MustangJason502

Hello everyone. First time poster here. I bought a 2007 Ford Mustang GT Convertible about 7 months ago. It had already been lowered when I bought it, so I have no idea how the previous owner lowered it considering I bought it from a dealership. It appears to have about a 2 inch drop and the springs don't appear to be cut, so I am assuming and hoping it was done correctly. I have brand new 20 x 8.5" American Racing Villain wheels on it with brand new 255/35ZR20 Falken FK452 tires and hub centric rings. Everything zeroed out when they were balanced. I recently had an outer tie rod end replaced and installed a strut tower brace. I had a couple techs look over the front end, and they say everything looks good, but I keep getting steering wheel shake, mostly a left to right shake. It's weird because sometimes it shakes a lot, and sometimes it barely shakes at all no matter what speed I am traveling. Does anyone else experience this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

dlazrael

is it more noticeable during braking? acceleration? Totally intermittent?

Did you get the car realigned after the repairs?

You could have warped rotors (especially if its happening during braking... and harsher braking makes it worse - I just replaced my rotors and fixed this same problem myself)

Wheels out of balance

Front end alignment

Possible damage/loss steering linkage (?)

Just some ideas

MustangJason502

The brakes are fine. It only does it intermittently while driving, not while braking. The tires were balanced twice because I thought that was the issue first. The car was aligned after they replaced the tie rod end.

Stang-aholic

I had this problem with my previous wheels (replica staggered 18" bullitts, look at my sig) I had the wheels rebalanced at the dealership twice, and then took them to a third shop that does our other cars (thinking the dealerships alignment machine was outta wack) but these re-balances only helped minimally, I still had shake at around 60 or so. Then recently I changed to 2010 gt500 AM wheels and the problem almost completely dissipated to about 1/4 the amount of shake it had before the wheel and tire change. It still shakes very slightly, but I know what is causing the rest of it: warped rotors.

Im currently fixing the brakes now, which should finally clear this problem up. Hope this helps and although you may not "feel" if the rotors are warped, I only noticed mine after I did a 60-to-0 after coming off an off ramp and got into the brakes more than usual bc a light turned red. And sometimes I felt an ever-so-light lurching motion when lightly using them (under 5mph) at a stop light or w.e

If your positive it isnt the brakes, the the only other option I would check out (hopefully this isnt the case) is a bad wheel bearing. Ive never experienced one, but Ive heard some people say they make a light squeaky noise, others have experienced steering issues because of one going bad w/o any noise.... Its something Id get the dealership to check out If your serious about getting this fixed.

MustangJason502

They checked out everything and couldn't find an issue. I'm assuming they checked the wheel bearings, too. They were convinced that it was just because the car is lowered, but I have had lowered cars in the past and didn't have this issue. I think I might try getting the tires road force balanced and see what happens.

Stang-aholic

That may help, but Id call and ask if they looked into the bearings just to make sure. and fyi you need to downsize your sig before an admin sees it, youll get a warning.

O this may be a dumb thought that Im sure you wouldnt miss, but Ill state it anyway seeing that a lot of people do it. but if you have directional tires, make sure they point in the correct direction haha You wouldnt believe how many mustangs Ive seen with new wheels and tires installed, but the tread faced the wrong way...

vixr

what could happen if the TPS came loose from the band on the wheel... is it heavy enough to cause a balance vibration? I've never seen one...

Stang-aholic

if that thing came loose youd hear it knocking around when you came to a stop, and it sure as hell would make a vibration!

MustangJason502

I might jack the car up and check everything myself. The tires are directional and are facing the correct direction. Thanks for the tip on the sig. I'll resize it.

MustangJason502

I'm assuming if the TPS came loose, the light might come on as well. I might jack up the front end of my car tomorrow and check out a few things. I'll post the results tomorrow.