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Steering Wheel Shake

Maintenance/Repairs
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#1

So I have a Toyota Corolla 2004, and 117000 miles. Just this Saturday (2 days past) I got an oil change and a tire rotation (at a Valvoline drive through service station). This morning, once I was going 50-60 miles an hour on the highway, the steering wheel began to shake (left and right, fast). The vibrations come in waves, where maintaining a constant speed, it will shake, then the shaking will smooth out, and then it will start to shake again, in ~30 second cycles.

I’m assuming that this problem has something to do with my tire rotation, since it’s the first one I did in recent memory, (Thought they do this as part of where I got my care inspected?)

What should I do?

#2

Although the symptom of coming and going at one speed doesn’t quite match, I think the first thing to do is to have the front tires balanced anyway. It’s better to do this (and your other maintenance work) at a real mechanic, not a chain lube shop.

Your comment about “thought they do this” concerns me. That’s not how proper maintenance works. Using your owner’s manual, you should be telling the shop what to do, not the other way around.

#3

It sounds like the tires weren’t rotated as much as they should have been and the rear tires developed irregular wear - and now that they are on the front, you can feel the irregularity.

Balancing might help, but don’t be surprised if it doesn’t.

What to do? You can either ride this out. It’s possible that a new wear pattern might be worn inbto the front tires - but it’s more likely that it won’t.

  • OR -

You can buy new tires.