# Steering wheel shaking at 60 miles/hr



## abhylash831 (Sep 13, 2013)

Hi fellow Cruzers,

Recently I noticed that when the car approaches 60 miles/hr speed the steering wheel starts shaking a bit but at other speeds it runs fine (or at-least I don't notice the shaking at other speeds). The car also shakes while braking. Recently I installed four new tires thinking the shaking was because of old worn out tires. _Note: I have 103000 miles on the car_. Please help.

Thank you


----------



## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Sure a winter problem here with road salt, slushy road salt gets inside of the rim, drips to the bottom of the rim, freezes up and really knocks a wheel out of balance. If the inside of your rims were muddy when the guy balanced your wheels and that mud fell out, also knocks a tire out of balance.

My Cruze uses paste on balance weights, if that surface was not cleaned first will fall off, but you should state if your wheel balance was good right after your new tires I assume were properly balanced. May have to take it back.

Can also have a harmonic imbalance that only occurs over a narrow speed range, or even loose lugs nuts. After I had new tires put on, don't trust anybody,7 out of 20 lug nuts were not properly torque, yes they heard about this, their ears are still hurting. Hub bearings are more proportional with speed in an attempt to cover all bases.

Shaking or pulling while braking is a completely different story, pad and rotor problems.

Can also have man made created problems, like the kid bending your rims, or even breaking a bead when installing a tire, if this is your problem, may need a second opinion.


----------



## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Have you had a balance or roadforce balance done? Maybe a weight flew off.


----------



## UpstateNYBill (Jan 14, 2012)

Also check that the sliders for one your brake calipers aren't starting to seize up.

I had this same exact symptom with my wife's old Equinox that would come and go with no rhyme or reason. Finally decided to check ALL the braking components and that is when I found the sticking slider pin.


----------



## SMKS (Jun 15, 2015)

High-speed shake is generally a balance issue. It could be you lost a wheel weight or otherwise need a tire balance.


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

You haven't been dealing with snow and ice on the roads by any chance? If so you could simply have a clump of ice on the inside of the wheel.


----------



## BU54 (Nov 24, 2014)

jblackburn said:


> Have you had a balance or roadforce balance done? Maybe a weight flew off.


^^^This or possibly warped rotors, but not likely.


----------



## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

BU54 said:


> ^^^This or possibly warped rotors, but not likely.


Don't warped rotors only effect the car when you use the brakes? I ask since like the OP my car has had some shake even after two new sets of tires and alignments. My rotors are slightly warped and have been for 50k+, but only noticeable when you really mash the brake pedal. 

Currently my vibration is only noticeable on ultra smooth blacktop roads, guess I can feel lucky 99% the roads around here aren't even close to smooth. Like the OP mine is right at 60mph, at 55mph or 65mph its not noticeable at all. I plan to replace the rotors and pads in the spring, I want to hit 100K before I do.


----------



## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

spacedout said:


> Don't warped rotors only effect the car when you use the brakes? I ask since like the OP my car has had some shake even after two new sets of tires and alignments. My rotors are slightly warped and have been for 50k+, but only noticeable when you really mash the brake pedal.
> 
> Currently my vibration is only noticeable on ultra smooth blacktop roads, guess I can feel lucky 99% the roads around here aren't even close to smooth. Like the OP mine is right at 60mph, at 55mph or 65mph its not noticeable at all. I plan to replace the rotors and pads in the spring, I want to hit 100K before I do.


Disc brakes stay very close to the rotors when off the pedal - if they're distorted enough for the brakes to catch on as the disc spins by, that'll cause you some vibration (I doubt yours are).

I found this out with my first used car...


----------



## BU54 (Nov 24, 2014)

spacedout said:


> Don't warped rotors only effect the car when you use the brakes? I ask since like the OP my car has had some shake even after two new sets of tires and alignments. My rotors are slightly warped and have been for 50k+, but only noticeable when you really mash the brake pedal.
> 
> Currently my vibration is only noticeable on ultra smooth blacktop roads, guess I can feel lucky 99% the roads around here aren't even close to smooth. Like the OP mine is right at 60mph, at 55mph or 65mph its not noticeable at all. I plan to replace the rotors and pads in the spring, I want to hit 100K before I do.


They're most noticeable when braking. But from your info here it's not likely. Sounds like a balance issue but somewhat strange to happen at 60 and not at +/-5mph.

jblackburn nailed it!


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

BU54 said:


> Sounds like a balance issue but somewhat strange to happen at 60 and not at +/-5mph.


It might hit a resonant frequency in the suspension at that speed.


----------

