Wheel shaking/pulling

KGRANT

MEMBER
2013 FORD FUSION
0.5L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
104,000 MILES

When driving, my wheel shakes. I have checked to see if my tires are balanced and all of them are balanced correctly. It shakes bad around 30-50 mph and shakes even worse when I hit the brakes. When I hit my brakes, my car also pulls to the right. My tires are slightly cupped, but I didn’t think that this would cause my wheel to shake at all times? Could it be brakes and rotors? Also, do cupped tires cause your car to pull left or right? I just got an alignment done on my car but it keeps pulling pretty bad.

5 Replies

DANNY L

MECHANIC
5,648 POSTS

Hello, I'm Danny.

Yes, It's possible the the brake calipers are binding up or the brake rotors are warped. The best thing to do is have the vehicle put up on a hoist and be thoroughly inspected physically. We usually ask to have you upload a video here but that would be hard for you to driving the car. Here is a tutorial for you to view:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/steering-wheel-shakes-when-accelerating-or-braking

The tires being cupping would also add to shaking/pull.Hope this helps and thanks for using 2CarPros.

Danny-

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Sunday, October 13th, 2019 AT 7:08 PM

SCGRANTURISMO

MECHANIC
4,897 POSTS

Hello,

The vehicle could pull to that side because your tire pressure could be low on that side. The shaking could be a bad wheel bearing. To check the wheel bearing jack up the vehicle and support it on jack stands like you are changing a tire. Grab the top of the wheel and push it towards the vehicle. Hen grab the bottom of the wheel and pull it towards you. If there is any play at all then the wheel bearing is bad and needs to be replaced. Please get back to us with what you find out and we can go from there if needed.

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros

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Sunday, October 13th, 2019 AT 7:15 PM

KGRANT

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Thanks for the replies! I haven't been able to figure out what the problem is for a while now, so I have been narrowing the list down slowly. All of my tires are balanced, all have good tire pressure, the front wheel bearings have been replaced as well as the lower A-arms and ball joints. I believe that all of my tires are cupped. My rotors and brakes haven't been changed yet, so I was thinking warped rotors? Can the shaking be caused from rotating the cupped tires?

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Sunday, October 13th, 2019 AT 7:25 PM

KGRANT

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Danny,

Would any of those parts cause my wheel to shake when I hit the brakes? My wheel shakes from all the way up to about 50-60 and then it shakes worse when I apply the brakes. My car just had an alignment also. It seems like the problems are caused from the cupped tires, brakes, or warped rotors? The tires also have around 13,000 on them, so they are fairly new with lots of tread left. Let me know if anything comes to mind. I have posted a reply above as well. Thanks!

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Sunday, October 13th, 2019 AT 7:53 PM

DANNY L

MECHANIC
5,648 POSTS

Hello again.

Yes, I would say since you have changed almost everything else a braking issue sounds relevant. It's possible a warped/out of round brake rotor is suspect as well as binding/sticking caliper pins/slides. That would also explain the pull to a side when braking. Having cupped tires doesn't help matters but would probably be noticed throughout all speeds. I would suggest going to a brake/front end/tire shop and see if they would do a free brake inspection. Hope this helps and again thanks for using 2CarPros.

Danny-