I posted a problem here before about the front end making noise and also having the steering shimmy back and forth. I changed out a faulty tie rod end and the car is still doing this. When I grab the front wheels (car off the ground) it feels tight with no play. Also the noise (oscilating grinding noise and increases with vehicle speed) is worst when it is damn or wet outside. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Sean

Have you balanced the wheels recently?

My 90 TSi AWD was doing this when I first bought it.. when I put the steelies on for the winter it stopped. So i'm assuming it was a bent or out of balance rim.

Could be a U-Joint on the steering shaft. I don't even know if our cars have U-Joints on the steering shaft but I know for a fact that I have replaced several steering shafts on Trucks for that exact reason. It becomes a serious problem when your hauling 55,000LBS. Over time they develop play. It might be hard to check because of the tight space.

Balancing my tires was next on my list Rob. I though for sure the tie rod replacement would have helped. Can unbalanced tires really cause the steering to shake back and forth?

I also have some bends in the rims for hitting pot holes (nothing bent too severe), can they still be balanced ok?

Thanks,

Sean

^^^
Your symptoms point to a wheel balance problem, yes.

I'm not sure how a bent rim would affect balancing, but I know that if you bend the rim enough and it isn't round anymore you could have similar symptoms as above.

//edit
Another thing... What about alignment?

My steering wheel shimmys a bit back and forth, I do have an unbalanced tire on the passenger side (weight fell off while working on brakes) and I haven't had it balanced yet. Pretty good chance it's due to that.

I will tell you one thing I had tires that got water in them somehow and in the morning I couldn't drive past 80km/hr because the wheels would wobble and shake so much. The car was fine during the day though. Turned out that the water in the tires was freezing during the night, then once the sun came out the water melted and there was no wobble. So in relevance to your problem it can make the steering wheel shake. Could be a rim or blown belt in a tire, tire out of round or a bulge etc. Inspect the front tires closely and if you can't see anything have them balanced.

Suspension problems can quickly cause uneven tire wear so inspect tires first as its no use do any more work on tires that need to be replaced.
If tires are fine with no uneven wear, cupping and consistent depth across the tread then:
-balance four putting best two up front
-alignment
-out of round rims (oval) would need to be repaired or replaced. They vibrate up and down versus side to side with an out of balance condition.

I dont want to skip the obvious which is check other suspension parts including worn shocks.

Front wheels out of balance cause steering wheel shake. When the rear tires are out of balance you feel it more in the seat. I reccomend balancing all 4 and make sure the insides of the wheels are not full of dirt and snow.