Camry :: Inconsistent But Horrible Steering Wheel Vibration
Dec 23, 2011
Around 30k miles ago (or so) I had some TSW 19" wheels installed and about 1k miles later, I had H&R lowering springs installed. Shortly thereafter, I've had a very inconsistent but horrible steering wheel vibration. Most often this happens when I'm going between 45-85mph. But the strangest thing is that the vibration doesn't always happen! Sometimes I will be on the same stretch of road and the steering wheel will strongly and consistently vibrate as if I had warped rotors. Other times it will be nearly as smooth as glass.
Not sure if this is related but after the most recent set of tires were installed (around 1.5k miles ago) the car now pulls fairly strongly to the left. I've had two shops do three alignments and the alignment seems to be ok.
My primary auto repair shop showed something to me the other day. There is a bushing between the vertical steering rack and the horizontal tie-rods, etc. Whenever I turn the wheel, the bushing flexes/stretches noticeably as much as 3mm but there are no visible tears/breaks in the bushing. The shop visually checked the tie rods and they seemed ok also. A couple of my friends that know a lot more about cars than me seemed to indicate that this bushing should not move much, if at all. Below is a list of the things my car has gone through since we first noticed this issue:
- Three different tires and sizes have been used on these wheels and all have exhibited the same problem over the past 30k+ miles.
- Tires balanced and rotated by several different shops by traditional and Hunter road-force balancing machines. No difference.
- Two shops have cross-rotated my directional tires to see if wheels/tires were the problem but the car still pulled and steering wheel still vibrated.
- My TSW wheels/tires have been put on another car and no vibrations were present.
- Tried another car's wheels/tires and still had the same problem but it was slightly less intensive.
- Wheels aligned three times by two different shops since I had the current tire set installed about 1.5k miles ago. No difference other than the introduction of the car now pulls to the left.
- Replaced brake rotors and pads. No difference.
- Front and rear suspension checked and everything seemed ok.
- Removed Ultra Racing Strut Bar for several thousand miles. Minor vibration reduction but nothing major.
- Replaced hub-centric rings that came with TSW wheels with new rings from a different brand. Zero difference.
- Many other things checked but can't recall exactly what.
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I bought a certified pre-owned 08 Camary about two years ago and all in all it has been a good car. Over the past couple of months I had notice a little vibration in the steering wheel starting around 55 - 60 MPH and above. It seemed to be coming from the front of the car and at times I would notice a slow rocking of the front end around 20MPH.
I took it to a national repair shop recently and they said that it was the struts going bad. I have about 85,000 miles on the car and the tires looked new when I got it with about 30,000 mile on the car. All in all the thread on the tires look good with the exception of the outer threads on both front tires, you can see wear but only on the outsides. I also had shaking when I put my brakes on at higher speeds but they replaced the front brakes and turned the rotors and that fixed that issue.
Would struts going bad cause uneven tire wear and steering wheel shaking? If so does $1100 sound right to replace front struts, two new front tires and an alignment?
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I have a 2006 Camry 4 cylinder that I turned the rotors on all four wheels and replaced all the brake pads on all four wheels with ceramic pads. I did this a year or two ago.
Now this doesn't happen every time you brake but sometimes you will get a vibration in the steering wheel when braking.
When I had the rotors turned at O'Reillys they said they were too thin. So I had them bring out a new one and that one was too thin as well according to whatever specs they were using. So they turned my old ones.
And the car doesn't pull to either side when braking. There are not grooves in the rotors and it doesn't make any screeching when braking. I did notice that there is a ridge on the edge of the rotor when you run your finger across it from the inside to the outside of the rim of it. My guess the rotors are warped.
And if the rotors need to be replaced is this rotor better than the stock ones and thicker? [URL] ....
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I just bought a 2015 Camry LE 2 weeks ago and noticed a slight annoying steering wheel vibration when you hit 40 kph and above. You can also feel it on the floor and when you hold the door. Brought it to the dealership and they balanced the wheel. It seemed to have made a difference and you can now feel the vibrations from 80 kph and above. Did a road test with the mechanic and the service manager but they couldn't feel anything and told me it was normal road vibrations. Was advised to go to another dealership for a 2nd opinion. 2nd dealership found a slight excessive loaded runout on the LF tire and road force balanced it.
After 2 days i can again feel a vibration, but this time now at 115 kph and above.I thought I was just being paranoid so I drove a Maxima for 2 days and never felt a vibration.
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I bought a 2010 toyota camry se. I have the most annoying vibration in the steering wheel, seats, gas pedal. Have taken it to several places, including a Toyota dealer.. They seem to not be able to find the cause. I've had wheels checked, balance, aligned, rotated. There is also an annoying clonking noise coming from the front passenger assembly. It's very sporadic as in only goes away when trying to have a technician hear it.
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We have a new to us 2009 camry that has a slight vibration in the steering wheel. Wife drives the car daily and says its rather inconsistent. The tire air pressure light came on so I was checking tires and noticed something and was wondering if this could be the vibration.
The outer edge tread on the rear tires seems to have wore unevenly. This is the best photo I could get. When you run your hand along it you can feel every other 'lug' is raised a little on the rear side of the tread.
REAR TIRE
The front tires are wore even, but it appears previous owner didn't rotate very often and plenty of tight turns were made or unproper inflation?
FRONT TIRE
Would rotate? The middle of the tires still have good tread left.
Link to tire on the car
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2002 Camry LE 4cyl. automatic. I bought this car with 7500 miles on it in 2010. It had been involved in a low speed parking lot collision and apparently the left front corner and front took the hit. It'd been repaired and looked like new when I bought it. It still had the factory tires on it, but they were 8 years old, so I put a set of new Kumho Solus' on it. This was a friend's mothers car, so I know the history of it.
The left front suspension has always felt odd to me. Nothing serious, but just "off." When backing up and turning it has a sort of wobbly feel on that corner at times. I've been assured by several mechanics that they can find no problems. It feels to me like maybe sometimes the strut piston sticks on that corner. Don't know if that ever happens or not, but that's the best description I can come up with!
It has always vibrated from 45 on up. It's not a hard shudder, but just a constant vibration at highway speed that you can feel in your feet and the steering wheel. I've had it balanced and re-balanced to no avail. Sometimes it gets a little better, sometimes worse, but it's never gone away. Recently it seems to be getting worse.
I put it up on jackstands and accelerated to 60, and it vibrates like the wheels are out of balance. Yesterday I replaced the Kumhos (they had bad road noise anyway) with Michelins. The Michelins cured the road noise problems and have a much better overall feel, but I've still got the balance problem.
Just put it up on jackstands again and spun it up, and I still have the same vibration!
What to look for? The car has just now turned over 35k miles. I'm wondering if the CV joint on that left side was damaged and is causing the vibration. I've got new wheels as well instead of the factory steel rims. Also, with the car up on stands, the wheels spin true. No bent hub, etc.
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Need to diagnose what I assume is a brake problem. On track, first lap is fine. Second lap start to get a vibration under braking. By the third lap the car is shuddering horrible under braking. Let the car cool for 5 minutes and it's back to the same pattern. Car is fine on the street - no vibration. StopTech slotted rotors and EBC Yellow pads. Rotors and pads have one track day on them and a few thousand commuting miles. My OEM rotors with the same brand pads lasted 4-5 track days and 30k miles.
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I am on my 4th Avalon and have loved everyone. This newest one, however is experiencing a slight steering wheel vibration intermittently at 70-75 mph. It also does not seem to "track well" at this speed. I have to work harder to drive this than my wife's Suburban.
Neither one of these problems is "severe", but aggravating and worrisome. The vehicle has about 2000 miles on it. I am taking it to the dealer tomorrow and my fear is all he will do is the balance the tires (and maybe that will do it), but I am afraid the "tracking" issue may be more involved. It almost seems like there is a slight amount of play in the steering wheel.
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Problem: when driving at 65 mph and above, the steering wheel will start to shimmy and shake. if i let off the gas, and let it decelerate under 65 and then get on the gas again it will sometimes go away but it shakes most of the time.
What I've done so far: replaced front and rear motor mounts (they were indeed bad, but it still shakes when driving 65 and up AND it also makes the car shake like crazy at idle). I've checked the steering linkages and the rack mounts. all are good. I did however spot that the outer boots on the CV axles are broken. i haven't had any tell tale clicking when turning sounds yet. The tires were balanced a few months ago. i should probably rotate the tires and see if it follows.
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I have a vibration in my steering wheel between 65-70 MPH. I had my wheels speed balanced with no remedy. Is this connected to the TSB for the "clunk fix"? Or could I have a bad belt in a tire? I figured if it was a bad belt than they would not be able to balance my wheels. I did recently get rear ended mildly, but there was only a scratch on my bumper- The trailer hitch took most of the impact.
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I'm having the same issue that I had on my previous Mkv car. Around 55-80mph the steering wheel will wobble back and forth at about a quarter of an inch very quickly. It's an identical shake to my last Mkv. I had the wheels balanced and checked for bends and the car aligned. Didn't work. Went to various shops spent too much on balancing. One shop showed me that one of my tires was slightly out of round. So I bought 4 new tires and had them road forced shop said everything was great. Hopped on the freeway and the same wobble was still there. Car is at 52k miles and I've been battling this problem for about 5k miles now.
I've had the entire car checked. One tech told me that the axels could have gone bad so it is going in under warranty to get new axels on Tuesday, then going back in for an alignment. My last Mkv had the same issue around the same mileage and I spent so much on trying to figure it out I eventually got sick of it and traded it in on this GTI. My girl friend just bought an 09 Jetta and it seems to be having early signs of the same vibration. I'm starting to think its an issue with the generation. My mk3 with 200k miles drives smoother than this thing. I love the car but me driving on the freeway so often really kills the enjoyment.
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I recently bought a 08 question Sante fe we just drove it. When it got to 70 to 80 mph i could feel a vibration in the steering wheel. What it could be. I bought it with 56k on it. Put new tires on it cuz the original tires were worn on the inside on the rears.
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I recently had new rims and winter tires installed on my 2007 Hyundai Sonata 4Cyl from Walmart. When I left I noticed I had a vibration in the steering wheel at around 50-70 km/h so I took it back the next day and got them rebalanced. After the rebalancing I asked the tech. if it was off and he did say they were just a little bit off.
I took it out for a drive and the vibration is gone from 50-70km/h, now it is vibrating from 70-120km/h. I was about to take it back for another balancing, but as I was driving home today and had the car on cruise control and cruising at about 110-120km/h I noticed the vibration would go away sometimes to virtually nothing, then come back with very noticeable vibration.
So now I am beginning to think it has nothing to do with the balancing of the wheels but maybe something in my suspension. I am getting some clunking sounds when I hit bumps and you can feel it through the drivers floor, pedals and steering wheel. I had friends tell me that it may be a tie rod end or strut mounts.
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My Impreza has a vibration in the steering wheel around 65+ mph. I had the tires replaced, road force balanced, and new rotors put on. Shake eased up, but is still noticeable and a pain on long drives. I also just had an alignment, but it seems to have gone right back out of alignment after a couple weeks. Car has about 75,000 miles on it. How to remedy this?
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I just purchased a 2010 Prius III with 47,000 miles on. I love the car except for one thing. it has a vibration I can feel in the steering wheel and seat at around 68-69mph. The dealer says it is normal. I did test drive another 2010 Prius and it did seem to have the same vibration.
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I have 19 inch TSW wheels on my mk6 and since day one it's had a vibration in the steering wheel (5k miles). It happens from 60-70 mph. These wheels were brought over from my 07 GLI, and they never had an issue on that Dub. I just did a wheel balance today thinking it would fix the issue (it didn't), and all the wheel weights are on the wheels as well. I'm dumbfounded as to what it could be. When they did the balance today, they checked for bends in the wheels and bumps on the tires. They said everything was fine. What may be causing this vibration?
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I have a motor home on a Ford E350 chassis. When braking the steering wheel may shake back and forth. It stops as soon as the brake pedal is released. If stopping with minimal brake pressure there is no shake and the shake gets stronger as the brake pressure is increased. What are the possible causes of this problem?
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I have a 2011 Tiguan SE FWD with just over 10k miles. It has been about 2 weeks since the 10k service, all the sudden today I noticed pretty strong vibration in the steering wheel when going over 70 mph on highway. What would cause this? I know the dealer did the tire rotation at 10k, would that have caused it?
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Under acceleration between 65-80 on the highway I get a serious vibration in my steering wheel. I can feel it in the floor of the car too. When I let off the throttle it goes away. I have new tires, wheels, and new axles too. I thought it was the inner cv's but i was wrong. I was thinking possibly motor mounts, but I am not 100% sure. Specs 2004 Jetta GLI, ecs 10mm spacers in the front, coilovers dropped 2 inches, otherwise everything else is stock in the bushing mount department.
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My 2010 Tiguan R-Line only experiences vibration in the steering wheel noticeably at 70mph plus. The tyres were brand new when i collected the car in July this year and the alloys have been balanced since having the existing alloy weights replaced with new ones in August. What the problem could be and how best to resolve this nagging issue.
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