twitches less, and at a higher speed, but it's still noticeable.

wrote in
:


> First we eliminated tires, and a bent rim.


Not quite. See my other reply.


--
Tegger

On Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:24:58 PM UTC-4, Steve W. wrote:
> Bill Vanek wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 26 Mar 2014 08:07:20 -0700 (PDT),
>
> > wrote:
>
> >
>
> >> Steering wheel shimmys from side to side increasing violently at
>
> >> speeds over 50mph. 42,000 miles to date.
>
> >>
>
> >> Steps already taken:
>
> >>
>
> >> All Tires balanced - Steering wheel still vibrates.
>
> >>
>
> >> Balance rechecked - still vibrates.
>
> >>
>
> >> Found and replaced wobbly rim(whole rim sways), reinstall and
>
> >> balance tire - vibration in steering wheel is *reduced* but still
>
> >> occurs at over 60mph.
>
> >>
>
> >>
>
> >> What are possible next steps?
>
> >>
>
> >> Thanks!
>
> >
>
> > Something that's bent should show up at very low speeds. You can jack
>
> > up each wheel separately, and spin the tire, but remember to double
>
> > the speedo reading. To duplicate 50 mph, you want 25 on the speedo.
>
> > Remember too, that this is dangerous. If the jack slips, you're going
>
> > to have a serious problem, so start very slowly.
>
> >
>
> > If everything is balanced, it's probably a drive axle, and that bent
>
> > rim is a clue that there was impact on one side. Anyway, get it up to
>
> > where it shakes badly on the highway, and then slip it into neutral.
>
> > If it's a balance problem, it shouldn't change at all. If it does
>
> > change, or goes away, it's probably an axle. Check the mounts, too.
>
> > They can aggravate a small problem.
>
> >
>
> > An axle problem should also change depending on whether you crowd,
>
> > release, or float the throttle when the shake occurs.
>
>
>
>
>
> Swap tires Front/Rear. See if problem travels to rear. Very possible
>
> that the impact that damaged the rim also damaged the tire.
>
>
>
> Check the run out on the flanges of the wheel hubs as well. Could have
>
> tweaked one enough to cause this.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Steve W.

This^^^ I find it hard to believe that an impact that damaged the rim did *not* damage a tire. If you rotate and suddenly the steering wheel is steady but you have a vibration from the rear of the car, then you know what to do.

I've seen several vehicles recently with *un*damaged rims but tire belt damage so bad that the tread bulged up to 1/4" radially at the spot of the damage. One would think that this would be obvious when having the tires balanced, but perhaps the combination of safety guards and an unobservant operator let it slip through. It can happen, as I literally fought a similar issue for years until I gave up on shops and started troubleshooting it myself. In my case it was a used rim that I'd bought that was bent and apparently while you'd think it'd be obvious on a balancer nobody spotted it.

On Wednesday, March 26, 2014 6:13:41 PM UTC-4, wrote:
> 4:02 PMm6onz5a wrote:
>
>
>
> "what happened to cause the vibration??? "
>
>
>
> Reread the steps in my o.p.: First we eliminated tires, and a bent rim.
>
>
>
> Now the steering wheel twitches less, and at a higher speed, but it's still noticeable.

You only had the tires *balanced.* That doesn't mean that they're true or that there's no belt damage. I can balance a damaged tire so it spins true on the balancer, but it'll never run right in real life.

N8N wrote: "8:29 AMN8N
- show quoted text -
You only had the tires *balanced.* That doesn't mean that they're true or that there's no belt damage. I can balance a damaged tire so it spins true on the balancer, but it'll never run right in real life. "

In your prior thread, yes, the tire was replaced due to sidewall damage. I clipped a curb under 20mph three years ago. No visible damage to the "wobbly" rim.

As far as "real life" goes, no on-car balancing is available at least here in southern CT.

My whole point is, we've thrown everything at this otherwise terrific car, and the steering wheel still vibrates, as it has for nearly 3 years now. I bought it used back in 2008, 14,000mi, no vibrations, no jiggly steering wheel.

I am overdue for brakes, so I hope soon I'll find out if it's an uneven rotor or something.

On Thu, 27 Mar 2014 06:50:36 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

>N8N wrote: "8:29 AMN8N
>- show quoted text -
>You only had the tires *balanced.* That doesn't mean that they're true or that there's no belt damage. I can balance a damaged tire so it spins true on the balancer, but it'll never run right in real life. "
>
>In your prior thread, yes, the tire was replaced due to sidewall damage. I clipped a curb under 20mph three years ago. No visible damage to the "wobbly" rim.
>
>As far as "real life" goes, no on-car balancing is available at least here in southern CT.
>
>My whole point is, we've thrown everything at this otherwise terrific car, and the steering wheel still vibrates, as it has for nearly 3 years now. I bought it used back in 2008, 14,000mi, no vibrations, no jiggly steering wheel.
>
>I am overdue for brakes, so I hope soon I'll find out if it's an uneven rotor or something.

Probably tires. I suggest finding a shop that has Hunter balancers.
Around here I go to Just Tires.
I had a high speed shake with my recently bought car.
Fixed it up, but they use a Hunter dynamic balancer.
Have a suspension man check for worn suspension parts first.
Then have the tires balanced with the Hunter.
Rotors last. There's other things, like a bad harmonic balancer, or
bad trans, but more rare.