Steering Wheel Shake / Vibration

[Alan P]

2007 Mustang V6 - Pony Edition

Need some feedback here. Had this vehicle since it had 5 miles on it, and know how it drives. A year ago the Ford dealer fixed a part on my front sway bar, and also replaced my tires (with the exact same brand and type of tires as part of the pony edition then, which is Z rated tires).

Since then, the steering wheel shakes like it is a tire balance issue. I've had the tires balanced, rotated, etc. by them, another dealer, and a tire shop to no avail.

Went to the dealer (and another dealer) to check out this issue and they all say "that's how a Mustang is supposed to feel". This is despite me telling them I've had this car since day one and know how it feels on the roads I take.

This happens on freeways, regular roadways, and at virtually any seed...30mph+. There are few roads where I don't experience the shake.

Has anyone else experienced this? What can it be? My only two culprits are either the tires (which are the same brand/model/type as before) or what they did to the front sway bar (although it has been checked out by both dealers).

I'm not sure what to do or ask for. But I think your steering wheel that feels like a 'shake weight' on clean level road is unacceptable.

 

[echo7]

I used to have random shakes in the steering wheel after getting my new rims and tires on. I too had ford try to check it out and I don't believe it ever shook for them. To be honest, I don't remember it doing lately, but it used to shake pretty heavily. Very visibly noticeable by passengers. Always assumed it was my new tires with a more aggressive offset than stock.

 

[OkieHick]

Anything lodged between the break rotor - lug nut plate or the wheel-rotor junctions?

 

[bigb427]

You need to take the car to someplace that has a road force balancer (preferably where you bought the tires) and have them recheck your tires. You could have a defective tire and using a standard old school balancer will never find/fix the vibration. Tell them you have a vibration and ask if they can check the road force with a road force balancer. If they say no or don't know what you are talking about try somewhere else.

 

[OkieHick]

I had a 95 TBird with steering wheel shake/vibration problems. Balancing the wheels on the car like in the olden days did the trick, but the places that do that are far and few in between. It's a tedious process to do it right.

 

[Jose A]

Hey there,
I currently have the same problem on my 06 Mustang. The problem will most likely be your inner and outer tie rod. You will need to replace those parts and then get an alignment. If that does not solve your problems then something might be wrong with you brakes. I am getting those replaced in couple of weeks. Hope this helps.

Jose A

 

[Alex Spaulding]

I have the same problem with my '07 V6 and I have had it since it had 34k on it, it now has 51k. When I got the car, it had smaller wheels on it (215/60/16 when its supposed to be 235/55/17, but I did not know for a while and when I found out it frustrated me a little bit and I searched for the correct ones, and as is the inner wall of the rim was really close to the caliper. I finally got the correct size and now I am noticing the shakes even more, I remember having the shakes before I changed them, but now it seems to be more noticeable which makes sense with the bigger size. It seems to have a bump steer which is abnormal but it does not do it on all bumps, but does shake no matter what. I am a mechanic, but I am in school still, but going for GM and not Ford (just always liked the mustangs). I have had my teacher look at it and just by a 5 minute look he could not figure it out, all the tie rods are fine, no play in them. I had a friend from my shop that I work at, he does alignments, and he checked my alignment before I changed them out and it was fine, and he took it for a ride to check out my issue and he said he did not get it to do what I said and all he really noticed is that it was responding to the road more. I tried grinding down the surface area where the wheel meets the rotor and that did not change anything. It is nothing I can't deal with, just kind of annoying, I was going to try to bring it into the Ford dealer where I bought it from, but I would have to leave it over night and get a rental, and I don't really want to pay for all of that, and after looking on this thread, I think that it will be pointless anyway. Any other help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[ttwolff06]

I have had the same problem for almost 3 months now, it started right after i got a new set of rims and tires. Bad enough the passengers could see it and i had a bit of bump steer. I had to space out the front tires in order for them to fit over the calipers. So i assumed it was either from the spacers or just from having the new tires/rims. After reading on here i started digging around on my car to try to find what may be causing it. Had them balanced checked my tie rods ball joints sway bar ect. Looking over the whole car for about 2 weeks i was a bit stumped but then i realized i had over looked one of the most simple things. Tire pressure. I checked all my tires and come to find out i had one front at 25 and one at 36 and rears were wacky also. I put them all at 35 and my problem is solved. It still has a tiny bit of shake but it is barely noticeable. Hope this helps guys, i over looked it i don't know if any of you could have also but it solved my problem. Good luck.

 

[Dwebb33]

I used to have random shakes in the steering wheel after getting my new rims and tires on. I too had ford try to check it out and I don't believe it ever shook for them. To be honest, I don't remember it doing lately, but it used to shake pretty heavily. Very visibly noticeable by passengers. Always assumed it was my new tires with a more aggressive offset than stock.

my car is doing that now did u ever find out why

 

[STEVE PATTON]

dial indicator, check both wheel&tire while mounted