intermittent steering wheel vibration

[bbob203]

New tires, struts, new used springs and strut mounts. I get a sometimes intense sometimes non existent vibration in the wheel at highway speeds that comes on about 70 then i slow to 60 it disappears then comes back randomly and unexpectedly.

[CRSMP5]

igoring my text message huh... get 1000 miles on those used snows you had mounted.. rebalance...

to me it sounds just like a bad belt.. snows = eat belts... and 70mph ruins real snow tires where they break belts....

[8v-of-fury]

Tie rods in good order?

Had that just recently on the 88, couldn't feel the tire wobble until like 65-70mph. Not at all higher or lower.

[bbob203]

all relatively new.

[CRSMP5]

under 1k on parts when he put tdi-m in it... rack came from car that took it head on.. was like 3mo old..

you missed used tires.. just mountd...

no just mounted tire stays balanced... the lube they use allows the tire to spin on the wheel... doubt me.. chalk mark them to the rim and drive 1k...

so he needs to adress that 1st...

2nd.. used snow tires... all it takes is getting the snow tire rubber warm and belts pop...

snow tires.. well real ones.. are made with soft rubber/belts cause they have better traction on ice and cold ground... great for that... but couple hundred miles on a warm day trip.. not good...



i myself ruined a 2 season old set of nokia hakaplettas back in 02 going to a funural 600 miles away in feb.. left in snow storm.. came back in 60*f temps 3 days later.. by the time i was in ohio they were square.. under 1k... tires at max had 5k on them... only $400 in tires... yea my snows cost more then my summer tires... but will climb trees in crappy weather... i am so glad i no longer need to worry bout them... walk to work... no need for i gotta be somewhere type of need anymore..

[Dakotakid]

Deleted comment on tire balance after taking another look at Chris' comments above.
Could be mud or dirt built up on inside of wheel for that matter.

[Syncroincity]

I'd look at the tie rod ends & wheel bearings.
Does it happen only when it's very cold? Might be some water in one tire that freezes.

[bbob203]

I really can't find a consisten pattern with it.

[TylerDurden]

I'd swap out the wheels & tires with a set from your other car, if they fit... or borrow a set from another member for a week.

[bbob203]

I have some 4x100 14in Saturn wheels with snow tires but the offset is deeper so the caliphs are like 4mm from from the rim and when I corner hard they flex and kiss the calipers a tad. 5 lug swap may be worth it.

[homerj1]

New tires, struts, new used springs and strut mounts. I get a sometimes intense sometimes non existent vibration in the wheel at highway speeds that comes on about 70 then i slow to 60 it disappears then comes back randomly and unexpectedly.

Have you tried moving the front wheels to the back -to try to isolate the problem- if it is the front wheel(s) that are causing the issue - there should be a clear difference.

Changing all 4 wheels to new ones just adds too many variables. 

[libbydiesel]

I had one car many years ago that acted just like you describe and it turned out to be a bad CV joint.  

[damac]

Had your exact symptoms when I launched my 79 rabbit into a daily driver.  Everything new and aligned.

Had the shaking at the wheel, not pulling that was driving me nuts.  Certain stretches of highway it would settle down. 

Long story short I had the rims/tires checked for true at a rim repair place, seperate from cheapo local tire store I got my tires from, who "rebalanced" them 3 times.

Rim place allowed me to look at machine when mounted with their dial gage, etc.  I am no techie and could see a bubble in middle of tread on 2 of the tires, he said they are trash i wouldn't even try to balance.

let them set me up with new set of tires, what do you know almost a year later of pounding the car and smooth as can be.

i tried to deal with tire place and in the end i either leave a bad review everywhere online i could, or get into a fight, they could barely speak english, and I have learned my lesson.  i now would rather shop at legit shops that will atleast warranty a tire.

this place was nuts as i looked closer.  i found a rim with no weights, one with lead weight still which i think are illegal here, and another with tons of stick on weights in 2 areas of the rim.  they also told me there was no wobble and wanted to "test drive".  i had no time for that.

i noticed later i could detect the wobbles at under 10 mph with the ride, which sadly i originally was writing off as just driving an old 79 rabbit.


i like the idea of a rim place so they can check runout, etc.  place i went to offered free testing.

[bbob203]

I had one car many years ago that acted just like you describe and it turned out to be a bad CV joint.  

Any way to isolate it to the cv joint? Im going to put a totally different set of wheels on it.. I think whatever my issue it cause a brand new wheel bearing to wear out fast hoping otherwise though. Someone on TDiclub mentioned an inner cv as well. I need to get this car in top for a possible new job.

[TylerDurden]

Changing all the wheels for a spell isolates the wheels from the rest of the drivetrain. If the problem exists with another full set of wheels, drivetrain/suspension is the direction to examine. Conversely, if the problem vanishes, the rest is easy.