RESOLVED: Steering Wheel Wobble,Low Speed,Stock Wheels - xB

majukutaj · Joined: 02 Feb 2005 Posts: 6 Location: NE Mississippi

I'm experiencing a pretty severe wobble in the steering wheel of my xB; can anyone help me out?

- The wobble is worst at around 25-35 mph
- The wobble is present whether I'm braking or not
- It's much, much less intense at highway speeds, often unnoticeable
- There's no noticeable drift or pull
- I haven't hit anything
- I haven't had any bad bumps related to potholes / speed bumps
- I'm still using the stock wheels
- I've checked the tire pressure
- I've had the tires / wheels visually inspected and balanced

My understanding is that being out-of-balance typically causes shaking at high speed, and radial wobble typically causes shaking at low speed, and that alignment is usually associated with drift / pull. I assumed that any belt problems would be noticeable from looking at the outside of the tire, so I didn't ask the technician (GoodYear Svc Ctr) to actually remove the tires looking for defects.

Since it still wobbles, I know that I'm wrong, but I can't figure out what I wrong about. I'm hoping somebody will tell me. :D

--UPDATE--

Metro273 was right on the money; the tire's damage couldn't be seen from the outside. I had it replaced, and everything's back to normal.

Thanks guys :)

hwybox · Joined: 28 Oct 2006 Posts: 445 Location: "big" O

I had this problem in the winter with packed snow on the inner wheel. Do you maybe have mud or a lot of dirt inside ur rim? clean the inside real good just a thought.

Metro273 · Posted: 8/19/08 3:49PM Post subject:

I had this EXACT problem with a Maxima at work. The customers right, front tire was bad. It had a separated belt, causing the inner part of the tire to be lower than the outside, causing a wobble. It started like at 10-15 mph.

Your tech needs to put your car up in the air and have someone else give the car gas, while in drive of course, and look at the front tires closely!!! One is bad!!!

DarkSide_xB · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 249 Location: Scion Militia, NY

ok i have this problem at high speeds only bewteend 55 and 80. but it comes and goes. it isnt constant. and im running 18's. i have to get the rims and tires checked asap cause it is starting to get really annoying.

majukutaj · Joined: 02 Feb 2005 Posts: 6 Location: NE Mississippi

@hwybox : No mud or anything; I remember having that problem with another vehicle though... took me forever to figure out what was going wrong.

@DarkSide_xB : I searched the forums like crazy before I started my own topic, since nobody had low-speed wobble on stockies, but I saw a lot of posts about wobble on aftermarket wheels at highway speeds. I seem to remember a lot of people having luck with hub centric rings... I'm a stock guy, so I don't really know what they are though :lol:

@Metro273 : Thanks! That's what I was afraid of, since I literally replaced a rear tire last week (this wobbling problem started happening before I got the new tire). I guess all the tires are just hitting their expiration date at once... I was hoping I'd get away with something cheap, but I'd rather be safe and broke than have a blowout or something.

Thanks for the help everybody.

DarkSide_xB · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 249 Location: Scion Militia, NY

i actually dont have or need hubcentric rings on my wheels amazingly, i think they are just out of balance.

Metro273 · Posted: 8/20/08 4:14PM Post subject:

Hey Majukutaj, no problem. Glad it got fixed. I like to use my technician skills and help others on here with any car problems they might have... :clap: :clap: :clap:

bB2NER · Joined: 31 May 2004 Posts: 10992 Location: Heeere's Johnny

Yep Metro273 Rocks! :clap: