steering

[noom14921992]

hello all. i have a 2006 grand prix base with the NA 3800 it has 65000 miles and i have a question. when driving the car tracks straight but the steering wheel has a bit of a shake to it. it moves left and right( but less than a quarter inch in either direction) i just wanted to know if that is the balance? or what could it be?

thanks

[Durk Diggler]

Is the shake constant at all speeds or does it start at a certain speed and get worse?
I'd rotate the tires first since it's free and it would show if your fronts need rebalanced.

[noom14921992]

well it is a constant things at all speeds bet gets less worse as i drive( but it could be i just for get about it! could it be the motor?because when i start it its fine but until it wars up it is at its worse. but it is only when moving. its not skipping or any thing i just dont know!

[Durk Diggler]

I dunno, you could always compression test the motor. My bonnie cracked a piston and it made the steering wheel shake but that was at 170K miles. I think more things would be going wrong if it was motor related. 65k miles is just broken in for these engines.

[Space Dynamics]

From my experience, when the shaking is worse at low speeds it usually means one or more of my tires have a bulge in them / are starting to get misshaped. How old are those tires?

[noom14921992]

tire have about 5000 miles on them but are new. but i used to work off road so it messed it up i think. and is there a motor leveling thing in these car? a friend said his fire bird had some thing like that and it made a noise when you started the car! thanks

[PowerStroker]

When was the last time you had the brakes done? Does the shaking increase when you step on the brake pedal at all? Start at the basic, obvious points and work your way to the engine. There's a lot of other things that could cause a shake besides the engine. Outer tie-rod ends could also be a factor. Or uneven brake pad wear, out of balanced wheels, etc.

[noom14921992]

well all the brakes are new all the way around with new discs all the way around. when i got the car 5000 miles ago it drove perfect but got worse after that.