Steering column shake at 80 mph

[Dave L.]

My steering column and wheel begin to shake at about 80 mph.Any speed below that it is perfectly fine,car drives straight as an arrow,no alignment problems.Other than NOT driving that fast as I am sure some will suggest I am leaning towards having all the wheels professionally spin balanced.There is weights on the wheels but I have never personally had the wheels checked since I bought the car 2 years ago.The upper and lower control arms are completely refurbished as has the control valve.Tie rod ends and idler arm have not been replaced.It is not a real bad problem but one that is a little anoying.Any ideas?

Dave

 

[cruzer99]

Go with the balance first. It is easy to throw a weight and not know it. You could have picked up something on the inside of the rim like some mud or a small rock that is throwing your balance off also. It does sound like a tire balance problem.

 

[C V Man]

Try driving at speeds slightly slower and see if that helps...


OOOOPPPPSSS

I wasn't supposed to say that.

But seriously, a Corvette can go 80 MPH?
I'll have to try that one someday.


C V Man

 

[Dave L.]

I knew I would encounter a comedian somewhere along the way on this one:bash,especially from a C4 guy:L

 

[geekinavette]

I have the same problem, mine comes in at about 75mph. I've had three different tire shops tell me that three of my wheels are out-of-round, so I guess it's true. I know the car sat for about a year and a half before I bought it, but I didn't know that would cause the rims to do this. Hopefully that's not your problem and it's just a wheel out of balance.

Bill

 

[ChuckG]

Bent wheel? Also check the tie rod ends. Chuck

 

[mmvette80]

I had a nasty shake at 75mph. I needed new tires. The shake is gone. Just this morning I did 90mph for a few miles. It rides fine. If your tires are near done get new ones. If not it is most likely a balance problem.

 

[Dave L.]

problem fixed!

I had the wheels profesionally balanced this morning.That was the fix.I can cruise 80-90 no vibration.That was easy!!Thanks for the advice.

Dave

 

[geekinavette]

Excellent! Glad to hear it wasn't serious.

I had a new (used) set of '86 wheels put on mine yesterday...no more vibration! We put the old wheels (without tires) on the balancer and sure enough, I could EASILY see the "hop" in three of the wheels.

Of course now I HAVE to get that cruise control fixed....speeding ticket for sure! :L

Bill

 

[Stingray6974]

But seriously, a Corvette can go 80 MPH?
Well I don't know if a C4 can but my '64 and Andre's C3 will do 140. We probably could have hit some real speed but you know how bad that Bowling Green rush hour traffic is.

Mike