Accent 2001 steering wheel shakes at higher speed

The steering wheel of my 2001 Accent shakes at speeds over 60 mph. The
dealer has replaced wheel bearings, rotate tires and balanced tires
but to no avail. The steering wheel is slightly off-center and may
need wheel alignment.

Seems that I am spending too much time in the garage but I do not feel
safe driving with the steering wheel shaking. Any ideas?

 

An alignment is probably just what you need. My 03 Accent had a slight
shimmy at about 20 mph that came back worse at 70. An alignment
cleared it right up.

 

Don't expect an alignment to cure vibration problems. It's more likely the
tires have flat spots on them, the rims are bent, or some other problem.
What's your confidence level in the dealer servicing your vehicle? That's
a lot of work to fix one problem. One would think they would be able to
verify whether it was fixed after their repairs so that you wouldn't have
to keep bringing it back.

Is the car fixed when you get it back, or is it just like it was when you
took it in?

Have you put fix-a-flat in any of your tires? If so, they will be
unbalanceable until the liquid is removed.

 

My guess is that the work was due and that is why the dealer went
ahead. However, it did not fix the steering wheel shake. How can I
find out if my one year old tires have flat spots?

 

Feel them. Put your open hand on the tread and run it in both directions
around the tires. They should feel smooth in both directions. Unless you
have a severe flat-spotting problem, you should expect this will contribute
only to small steering wheel vibrations.

 

WATER!

try to pour water around the rims and the tread and look for bubbles.
a little soap may aid in this.

if you have a large enough basin you could also try submerging the tire in
water.