Urgent: Steering wheel wobble

[desmondfox]

The steering wheel on my 98 Camry wobbles a bit sometimes, even on a flat road surface at low speeds. And the car is drifting in one direction.

Thru some other threads I gather that the problem could be either less air in the tyre(s) where the car's drifting or Wheel Alignment problems.

What would be a good course of action to make sure if one of these is the problem or if it is something else?

Thanks,

DFox

[Mike Gerber]

desmondfox,

This is not something to fool around with. It could be a problem with the wheel balancing, a problem with a bad tire or even a problem with a suspension component. Get it to a shop you can trust or a tire shop you trust right away for inspection. This could be a real safety issue if it's either of the latter two things I suggested.

Mike

[heimlevi]

My 93 did this to. It ended up being inner tie rod was worn. Put a new tie rod for 50 bucks and labor for 70 and was good as new. You can check this by jacking up each corner of the front of your car and shaking the tire to see if it wobbles.

[Brian R.]

Chech your wheel lug nuts and make sure they're tight.

[desmondfox]

Thanks for the advice.

I do understand the safety implications of this... and I will take it to a nearby shop right away.

Who (Tires plus/kingdom, midas etc.) specializes in these kinda issues? Any suggestions for a good shop (private) in Melbourne, FL. I just moved here and don't really know the place too well.

Thanks,

DFox.

[desmondfox]

I got tires aligned and rotated and pressure checked @ Tire K'dom (TK). That did help resolve the steering wobble issue a bit.
The main culprit as pointed out by TK was that there was a wobble in the Front Left wheel of the car... TK gave me an estimate of $258 (P $79 & L $179) to replace one/all of the "L.F. HUB BEARINGS".
I haven't gotten that done, but i want to resolve the issue at a more sensible price if possible!

DFox

[desmondfox]

Alright,
I finally got the Left Front Wheel Hub bearings changed from a local mechanic. It seems to be working fine now.

One thing I have noticed is that at speeds above 60-70, the steering wheel begins to have a dead zone... it's like the first 3-4 degrees of rotation don't really seem to have a lot of effect on the steering. Is this normal?

Thanks.

[Brian R.]

No, that's not normal. Get it checked.