Steering wheel shakes at hwy speed

[mycale]

Greetings fellow delicaites! Just noticed a fair bit of shaking in the steering wheel at highway speeds coming into Victoria from Langford today. At 80kms there is no shaking, at 90kms to 110km, the highest speed i reached today, there was some noticable shaking in the steering wheel. While turning at speeds between 90-110, the shaking stops, then while driving striaght the shaking begins again. I hope it's just wheel alignment, but could be just about anything, any ideas??
cheers!

[Luna-Sea]

Hey,
Start simple stuff first,check tires are good and balanced,lugs snug.
http://www.delica.ca/forum/shaking-at-s ... tml#p46233

http://www.delica.ca/forum/driving-spee ... html#p9194

Right On!

[jessef]

Wheel alignment does not cause, nor prevent shaking.

Shaking can be caused by one, few or many things all at once.

The best place to start is to have a reputable shop (doesn't need to be a delica-specific shop) put it on a hoist and check the usual for play - balljoints, tie rod/ends, wheel bearings, hubs.

Next is to check your tires for any flat spots ... (are they old or new tires ?)

Next is to have your tires balanced. This is the major cause of shaking at a specific speed and no shaking at other speeds.

[thedjjack]

Drive in mud lately....Check that there is no clumps of mud on the back inside of the rims....That will give you vibration

Cheers

[mararmeisto]

Check for wheel weights - one of them may have fallen off. Unless you just changed your tires, in which case, take it back to the shop and have them check the balancing.

[mycale]

Ahhh many thanks for the advice. I did just have the tires replaced about 500kms ago. They did mention they needed to put on some weights to adjust the balance. I will check the lugs and the tire pressure.

[mararmeisto]

Do you have aluminum rims? Did they torque the lug nuts correctly? This is important.

[mycale]

Good question. I do have AL. rims. I don't know about the lug torque. I went to Big-O tires here in Victoria for the new tires. Not too sure how i could tell if they did it correctly or not. I will make a point of heading down there this week.

[FalcoColumbarius]

Mitsubishi suggests tightening your lugs to 80 PSI. I do mine at 100 because I go off road quite a bit and at eighty they undo really fast. I wouldn't go much tighter than 100 PSI for fear of shearing.

Falco.

[MardyDelica]

hi, check the wheel balancing on your tire make sure its all go to 0 to 0 outside & inside some of the shop they dont even think this is a big diff rather then 20 to 50 outside & inside ratio when it goes to the balancing machine.
cheers;

[Pacific JDM Parts]

Mitsubishi suggests tightening your lugs to 80 PSI. I do mine at 100 because I go off road quite a bit and at eighty they undo really fast. I wouldn't go much tighter than 100 PSI for fear of shearing.

Falco.

I think you mean 80 ft-lbs and 100 ft-lbs! PSI is a measue of preasue.
Make sure that the shop that balances the wheels tells you which one is out if any and ask them to use a torque wrench as most use torque sticks on air guns and i have seen wheels come loose useing torque sticks.
As already posted if wheel balance is not the cause get the front end checked out by someone who knows these vehicles.

[FalcoColumbarius]

Hahaha.... I actually said that, didn't I.... Yes, I meant foot pounds. Always use a torque wrench. I have been studying manuals lately ~ just be grateful I didn't say kPa!

Falco.

[mycale]

Thanks for all the suggestions!! I will be going in on Tuesday and having it looked at. cheers!

[mycale]

Interesting thing about my tires is that my front left one is sitting at 45psi, while all the other tires are @ 30psi!@ I am no mechanic by any means, but I bet that has contributed to the shakiness (all the lugs are nice and snug)...of course, now that i have looked into it, I see there is a whole bunch of debate on proper tire pressure. 10-20psi for driving on sand apparently, all the way to -10% of the max tire pressure....any ideas for just normal everyday road and hwy driving?

http://www.1010tires.com/tire.asp?tireb ... ndar+A/T-S

[FalcoColumbarius]

My Yokohamas suggest not exceeding 50 PSI. I like them at 41-42. I think that is the sweet spot for me. If you inflate them to 50 PSI you will get the best mileage but you will get less traction. if you inflate them to 30 PSI you will get good traction but your mileage will suck. My Yokohamas are 235/75R15s. Different brands may vary but not by much in my limited experience. On the sidewall of your tyre there ought to be two pressures marked: One will be for beading purposes (on mine it's something like 33 PSI) ~ that is for when the tyre is being fitted onto the rim; the other PSI number should say something like "Max Pressure - 50 PSI" or something like that. Jfarsang is up on this stuff, you might ask him, too. I find it is always good to compare notes between advice. In the end it is you that is driving on them. Having three @ 30 PSI and one @ 45 PSI is very dangerous, especially on the front ~ good thing you caught it.

Falco.