steering wheel shake, help me out

hey guys, here’s my problem

today i brought my car into my shop, took my wheels off and rotated my tires, whatever, no harm done, put it down and popped the hood to clean my battery tray, so i took the battery out and the tray, now…connected to the tray is a copper tube…does anyone know WHAT this tube is?? i yanked it out of the battery tray, because it clicks in so the tube stays intact to the tray…i had to yank it a bit to get it out, and this would be the only thing i can think of that caused my steering wheel to be shaking, but it may not be that, it could be something with my front end, i had the car up with wheels off and all that…

also, recently i had my tranny rebuilt and new axels in the front, then after that, i had an alignment done…

so, what do you guys think it could be? do you think i coulda just loosened something today when i was messing with it? let me know what you guys think, and whether or not its safe to drive at high speeds like this…thanks

as a long time tire buster i would have to say its he alignment or the wheel balancing

does it shake only above 40mph? needs to be balanced again.

does it shake at idle? moreso when a/c is on? motor mounts

well, its pretty much at all speeds, not at idle…i’d say probably 15mph+ it shakes pretty noticeably…funny thing is, i’m a long time tire buster, lol, i work at a sears auto, but i had thought it was something related to the copper wire i had yanked on, thinking maybe it relates to power steering or something, but its prolly not, i dunno…i suppose i could check the balancing tomorrow and have someone check the front end to see if anything is outta wack, then i’ll just go from there…

Originally posted by Brian 93teg
well, its pretty much at all speeds, not at idle…i’d say probably 15mph+ it shakes pretty noticeably…funny thing is, i’m a long time tire buster, lol, i work at a sears auto, but i had thought it was something related to the copper wire i had yanked on, thinking maybe it relates to power steering or something, but its prolly not, i dunno…i suppose i could check the balancing tomorrow and have someone check the front end to see if anything is outta wack, then i’ll just go from there…

Did you tighten the wheel bolts to proper torque specs. (according to the Helms, is 80lb-ft), cause I’ve heard of people overtighting, and their rotors get warped, which might cause the shaking effect…

You must have either a bent rim or better yet a tire in which the steel belts have shifted causing it to be “out of round.”
I worked in a tire shop for years!

Originally posted by Sugar Booga
You must have either a bent rim or better yet a tire in which the steel belts have shifted causing it to be “out of round.”
I worked in a tire shop for years!

yea, i currently work at a tire shop, so i checked the balancing, and thats all it was, just for some reason it seemed odd and i sorta freaked out, haha, so i balanced them again better with the sticky weights on the outside (before i had it balanced with just weights on the inside of the rims)…so now its all fixed and riding like a charm;)

Originally posted by gsr2nv
[B]

Did you tighten the wheel bolts to proper torque specs. (according to the Helms, is 80lb-ft), cause I’ve heard of people overtighting, and their rotors get warped, which might cause the shaking effect… [/B]

hey guys is tightening the lugs while it’s in the air 'til the wheel spins & then setting the car down & tightening them again kinda hard too tight? i’m not a big guy, not real strong or anything. the reason i ask is cuz i replaced my rotors when i put the ebc greens on & the wheel shakes when i brake hard. is this definately warped rotors or what?

Here are some culprits of a steering wheel shake:

Warped rotors
Tire belt separation
Cheap axles
Tires that need balanced
Bent hubs

Originally posted by clayton
[B]

hey guys is tightening the lugs while it’s in the air 'til the wheel spins & then setting the car down & tightening them again kinda hard too tight? i’m not a big guy, not real strong or anything. the reason i ask is cuz i replaced my rotors when i put the ebc greens on & the wheel shakes when i brake hard. is this definately warped rotors or what? [/B]

If you tightened them a lot when they were on the ground, you might have warped the rotors…

You should hand tighten in the air, and invest in a torque wrench, so you can tighten them to spec…but if you don’t get a torque wrench, the only thing i can recommend is to tighten them"just enough", you don’t wanna be jumping on the bar or anything…