Topic: shimmy in steering wheel -> ice in wheels?

[stevek]

My 05 Vibe started to really shake in the steering wheel at speeds of 80 km and up. Someone told me it could be ice and snow in the wheels. I had been almost stuck in deep snow recently so I thought maybe so. On Saturday I got a car wash with underspray, it didnt go away. I went to my dealer for an oil change (I knew I couldn't get an appointment that day) and asked the lube guy to look for ice while he was underneath. He said he saw nothing, so I made an appointment for Monday. The service guy said if it was wheel balancing it wouldn't be covered by warranty, but other things would be.  Driving home it was still shaking the same way.

Then today, Sunday, the shaking was gone, even up to 120 km. How could the problem fix itself? I cancelled the appointment, but is there anything I still should look out for, or have it looked at anyway?

[ericthejet]

Maybe the build up was in the rear wheels and the oil guy only checked the frts?
I wouldn't loose any sleep over this unless you are missing wheel nuts.

Cheers

[wing]

Snow / ice build up can be violent!  IF they are alloy wheels the snow tends to build up in the spokes even. 

[AVToller]

An old trick to help avoid or alleviate the problem of snow build up is to wax the inside of your wheels. A good coat of wax will help snow/slush to slide off rather than build up.

[barrie1]

My neighbour across the street from me spun out last week on the 400 due to a car crossing over into her lane. She had to do a violent manouver to get out of the way of someone else who had lost control. Her car vibrated so bad after that it took her 7 hours to come home after that as her car was shaking so bad. her husband checked the car the following few days and it has cleared up since. He was going to take it into the Kia dealer but has No reason since the problem disappeared. He also had it checked on a grease pit and nothing was found at all. Ice and Snow can do real Funny things when in the wrong places. Glad its cleared up for you. 

[tenpenny]

My 05 Vibe started to really shake in the steering wheel at speeds of 80 km and up. Someone told me it could be ice and snow in the wheels. I had been almost stuck in deep snow recently so I thought maybe so. On Saturday I got a car wash with underspray, it didnt go away. I went to my dealer for an oil change (I knew I couldn't get an appointment that day) and asked the lube guy to look for ice while he was underneath. He said he saw nothing, so I made an appointment for Monday. The service guy said if it was wheel balancing it wouldn't be covered by warranty, but other things would be.  Driving home it was still shaking the same way.

Then today, Sunday, the shaking was gone, even up to 120 km. How could the problem fix itself? I cancelled the appointment, but is there anything I still should look out for, or have it looked at anyway?

Sounds familiar.  It's probably wheels and the driveline components.  That's something I noticed a few months after I got the Subaru.  I realized that the reason I never had that problem before was that I never could drive through 18" of snow before.  Now, I expect it.  Just yesterday, I had to go onto the docks to see a ship, and I discovered they don't plow the docks.  So I just drove through 12-18" of snow, did what I needed to do, and went away.  On the drive home, I noticed that the car shook badly at 100-120, but it's gone now.  Snow melted off the car while it sat overnight.

[exserviceguy]

Ah the benefit of front wheel drive and good tires, will pull the sled through just about anything.  However not all vehicles are created equally when it comes to shielding drive belts and pulleys from deep snow.  In a lot of cases, minivans come to mind, driving in deep snow can cause the belts to slide of their pulleys as snow gets 'sucked in' the pulley/belt area.  And of course in the era of one belt does it all, you're quickly left stranded.

[barrie1]

Quite right Exserviceguy, Thats one of the reasons I always have a small but good quality 3/8" rachet in the tool box in all of my vehicles with this design of drivebelt. The 3/8" size generally fits the hole in most of the engines designs of to-day. I have the long flat shaped one as well from Sears which makes the job very easy but it is kept in my main Big Mac Box at home.  These make the job very easy because of the length of them and only cost around $10. to $12.00 to buy. If you do a lot of these its a very handy tool to own. 

[stevek]

Thanx all. It seems to have cleared up for good, so I guess all is fine.

[CSH]

I heard that the steering wheel can vibrate at high speeds (>120kmph) if the brake cylinders are at the end of life. Is that true???

[barrie1]

If one of your calipurs is locked ON because of the Wheel Cylinder either seizing from lack of fluid or a major failure Yes is the answer to the question. A leaking rear wheel even with drum brakes causes the parts to be soaked in brake fluid. Finally everytime you go to stop the car is burning the clutch to move. They seize up when you apply the brakes. One wheel only so you can have a driving problem in a hurry where your Car is spinning out of control and you in it.