Steering Wheel Shakes at 60mph plus

[Spoolin96DSM]

Ok, so I have searched through various topics to try and find out what would cause the problem. But anyways my steering wheel shakes pretty bad and seems like it comes from the front right when I go over 60mph and it becomes increasingly worse as the car accelerates into the higher speeds.

I had hit a curb head on in the snow and the tires hopped up onto it and I brought it back home to put it in the garage. I noticed the next day that it shook at speeds 60mph and over. So I took it back and took of the front right wheel and there was no ice accumulation or anything that was not supposed to be there. However, when I looked at the lower ball joint it seemed to be a little offset/warped, as the front left one was still perfectly straight. I was just wondering if a bad ball joint would cause this problem and if not what else should I look for.

Thanks.

 

[rich3389]

Switch that wheel to the back and put the back wheel on the front, the wheel might be bent.

 

[Tyeler18]

i would get an alignment check, also do a wheel balance, check the rim for bends and then while the alignments getting checked, make sure nothing else is bent, theres alot of things that can go wrong in a suspension part of the car and might be hard to find but if you have seen some parts that seem to be bent thats probably your problem

 

[dsmfa9nutter]

You need a frontend alignment asap. Anymore driving with it like that will screw up your tires and possibly break something in the front suspension.

 

[knochgoon24]

The shaking is either from an unbalanced wheel (bent or lost a weight) or you bent something else. The misalignment causes your front tires to fight each other and you get the shaking. If you don't fix it soon, you can quickly wear out your tires.
Since you mention the ball joint being bent, it seems like you bent at least something. Not too uncommon when you slide it into a curb. Chances are that you will need to replace a few parts then get the car realigned.

 

[roman-cr]

you're likely 100% right about the ball joint...you must have hit the curb w/that tire first??? Also, you should get a front end alignment done and depending on how long it's been, might as well check the rear while you're at it. I'm assuming you've checked all the lugs and made sure your rim wasn't bent right?

 

[Spoolin96DSM]

I took off the front right wheel/tire and inspected the rim and it doesn't seem to be bent. However, I put it back on and took it out for a ride and it still does it. I'm going to see if I can get an alignment today and see if that solves it and get my tires rebalanced.

 

[ClevelandDSM]

Did you check the tire for flat spots or shifted(?) belts in it? Try rolling it on a flat surface ( like your garage floor ) to see if it wobbles and lifts from one side.

 

[GSXtacy724]

usually a bent wheel, knocked alignment out of whack or possibly a control arm. When you get it aligned they'll tell you. Dont bother guessing. I know my car shakes and its due to a bent control arm

 

[soulweaver]

I say control arm

 

[roman-cr]

now that i checked back on parts paperwork....last year when i blew a front tire I ended up having to replace my control arm and inner tie rod as well.

 

[StuckintheskY]

Lol, easy, it's the wheel hub assembly I guarantee it I was having the exact same issue. I just recently re-built the entire suspension on the car with new energy suspension bushings too and the problem was still there. I realized that there was alot of play in the drivers side wheel hub assembly so I replaced it. Now it runs super smooth Just remove the tire and shake the rotor, if there is play in it replace the wheel hub assembly!

 

[roman-cr]

it is possible, but rare... usually if the hub needs replacing, there are other warning signs and the vibration would be felt a lot sooner than 60 mph no?

 

[Tyeler18]

^^agreed

 

[StuckintheskY]

I could only really tell at about 50+ miles per hour. The whole driver side would bounce and shake pretty violently as I picked up speed. And the side view mirror would go crazy. It wouldn't hurt (or take long) to check.

 

[knochgoon24]

YouTube - You know your wheel bearing is bad when...
The side to side wobble (grabbing at 3 and 9 o'clock) is a bad tie rod end and/or bad wheel bearing.
The up/down wobble (grabbing at 12 and 6) is a bad wheel bearing.

I had both. When I took the wheel off, I could see that the tie rod end had play.
YouTube - Bad Tie Rod End

If you wouldn't mind, do both of these checks.

 

[Spoolin96DSM]

The lower ball joint on my car looks like the one in the video above on the tie rod end. I'll get to replacing that tomorrow if I can....I also did roll the tire on a flat surface and it didn't wobble. I'll double check everything tomorrow though.

 

[GSXtacy724]

up and down could also be bad ball joints