Vibration and slight left to right pulsating steering wheel at speeds above 60mph?

Tiny
WHITYTDW
  • MEMBER
  • 2005 HYUNDAI ELANTRA
  • 84,000 MILES
June 2011 I bought a used 2005 Hyundai Elantra GLS: with 72,000 miles, previous owner is a female college grad. Vibration and steering wheel shake at Highway speeds: Since I felt it more in steering wheel than in seat I assumed front is where the problem lies. I also noticed shake and uneven braking when braking from Highway speeds so for ($90) I replaced the right front warped rotor, re-surfaced the driver side rotor resulting in fixing the shake at hard braking from highway speeds, however steering wheel and car vibration still present at speeds over 40mph. I checked front suspension for problems: ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, hub bearings, Struts, strut mounts etc. Found right front hub rotating with a little run out – so figured hub was bent = replaced hub and bearing ($121.60). When removing steering knuckle the ABS sensor would not come out so I had to drill it out and then clean out the hole’s corrosion so a new ABS sensor could fit, New ABS sensor ($58). Mounted and dynamic balanced 4 new tires ($357.00) due to previous owner never rotated tires and the fronts were worn past recommended tread life. During rotation I noticed 1 rim with a wobble while spinning on balancer so I replaced this rim ($75) with a new one. Now after all this it improved by 40% but still had vibration and shake so I jacked up car and thoroughly inspected front and found a bad outer CV joint on driver side = I replaced both half shafts with remanufactured ones for ($129.27). Found a bad front Control arm bushing on Driver side so I thought why just change 1 bushing – replace both bushings and ball joint while I have it apart but found that parts to rebuild control arm only $10 less than a quality aftermarket control arm so I replaced both L/R front control arms ($186). I now took it in for a front and rear end alignment, afterwards no improvement in vibration. At this point I am extremely frustrated and angry after numerous do it yourself labor hours and parts costs and still not much progress. I now talk to a Just Answer Hyundai mechanic online and he recommends having all 4 tires road force balanced at a shop with a Hunter 9700 road force balance machine. I took car to Firestone in Manhattan KS for a road force balance for cost of $83. The technician said all 4 tires are almost perfect. Now I give up and take car to Hyundai dealer, their mechanic said he found 2 wheels with 4lbs of road force and 2 wheels with only 1 lbs of road force, and moved the 2 good ones to the front and bad ones to the rear and this improved vibration and shake by a bit more but still felt at 63 MPH and higher. He also said the 2 tires with 4lbs of imbalance rims where bent. Hyundai Dealership service bill $205.38. So I spent another $150 for 2 more steel rims. I mounted the rear tires on the new steel rims and still feel slight vibration in seat and steering wheel pulsating left to right at speeds above 60mph worst at 70mph and higher. It is much better than when I started but still not the ride it should have. In Parts, Shop labor at $ 1372.25 and over 14 hours of my own labor still not fixed. What else could it be?
Thursday, March 8th, 2012 AT 10:25 PM

7 Replies

Tiny
ASEMASTER6371
  • MECHANIC
  • 52,797 POSTS
You have covered all the areas I would have gone to. It still sounds like an out of round tire. Did you check the rack bushings? If they are worn, the rack will rock back and forth. Also check your front CV axles if the axles are no good they will cause a vibration

Roy
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Friday, March 9th, 2012 AT 4:00 AM
Tiny
TOMNEU2002
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Whitytdw have you figured this one out yet? Reason I ask is I am having the same problem. 4 new tiresand balenced, 2 new drums, two new rotors, new rear hubs, front inner and outer tie rod ends, and 4 new struts, sway bar links, and 86 dollar computerized laser alignment, and still when I hit 57 to 67 mph, the steering wheel vibrates and the ass end feels like it shakes. Lemme know please, I am beginning to think it's the roads with braking or acceleration bumps. I am running out of options and I can't finds anything about rack bushings. I don't even think if I do the ball joints and bearing in the front that I will fix it. I have them but why bother. What the hell is happening?
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Monday, October 29th, 2012 AT 11:35 PM
Tiny
TOMNEU2002
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
750 dollars into it so far prolly a lil more.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
-1
Monday, October 29th, 2012 AT 11:37 PM
Tiny
WHITYTDW
  • MEMBER
  • 6 POSTS
Hello tomneu2002. It is as frustrating as it gets. I feel your pain. I wish I had better news but no I have not found the problem yet. It is still a work in progress. Since Sep 20011 I have performed a tune-up, new plugs, plug wires, air and cabin filters, cleaned Mass Air Flow sensor, throttle body. PVC valve etc. Replaced both front cv axles, 4 struts, right front and both rear strut tower bushings, right front hub and wheel bearing, both front control arms, control arms to sway bar link assemblies, both rear sway bar to strut link assemblies, rear sway bar bushings, front sway bar bushings, bottom rear engine mount, front brake rotors, pads and caliper guide pins, rear brake drums and shoes with new springs /and brake shoe mounting harware, rotated and balanaced tires numerous times to include 2 road force balance on a Hunter 9700 computerized road force balance machine, took to 4 different shops including Hyundai dealer and I still have the vibration. Granted it has improved since I started but still there and somedays worse than others. I feel it equally in the seat as I do the steering wheel. I mounted Hankook Optimo H727 tires in Sep 2011 and the 3 tire shops I tried said the tires are not out of round. Next is to go to auto craft shop, put car on a lift and inspect Rack, rack bushings and the intermediate shaft from steering to rack and pinion. I know everything is solid no play in ball joints, tie rods etc on both front and rear suspension, no rear wheel bearing hub assembly or spindle bent or defective etc. This one has got me stumped, and Hyundai USA customer service is no help. After I inspect the rack and find nothing wrong the next step is check Auto Trans torque converter bolts. Possibly flywheel out of balance, harmonic balancer or it is indeed the tires and if not then a design flaw with Hyundai Elantras 2004-2006 model years.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
-1
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012 AT 6:55 PM
Tiny
TOMNEU2002
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Thanks for an answer. I will save some money replacing parts and eliminating options that don't need to be replaced. Well my tie rods were shot and clunking but struts could have been spared, with the rear strutmount that snapped from being rusted on the inside of the car. I had put neww r ear drums on but it didnt fix it so I took them back. I can't afford to keep dumping money into this. Of course thi starts with 2 months after my last payment. Wtf. Lemme know it u get to the steering rack or if u solve this puzzle. I will prolly get under mine this weekend and check the rack for play as the clunking stoped when I startt to take a turn while driving, but when I have the car off with no hydraulics and jiggle the steering wheel, u can still feel a lil popping, which I don't figure is normal. I'll keep you posted if you keep me posted. I WILL FIX THE FU**ing problem eventually.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012 AT 11:20 PM
Tiny
TOMNEU2002
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Hey just a follow up on my story. I checked the thr rack bushings and no movement( although there is still a lil pop emitted from inside of it which I initially thought was the inner tie rods that I replaced) but played the cheaper fixes first. So, I bought a front and rear motor mount and the driver side mount (trannymount) totaling 110.57 off ebay, anchor brand enine mounts and beck arnley tranny mount. Taking out the rear one on thursday nite, all it was was cracked or ripped a lil but was noticeably not as stiff as the new one so what the hell I put it in. I busted one of the three mount bolts which are pretty hard to find(special order from hyundai for 2.64$) I'm driving it around with 2 out of the three in it still untill I get the bolt this week. That friggin mount made a significant difference. So I put the front one in. PROBLEM SOLVED! I took the battery and air box out to do the trannymount listening to other posts but figured the front to back movement in a front wheel drive would wear out the front and rear mounts FIRST, so I lft the old transmission mount in. Which was the more expensive of the four. The support on the passenger side I didn't bother with. So glad I got that shake to stop. It felt like the car was gonna fall apartwhen I got goin. After a few oppinions and my own of looking at the movement of the motor with the old mounts, the conclusion was it's not that bad but I guess the moral of my story is the mounts don't have to be broken in order for them to be needed to be replaced. I guess now I can move on to bigger better things and stop playing this game. I guess new Metal(not nylon) swaybar links, struts, hubs, bearings and definately rotors weren't that much of a waste of money seeing how the car went thru 40k tires after 20k. So this should hopefully make my new 60k viva 2 tires last all of the 60k with free rotations and balencing. I still have the bearings and ball joints to do but they got a lil service life to em. Another problem I had after I hit a deer on the front left driveside quarter panel, was the charcoal box thing that connects to the airbox. The plastic duct got knocked loose and the check engine light came on. Eventually I had to take some silicone to make it pretty airtite. I couldn't believe that that duct that goes around the battery being loose would make the friggin engine lite to come on. Optimistically, I think I saved about 3000 dollars doin all this myself.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
+4
Saturday, November 10th, 2012 AT 9:55 PM
Tiny
TOMNEU2002
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Total investment with 4 new tires, rear swaybar links, rear hub/bearing assembly, 4 new struts, spring compressor tool($13) inner and outer tie rods, alignment, rotors. About $850-Priceless
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Saturday, November 10th, 2012 AT 10:00 PM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Sponsored links