Strange pulsating sensation in steering wheel...

[daniel2369]

Hello everyone, been a while since i have been on here since i can handle most diagnosis when it comes to my vehicles, but i have one that needs some other opinions from owners of the accent.

My girlfriend has a 2008 Accent that when you would get to higher speeds the steering wheel would pulsate/vibrate back and forth rapidly (begins at speeds around 50 MPH). So i did the most obvious fix, tires balanced and rotated. To my surprise, not a single noticeable change which i expected since i had my tire shop check the balance of the tires with the old weights on and they were really close, we rebalanced and rotated anyway.

So i start doing some more checking on everything on the front end (i.e. ball joints, end links, CVs, more of less if it moved i checked it for play) and it all seemed good and tight. There is no noise that goes along with the vibration so i just gave up for the time being.

Fast forward a month to make it last week, while driving her car to her military ball we got stuck in traffic. It was the first time i had ever drove her car for an extended period of time at low speeds, and while changing lanes at about 5 MPH I went to straighten the car out into the lane and while turning the steering wheel (at approx. 5 MPH remember) the steering wheel was pulsating as if a ghost was wiggling it while i was re-centering it. What in the world would cause a very noticable (1/2" of movement) in the steering wheel at 5 MPH under idle?

Only thing i can think of is the valves in the steering failing but i find that hard to believe when the car is only a couple years old and has just over 30K miles on it!?!?

So like i said, i have never worked on these cars before and don't know any test procedures on them, so help testing the steering components would be awesome, along with some input from someone else having this issue.

Thanks
Dan

[bordermec]

Your car is still under warranty check with dealership for recalls. Also, if the problem is not a tire out of round then you vehicle is covered by Hyundai.

[aaronhahn777]

Please tell me if you have solved this. I have the exact same problem.

I also can usually fix a problem like this.... however, this is what I have done so far (you can probably cross it off your list too)

-new rims
-new tires
-front rotor runout ok (0.002" both sides)
-new front bearings
-alignment
-all four tires balanced.
-all sway bars, tire rods, ball joints tight
-new axles (included CV joints) - this one was the last straw

My latest hunches:
(1) could a rear brake drum (heavily warped) cause a pulsing back pressure in the brake lines. If so, could this pulsation inadvertently engage/disengage a front caliper enough to cause this? (I tried braking my car using only the hand brake to see if my front rotors would warm up... so far no clear indications)

(2) A rotor has an irregular thickness. Although I checked the runout (dial indicator on the outer face), this may not have proved the rotors to be okay. If the backside had a hump in it, this could "grab" and cause momentary braking. If on one side only it might brake on each tire rotation. Just another guess...

(3) I have read other posts that sounded similar and perhaps a faulty power steering system. It may have something to do with the pressure in the assist that may be turning off and on (that's the "jist" of what a couple of posts said). Maybe PS pump... or a bad rack?? I really hope not though...

[aaronhahn777]

Some new information...

... I checked the rear brakes today and the rear right brake is engaging briefly at every rotation. I figured that it would just be a rotor out of round. But I took off the rim and drum and to my surprise the hub was sticking briefly at each rotation. It was actually making kindof a grinding noise too. I checked the radial runout with a dial indicator and it was about 0.002" at the edge of the hub.

My guess... the rear (right) bearing. Somehow it is causing the brake to engage/disengage and it is causing the vehicle to faintly jolt to the right (thus causing the steering wheel to jerk).

I think I'm going to replace the rear bearing next.... I will post what I find (probably won't do this for a couple weeks when I get time ) Also.. I will replace the drums too. All the parts are pretty cheap... so if it is a warped drum I hope to put this problem to bed.

Edit: I also checked the rear runout at the tread. It was approximately 0.023" which is acceptable (also the hub runout was acceptable). However, if the drum is warped, or if the tire rotates differently once the load of the vehicle is on it (due to a bad bearing), this would also cause an more vibration. I have also noticed an increasing humming noise. It is very faint but now this is starting to solidify my thoughts that it is the bearing.

[aaronhahn777]

It's your rotors.


After checking them with a dial indicator I thought they were ok. Took a wild guess and replaced them... PROBLEM GONE.

This was my first thought... but it turns out that my strut mount bearings are going. This caused the steering to be a bit "catchy" and this totally threw me off (in addition to thinking the rotors were okay). So, replace your rotors and you are good!!!!!!