Bad vibration in streering wheel

Page 1 / 2
bunny2121, Jan 23, 2:06am
What generally would cause a bad vibration in the steering of a car. Just brought a brand new suv and also got some 20 inch wheels put on it. As soon as I drove it at open road speed it vibrated badly through the wheel.

would this most likely be the balance on tyres? Only thing is its not happening all the time at 100kph, and seems worse on soother surfaces.

Just need to figure if I take it back to dealer or tyre shop first.

brapbrap8, Jan 23, 2:08am
If you just bought it then I would be taking it back to the dealer to let them sort it out.

bill-robinson, Jan 23, 2:09am
MOST LIKELY IS A LUMP OR PLISTER ON ONE OF THE TYRES. SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS BUT I WROTE THIS BEFORE I REALISED.

bjmh, Jan 23, 2:10am
maybe a tyre that's not seated on the rim properly,have a quick look

bunny2121, Jan 23, 2:31am
Ok seems most likely a tyre issue so will go to tyre shop where I got rims and tyres. Get them re balanced and looked over first.

lookoutas, Jan 23, 6:55am
Vibration at around 100 points to rear wheels out of balance.

msigg, Jan 23, 7:23am
yes as above tyres out of balance.

curlcrown, Jan 23, 7:26am
Not if the wheels and tyres have been changed after purchase.

jmma, Jan 23, 7:56am
OK, I'll bite, how did you work this out?

tintop, Jan 23, 8:09am
Or the front ones. :)

tintop, Jan 23, 8:10am
Rear wheel steer?

alimac1, Jan 23, 11:04am
If it's hot all roads it could just be low profile tyres on dodgy roads. The Chch southern motorway allays make my car feel like there is a wheel balance issue, as do a few others round Canterbury

nightboss, Jan 23, 12:45pm
The OP say it is a new SUV, how many SUV's have rear wheel steer?

whqqsh, Jan 23, 5:41pm
directional tyres put on the wrong way around causes some odd things to happen, had that before, especially showing up at higher speeds

lookoutas, Jan 23, 6:28pm
I didn't work it out - I listened to my mate who'd been in the tyre game for years.

And what's more - I was having that same problem, and I thought he was pulling my wick. But he was right then, and has been the case every time since.

But I don't care if you chose to ignore it.

40 to 50K = front
100 to 110K = rear

bunny2121, Jan 23, 7:59pm
Car does not have rear wheel steering but will get place where I purchased from to re balance wheels and see how it goes.

tintop, Jan 23, 8:35pm
Op says 'shaking steering wheel', Another post says 'rear wheels'

So there could be a physical connection between the two (unlikely). Could also be a bit of a leg pull ( very likely) :)

gmphil, Jan 23, 8:49pm
probably find putting those big wheels on has shown up or cause the rear top diff mount bushes to move and in months to come u will be replacing the inner tie rods at the front .

quickbuck, Jan 23, 10:59pm
Um, the physical connection between the two is that they are on the same chassis.

To back up the suggestion it is the rear wheels out of balance, the reason for motorcycles getting headshakes in a straight line for no apparent reason is because there is something loose in the rear. The front is just trying to compensate for the effect of the rear moving.

tintop, Jan 24, 8:24am
A m/c chassis is a completely different animal to a suv chassis. I doubt that there is any useful similarity of the behaviours of either that have a similarity with the other - except perhaps the fact that they have wheels.

lookoutas, Jan 24, 8:32am
So you have just proven that you don't know.

Please yourself, but I'm telling you that out of balance rear wheels can be felt through the steering wheel at about 100KPH.

Hey OP - That doesn't mean this is the problem, so don't discount a crook tyre either.
It's the speed that is indicating the rear.

tintop, Jan 24, 9:11am
Usually accompanied by a chassis shudder that can be felt through the seat of the pants, and can be accompanied by some hetrodyning

100kmph is not sacrosanct either - it will vary as the wheel diameter varies, also the harmonic characteristics of the sprung and unsprung components of the suspension and chassis. The actual speed will vary from vehicle to vehicle. 100kmph may well be a general speed range for a car - but a suv with heavier components the harmonic speed may well be lower.

My bet is still on out of balance or tread shuffle on one of the front wheels though.

accordb20a, Jan 24, 9:28pm
do the new wheels have a hubcentric locating ring to match the hub?

scuba, Jan 25, 2:44am
go back to the tyre shop and explain the problem- chances are either the new tyres weren't balanced correctly or weren't blown out on the rims correctly.
Or
as another person has pointed out the rims aren't centered on the hubs- no spacers?
Or
haven't torqued wheel nuts correctly.

Steering wheel shake normally points to front wheel balance/issues but as other posters have indicated sometimes rear wheel problems cause the chassis to shudder.
This rear wheel balance/shake can usually be felt thru the seat and also looks like steering shake although quite often you can see the dash shaking around the steering wheel.

Or if your sitting in the back you can feel the seat /chassis vibrate.

Must be a slow day.

lookoutas, Jul 24, 2:52am
This is not the TAB tinny, or a competition. We are all putting up scenarios, mostly of our own experiences, for OP the chew on.

And you should read things - I stated "about 100", and that could mean from 80 to 120. But you are right - all vehicles react differently, and a bad defect would shake more components, whereas a slight imbalance (which I have encountered, more than once) might only be felt through the wheel.