Why Your Steering Wheel Shakes at Low Speeds?

Although steering wheel shake is common, you should eliminate this problem as soon as possible.

In this article I have summarized the 5 main causes of steering wheel oscillation. But before we get to the point, make sure your steering wheel isn’t shaking you hit the brakes.

Because this indicates that your problem is related to the brake system. In this case, you should inspect the rotors, brake pads or brake calipers. So, if you have checked your brakes and they are working fine, but your steering wheel is still shaking at low speed.

5 Reasons Why Your Steering Wheel Shakes

  • Issues With the Wheels
  • Problems With the Tires
  • Troubles in the axles
  • Problems With the Engine
  • Troubles in the Brakes

1) Issues With the Wheels

The wheels may occasionally need to be replaced or they may have sustained external damage that led to an early breakdown.

Although you can visually check for cracks or other damages, you must leave to the experts and have your mechanic conduct a floor inspection to determine the exact issue. Consider this a serious warning if your steering wheel is shaking due to a wheel problem.

A slight shaking of the steering wheel can occasionally be an indication. But if you ignore it for a while, you might have to deal with instances where your entire wheel and tire pop out of your car and put you in dangerously risky situations.

2) Problems With the Tires

The most frequent cause of steering wheel shake is typical with the tires. Usually, if the shaking is caused by tire issues, the problem is most likely with the wheels and wheel alignment.

To put it another way, if your reels are out of alignment, your tires won’t roll smoothly on the road, which will cause your steering wheel to shake. You can examine these tires and do a quick visual inspection. For example, if you notice that one tire wears faster than the others, there may be a problem with the tires that needs to be repaired.

Remember that if there is uneven tire wear, you want to make sure you find the issue before it gets worse because even if you replace all the tires, the issue will recur, costing you the money you spent on new tires. Start by solving the problem that causes uneven tire wear.

Then, ask your manufacturer how frequently you should replace tires. To put it another way, changing just one tire won’t solve the issue; you’ll likely need to change all four tires or at least two of the ones on the same axle, depending on the manufacturer’s recommendations.

3) Troubles in the Axles

The next thing to do is to check the axles after making sure your wheels and tires are all in good shape. You might occasionally notice that your steering wheel is shuddering as a result of an axle issue.

You need to fix the issue before things worsen because it might be a sign that one of the axles is bent or completely damaged. For instance, you’ll notice that your steering wheel trembles if the drive shaft is the issue. If the issues persist, you might reach the peak where things become more serious, at which point you might notice some jerking in the steering wheel and other unsettling circumstances.

If you determine that the axles are to blame for your issue, you shouldn’t keep driving your car because it will only make the situation worse. Instead, before driving even a single mile, call your mechanic and have him take a look at the car to fix the problem.

4) Problems With the Engine

I hope that you were able to fix the problem with the shaking steering wheel by this point. If the issue persists, though, you might be confronted with more serious issues relating to the engine itself.

For instance, you might observe that the steering shakes concurrently with other symptoms pointing to fuel delivery or air supply issues with your engine. In this case, you’ll experience some additional effects and indicators of engine issues that, ideally, will be more obvious to you than just the shaking of the steering wheel.

The best course of action is to speak with your mechanic and have him check on the engine if you are unable to figure out what is wrong. It could be because the problem is with the engine.

5) Troubles in the Brakes

Finally, braking system issues can occasionally cause your steering wheel to tremble. Again, since we’re discussing the cut-out braking system, this is an extremely challenging, life-or-death situation that is related to your safety.  You must take brake-related issues seriously because you won’t be able to slow down or stop your car in an emergency.

Additionally, you shouldn’t drive this vehicle at all, regardless of how crucial your journey is, and you should find a solution before moving a single model. Typically, issues with the tires, wheels, axles and some other parts are connected to a shaking steering wheel.

Whatever the cause of this trembling is, it needs to be resolved right away because if you don’t, things get worse and you might find yourself in dangerous situations where your life could end abruptly.

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