Steering wheel vibrates intermitantly at higher speeds

[nissan_star]

This may seem like a balance issue, but I have had balance issues before but this seems different. I can be driving at 70mph with the steering wheel perfectly still and then it will start to shake, sometimes for a while sometimes not long at all. It does this at different speeds and I haven't noticed a patteren at all. I had my wheels balanced and they said they shouldn't be causing this problem.

What else could be causing this?

I am running Ling Long 688's or something, 225/40 18. Someone else with these tires says he has the same problem with steering wheel vibration.

Could it be the tires?

I only had this problem with the Ling Longs on, never when I had my stock alloys on with their tires.

[sx moneypit]

I think i would ditch those tires and get some name brand tires.Ive never heard of that brand of tire.Are they made in China or some off the wall place?

[nissan_star]

Not sure if they are china or japan or something like that. Pretty sure they are chinese though, but they are cheap which makes them irisistable for drifting

[sx moneypit]

Burn em up brother!

[240dx]

I had the same problem. You have aftermarket rims, dont you?Well chances are your hub lip on your 240 is smaller then the rims.the rim doesnt seat properly on the hub and all the stress from the rotating wheel is placed onto the wheel studs.

figure out the hub diameter of your rims and the stock diameter of the 240's ( I think it is 77.1mm) and get a HUBCENTRIC wheel adapter.

Fixed my problem. also if you have spacers, make sure they are hubcentric aswell

[nissan_star]

i have fn01r-c's 18 by 7.5. And i did think about the hub-centric thing too. actually, the other person that has this problem also has fn01's

[Wc240]

shake down your front end. jack up the front and grab a tire on top and bottom and rock it. then grab side to side and rock back and forth, there should be no movement what so ever.the hub centric problem would be felt across all speeds constantly

[nissan_star]

the hub centric problem would be felt across all speeds constantly

I do realize this aswell, I was told that i would need to replace the bushings or maybe a ball joint. They could cause the vibration and would explain its no-pattern intermittance.

The only problem is that it never happened with the stock wheels (with bf tires). Could it be that the large 18" wheels are magnifying a problem that was there before but went unnoticed?

[240dx]

with stock wheels theres no vibration.and with the 18's there is.that tell you clearly the problem lies within your aftermarket wheel set-up.

get the hubcentric rings. I had the exact same problem.also get some good lugnuts. do NOT use aluminum 'tuner' lug nuts

[nissan_star]

also get some good lugnuts. do NOT use aluminum 'tuner' lug nuts

lol at me thats exactly what what I have, not Al though. Any lug nut recomendations? And do i need the spacers for the back wheels too?

[240dx]

any lug nuts that are not aluminum are fine. with that size of wheels on the rear you do not need spacers.Maybe fronts, do they rub?

[nissan_star]

Maybe fronts, do they rub?

I had to hammer on a peice of metal below the wheel well. And now that i have tein tie-rods i noticed that my tire was rubbing the spring on my coilovers a little. I was shopping for a 15 or 16mm hubcentric spacer for that problem about 2 months ago. never ended up finding a pair