car and steering wheel shake when driving, help? description in thread

[thetruegears]

So when I start driving I can feel this "thump, thump" and when I get to higher speeds it gets worse and becomes more of a serious vibration. When I turn left it goes away, when I turn right its worse. When I hit my brakes it goes away.

Before I got this problem I just put on a set of used rims and tires but the problem didnt start immeadiately. Over the time of a week it got worse and now it seems serious and possibly dangerous. There was a squeek that was coming from the back of my car before this started, I feel like it grew from a squeek into this thump but I could be wrong.

 

[Tony]

first thing to def check (i learned the hard way) is inside & out of the tire sidewall. look for any sort of bubble. that's what mine was.

 

[ttocs]

yup had that once myself.

 

[MustangChris]

wheel might be egg-shaped. do any of your tires habitually go flat?

 

[OnyxCobra]

based on what makes it go away/get worse give the left rear wheel bearing a look. You can also try swapping your wheels around and see if it changes anything.


The steering wheel shake could be as simple as a tire out of balance but in that case it would usually come and go with different speeds.

 

[ivan12]

Check each tire for bumps/bubbles

 

[RichV]

Can you put the old wheels on? To troubleshoot this?

Also, something dumb (did it when I was tyounger), check the lugs, make sure they are tight. I drove a couple of days, the vibration/noises got worse, found a rear wheel with the lugs about 1/2 way out.