Steering Wheel Shake Only When Cold

[weaksauce]

So I did a search on steering wheel shake, but could not find my exact scenario. I am experiencing steering wheel shake from 75-85 MPH, but only when the car is cold. After a few minutes of driving, it goes away. Any idea what could be causing this?

[smmmurf]

why are you going 85mph when the car is cold

I suspect what you are experiencing is tire flat spotting. for the first couple of miles the tires will not roll perfectly round. increasing tire pressure decreases this tendency to flat spot.

it happens on tires with relatively soft sidewalls, most notoriously continental dws and other rayon-belted tires. however, I have experienced it slightly on my Michelin PS2 after having the car sit for a few days.

[weaksauce]

Ah, I do have continentals. By cold, I mean within the first 5 mins of driving. 85 is only like 3K RPM or so in 6th gear...

[smmmurf]

Originally Posted by weaksauce

Ah, I do have continentals. By cold, I mean within the first 5 mins of driving. 85 is only like 3K RPM or so in 6th gear...

ding ding! conti's.

the car can probably handle it but most wear does occur when the engine is first started/driven hard while cold so just something to think about

on my car 85mph is more like ~3400rpm iirc. i like to keep things under 3-4k and only apply light throttle until i see some signs of life from the temp gauges... which is a lot longer on this car than other cars like my S2K which seem to warm up within a mile or so... must be the large amount of 10w60

[crunchy_frog]

if you car isn't driven for a few days the tires may get a slight flat spot. happens to me occasionally as i only use my car only during weekends. Once the car tires have warmed up the slight wobble on the steering wheel goes away. seems to happen during the early spring and late autumn months when the weather gets colder and i have my summer tires on the car.
fyi i'm running running michelin ps2

[TTSam]

Originally Posted by smmmurf

ding ding! conti's.

the car can probably handle it but most wear does occur when the engine is first started/driven hard while cold so just something to think about

on my car 85mph is more like ~3400rpm iirc. i like to keep things under 3-4k and only apply light throttle until i see some signs of life from the temp gauges... which is a lot longer on this car than other cars like my S2K which seem to warm up within a mile or so... must be the large amount of 10w60

What he said...........somewhat..........

My M3 is feebly inept until the temp guages warm up. It burps, farts, and generally has no idea how to drive smoothly (in MT mode in my case) until the temp guages reach close to normal operating temperature.

You naturally find yourself being very easy on the throttle until the temps get somewhere near normal, for fear of damaging the engine.

It is what I love about this car. A real pig in the first 10-20 minutes during warmup. After that it is a real wolf willing to do whatever you ask of it.

[M3PO]

My car did this too. I also have Contis (DW). I thought it might be slight flat spotting also.

HOWEVER, road force balancing them completely cured the issue.