Steering wheel shake on highway speeds

Tiny
IMRAN YOUNUS
  • MEMBER
  • 2011 FORD MONDEO
  • 1.6L
  • FWD
  • MANUAL
  • 52,000 MILES
Car steering wheel shake/vibrate when driving between Fifty mph and seventy mph (not all the time).

Had the following done :
Wheels balanced.
Four wheel alignment.
Bearings checked.
Saturday, January 21st, 2017 AT 2:06 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,873 POSTS
The most common suspect is a broken belt in a tire, but that is usually also felt at real low speeds. The next thing is to measure "lateral run out" for each wheel with a dial indicator. If run out is excessive, first look for a bent wheel. If it is okay, look for debris stuck between the wheel and brake rotor, and between the brake rotor and hub. A brake rotor can also be warped in such a way that it will cause the spindle and wheel to shake. That will likely not be felt in the brake pedal.
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Saturday, January 21st, 2017 AT 2:13 PM
Tiny
IMRAN YOUNUS
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Hi, I have had all of that checked and the brake disc and pads replaced, but shake is still there and the tires have been replaced as they were cupped.
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Saturday, January 21st, 2017 AT 2:42 PM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,873 POSTS
Tire cupping is due to an alignment problem and will affect both tires approximately equally. Part of the problem is the engineers at Ford have left off one of the main adjustments to save money. If "camber" is off, you are stuck with what you have. The only remedy is to replace bent parts, but other than the tire wear, misadjusted camber will not cause a vibration.

The next direction I would be going is to suspect a worn strut that is failing to dampen the normal tire bouncing. That will show up at the speeds you observed but not at lower speeds. Worn inner CV joint housings will cause a steering wheel oscillation, but that mainly occurs when accelerating, and more so at lower speeds up to about thirty five mph.
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Saturday, January 21st, 2017 AT 2:56 PM

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