my steering wheel shakes, sometimes it's bad

[Damkid]

i'm sure everyone has had there steering wheel shake side to side while going down the road some time or another, i want to try and get rid of this because it's been like this for a while, the ball joints and tie rods are all fairly new.
if anyone who has had this problem and fixed it by say replacing bushings or something like that, any suggestions on how to make it a smoother ride would helpful

[b_rad]

check tire pressure or get new tires, it helped out alot for me, just adding air to the tires that were a little low

[gdawgs]

95% of the time it's just tires that are out of balance. Festiva's are even more touchy than most cars. I've had to take mine back to the tire place more than once because they didn't get them balance properly the first time.

[packrat427]

Chris , if I remember your tires were looking a little thin
I have had tires do that ,and when I did not get the rim centered just right , no ecentric rings

[69shelby]

wheelbearings, loose wheel bolts, out of balance tire, broken cord in tire, etc..

[Damkid]

this weekend i'm going to be putting the orginal the orginal tires back on, but i'll balance them first see how that does, but if i remember right the last time i had them on the wheel still shook pretty good, i know my drivers side axle starting to go, could this cause the steering wheel to shake as well? also will weak bushings add to it as well?

[Damkid]

i finally got to putting my stock wheels on this weekend after balancing them, and you guys were right, it was the tires, there is still some small vibrations, but i think that's either my axle, or wheel bearings (i can hear the wheel bearings humming, but they didn't seem that bad) thanks for the input

[Dave G]

... or wheel bearings (i can hear the wheel bearings humming, but they didn't seem that bad) thanks for the input

If it's really the bearings you hear humming, they are bad!

[Damkid]

... or wheel bearings (i can hear the wheel bearings humming, but they didn't seem that bad) thanks for the input

If it's really the bearings you hear humming, they are bad!

well shortly i'll be doing a complete brake job anyway (probably get all aspire brakes) so i'll just replace them while it's all apart, whether or not they are bad

[lilred]

if the tires sat with weight on them they may have flat spotted, that is how my front ties are but it is slowly going away

[Damkid]

the tires have been sitting for about 2 years or more, but most of the time have been on there side stacked on top of each other, so i don't think thats it