Can A Warped Rotor Cause The Steering Wheel To Shimmy While NOT Braking
Posted in Steering Component | Asked on Jul 19, 2010
2002 Nissan Maxima
225/50-17 Falken tires
At 55mph and over the steering wheel visibally and tactilly shimmies. You can see the wheel rotating left and right very quickly.
Wheels have been balanced several times. Suspension components all solid and tight. No steering pump whine.
I know the rotors are warped. I can feel during braking. Rotors will be replaced as soon as I can.
any ideas/insight is greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance
I guess I should clarify, I start feeling it as I approach around 55mph, and at speeds higher than that, it is much more noticable. 55mph is not an on/off thing.
I greatly appreciate everyone’s input. Thanks to you all.
There are 8 Answers
Steering and suspension/braking systems are very very closley related usually a failure in any one system causes a direct failure in another system.
Short answer, no. Try having your alignment done
yes, they will rub the pads causing you to feel movement in the steering system
check tires visibly for out of round by spinning…a balanced tire that is out of round will still shake…check rims same way…same principle…low profile tires make these problems more noticable to driver
they would have to be extemely warped to do that. you more than likely have a bad tire or possibly a bad cv shaft. have you tried rotating the tires from front to back?
i own a repair shop,and yes it can ,,the front brake pads almost run 0 clearance between them and the rotors so yes it will show up,,even when your not braking,but warped rotors will show up sometimes as like a tire out of balance will ,,it can cause the car to shake ,and vibrate also,,good luck,i hope this help,s.
Short answer, NO. The problem you have is a bad tire or rim. If it were brakes, it wouldn’t do it when you are just driving at 55 mph. I would suggest having the tires put on a balancer and watch as it is spinning. You shouldn’t see the tires walk from side to side as it is spinning. If the rubber walks and the rim appears straight, you have a bad tire. If the rim walks too, you have a bad rim.
Rotors that are warped will create a shimmy in the steering wheel even if the brakes are not applied as the caliper never completely releases off the rotor, but this will be felt at all speeds. A shimmy at 55 mph could be a damaged rim, bad tire, hub assembly wearing out, cv shaft out of balance, or possible transaxle problems resonating through.