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Steering wheel shakes, what's left to check?

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Old 26-May-2005, 07:08 PM
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Steering wheel shakes, what's left to check?

Between 80-120KM/HR the wheel will start to shake.
More with acceleration and braking.

Had the tires balanced and re-balanced, still shakes.
Had the car 4 wheel aligned, still...
Car got new outer tie-rods last year, still..
Car got new driveshafts 6 months ago, still..
Ball joints are good.
Checked the rotors, they are perfectly straight.
calipre sliders have no play.

90 Civic, lowered 1.5" along w/ stock shocks.

I know the calipres are original..
Brake wear is even because the rotors are straight and no glazing..

What else should I be looking at?

Thanks,
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Old 26-May-2005, 07:40 PM
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i think if you swapped in an h22... the weight would correct this shake?


maybe while the tires are balanced they have a flat spot or something?
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Old 26-May-2005, 08:18 PM
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If u are driving and the car shakes. Check balance on tires. Also check for the separated belts on the tires. Also check for bent rims.
If u are driving on the highway or high speed or something and u depress the brakes and it shakes. Most likely are wrapped rotors.


Hopefully that helps. If your car has been sitting in the garage for so long u might have flat spot on your tires. Just drive it for a while and it will go away.
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Old 26-May-2005, 08:41 PM
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only thing I can think of is the hubs? make sure the hubs are true and straight, and make sure there is no rust/dirt trapped between the hub and rotor, and the rotor and wheel.
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Old 26-May-2005, 09:16 PM
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Did you check your engine mounts?
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Old 26-May-2005, 09:24 PM
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Mine does the same thing...

however mine is done by one slightly defective tire. When that tire is on the front the steering wheel shakes between 90 km/hr and 120 km/hr (when it is on the back, its fine)
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Old 26-May-2005, 10:59 PM
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Is the weights on the outside and the inside of the rims cause
the balacing is more acurate this way...
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Old 27-May-2005, 09:45 AM
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Weights are on the inside wall of the rim.

Tires were recently put on.. Car had bad tires to start so I figured originally it was due to that, but with the new "USED" tires same thing. Like I said in my first post, I went and re-balanced the tires, had them re-inspected, no flat spots, no warping, no tread seperation and perfectly even wear.

I was thinking maybe I need a spacer between the hub and the rim to make it hub-centric to the wheel.

Rims are aftermarket and NOT bent.

It shakes when you brake as well, but I checked the rotors down 1 mm and they are perfectly flat.

Rick, 2.2 in an EF is tough, but who knows.. This isn't my car, just trying to help out a friend. I still got nothing, just beating around any car I can get my hands on.
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Old 27-May-2005, 10:30 AM
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I know from experience, on my friend's talon his shake was due to his tranny. Im not exactly sure what inside the tranny caused the problem, but he ended up replacing his tranny and it went away.
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Old 27-May-2005, 11:10 AM
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Originally posted by Cablerat
I was thinking maybe I need a spacer between the hub and the rim to make it hub-centric to the wheel.
Try that one, i've had VW rims where the hub was bigger than a civic's which required spacers. But even with spacers you'll have a little shake. Perhaps some custom fab spacers would work better. But yeah, from what you already looked at, the hub may likely be the problem since they are aftermarket rims; its a possibilty.
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Old 27-May-2005, 11:48 AM
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are the tires wet when tires were balance?
not sure if the wheel bearing makes a diff...
engine mounts??
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Old 27-May-2005, 01:09 PM
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Tires were NOT wet when balanced.

Engine mounts seem fine..
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Old 28-May-2005, 10:49 AM
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how bout your wheel bearings?
any wierd noises???
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Old 28-May-2005, 11:21 AM
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DAMN!
I have the exact same problem in my EF... I know that I have a bent tie rod which is being replaced in a few days so I hope that corrects the problem, but it didnt for you so now i'm worried!
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Old 28-May-2005, 11:42 AM
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How do they balanced your weights on the inside? A7 or A4. Some ppl like to use A7 which isn't that good because u only put weights on the 1 side (inside) of the rim and not both side. U said when u brake your car shakes. I'm sure your rotors need to be replaced. U said that it is perfectly straight. U can't tell by looking at it or measuring it. U just got to change that.

U've said u've brought new used tires? So they are used? The best is to take it to a tire shop and put the tires on the balance machine and rebalance and also important check for any wobble on the tires and check for any bent rims.

It won't be your engine mount because when u shift from gears like in reverse to park u will feel the whole engine is lifting up.

I've got aftermarket rims on my parents car and i don't even have any spacers and i don't get any shaking or wobble.

Check to see if there's any dirt or anything that's on the hub, but i doubt that's the problem.

From my experience i think it's the tires or rims and u said if u brake and it shakes.For sure rotors. Good luck.
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Old 28-May-2005, 06:01 PM
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Originally posted by winner007

I've got aftermarket rims on my parents car and i don't even have any spacers and i don't get any shaking or wobble.

sorry WINNER,
this is the quote of the day!!!
you made my day thanks man

HAHAHAH
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Old 28-May-2005, 07:17 PM
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his cv joints could be done...but I woudl think maybe his lower ball joints...on the talon wit was probobly his dif that was crapped
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Old 28-May-2005, 08:06 PM
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Sometimes it could be little pebbles or hard debris that gets lodged in between the treads, so when you go fast enough, they cause an uneven tread that is felt. So just combe through the tread surface, and have a small flat screwdriver to pick out any pebbles, small glass shards or debris. Good luck.
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Old 29-May-2005, 11:18 AM
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Originally posted by winner007
How do they balanced your weights on the inside? A7 or A4. Some ppl like to use A7 which isn't that good because u only put weights on the 1 side (inside) of the rim and not both side. U said when u brake your car shakes. I'm sure your rotors need to be replaced. U said that it is perfectly straight. U can't tell by looking at it or measuring it. U just got to change that.

U've said u've brought new used tires? So they are used? The best is to take it to a tire shop and put the tires on the balance machine and rebalance and also important check for any wobble on the tires and check for any bent rims.

It won't be your engine mount because when u shift from gears like in reverse to park u will feel the whole engine is lifting up.

I've got aftermarket rims on my parents car and i don't even have any spacers and i don't get any shaking or wobble.

Check to see if there's any dirt or anything that's on the hub, but i doubt that's the problem.

From my experience i think it's the tires or rims and u said if u brake and it shakes.For sure rotors. Good luck.
Not sure about the kind of weights.

Tires have been checked and re-checked.
Got them from Second Time Around Tire.. I wasn't able to see what the balancing machine measured out, but the owner was doin the balancing and double checked it.

I measured the rotors down to about 1 mm and spun it slowly. Didn't notice any warpage. I know that generally if you brake and the PEDAL shakes that is a result of warped rotors, but tire shake I dunno.
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Old 29-May-2005, 01:21 PM
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what you need is not a spacer.. it's simply a hub-centric ring, doesn't space anything or change offset. It does all of it's work when you are mounting the wheels. A set will cost you $10 at performance improvements, if it works then great... if not you're only out $10. Depending on the rim, the outside diameter of the hub-centric ring will range from 72-75mm (measure your rim), I don't remember the inside diameter u need, but they'll know at PI. Good luck
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