2004 WRX wagon, 104k miles, tires are RE-92s with 5 to 6 32nds of tread When I'm driving on the freeway I feel a constant vibration in my steering wheel. I first noticed this problem exactly a week ago, the day after I did some donuts in a parking lot. Then it went away after a day and stayed away for a week, and now it's back again -- but I haven't done any parking lot shenanigans since last week. I didn't do much freeway driving during the week, but I did do some. I don't notice it at speeds under 40 mph, definitely notice it at 55 mph, and it gets really bad between 65 and 70. The speed of the vibration increases with the speed of the car, so I'm thinking it's got to be a wheel thing. What could this be? The ideas I have are below... 1) snow & ice packed in the tread of one of my tires, causing a rotational mass imbalance (so I should just wait for the weather to get warmer, and it'll get better again, or is there a better way to fix this?) 2) one of my wheels became unbalanced i.e. one of the little weights fell off (but then why would the problem go away for a week?) OR 3) something REALLY bad is happening to my car and I should take it in for repairs and expect to pay a bill upwards of $1000 to replace a CV joint, wheel bearing, or something... Please tell me it's not #3
1. Yes. It happens all the time for me. That's why when I'm done having fun out in the snow I spend some time scraping all the snow out of my rims. Also taking it to a car wash is a quick, easy way to clean out the rims.. if it's a good car wash. 2. Your tires could have come unbalanced, this used to happen all the time in my old jeep from the offroading I would do every weekend. Only way you're going to find out is to take it somewhere though. 3. You could have a wheel bearing going out. Easy way to figure out (and PLEASE, if i'm wrong here please one of our many knowledgeable techs tell me and I'll edit this) is to jack up the car and try to move the tire by pushing on the top of the tire away from you then towards you. That's how I figured out I destroyed 2 wheel bearing in my jeep from rock crawling. I've never done wheel bearing on a subaru, but my jeep was easy as pie. It did require air tools, but nothing crazy that a good home garage shouldn't have. Hope that helps. -Ryan
Awesome! Thanks for the quick response. I plan to take her to get a wash this morning, so we'll see if that helps. Crossing my fingers...
Yup, I vote for #1 as well. I didn't even do any shens during the last snowstorm and still had freeway vibration until I cleaned my wheels out. It's not usually snow packed in the tread of the tire, it's snow packed in the wells of your wheels (around the outside of your brakes).
Snow packed in wheels/brakes/ect in the winter is ussually the problem. If your going to a car wash, I would go to self serve and give your wheels and brakes a nice cleaning. I am lucky to have a nice shop to go melt my car in every sat. Look at your wheels where the wheel weights are and look if there is signs of one missing.
Yeah I had this a couple days ago after the snow, Just clean out the wheels and get a wash. It should go away.
I forgot to clean the snow out of mine on Friday morning, and had a very bouncy ride to maple grove. at 80mph I thought the tires were lifting off. As for the intermittent part of your issue (went away for a week) it could be that a chunk of ice snow fell out of the wheel and it became more balanced, then later another piece fell out making it unbalanced again.
Yup. As the general group consensus indicates... It was sort of #1. I went out this morning right after my 2nd post here and sure enough, there was snow packed in & around the spokes of one side of my drivers' side front wheel. Got on the freeway and *presto* the vibration is gone. It's amazing what a 1/2 pound of snow can do. I didn't see it last night when I got home 'cause it was nice and dark. So I went to the car wash anyway, 'cause I have one of those monthly unlimited things. *phew* no wheel bearing replacement on the horizon
Ya, my brother in law left the road the other day and it wasn't far from me. He was too embarassed to call me for help. He called a tow truck. After the tow truck left he started driving and the tires were ready to take him off the road again. Crazy vibration. He decided to go to Saturn to figure out what the tow truck driver did to his car. (Always someone elses fault!) On the way barely going over 35 miles a hour he called me. I told him to check the rims for large amounts of snow on one side of the wheels, in particular the back side where you can't get to it easily. He said yep, that's it. The snow problem is increased with larger wheels. They have more scooping power. A tire that is .5 ounces off will be noticeable.....let alone a pound of snow packed in one side of the wheel. You learn these things as you go.....I've been screwing around in the snow for 25 years now, and it it happens all the time. That won't confuse you ever again.......
I had the same thing happen to on friday afternoon after the snow storm. I couldn't figure what was going on but now its good to know, I have to get a carwash tomorrow.
