Steering wheel shake saga continues for me

[itguy337]

I have tried the alignment suggestion and it didn't fix my problem.

My new winter wheels are smooth as silk no shimmy and I didn't have to road force balance. I'm thinking its the oem honda wheels. Some must have been better than others.

[danalihd]

now i'm having this problem. I just had new tires put on. all was well until I hit 70mph. HOLY HELL

going back to tire place thursday to see what the problem is.

[RichCPZ]

I'm happy to have found this thread, I am to having the same problem.
I bought my 06 Odyssey used in Nov 07, purchased "New tires" and had NOT one problem with steering shimming for over 40,000 miles. With many family vacations totaling more than 26,0000 miles at highway speeds of 70 - 80 mph. On our return from the Big Apple, WOW! what the hell is going on? Pulled off to the highway shoulder inspected the front right area for anything amiss, nothing... assumed I may have lost a balancing weight and continued to drive for several hours contemplating the problem at a maximum speed of 61 mph. Figured I would do a tire swap with the rear to see in my assumption of lost weight was correct? It worked! for about 20 miles ?? huh?? the shimmy is back?
As we were planning a nights stay at the hotel, I figured we would just maintain the 61 MPH speed limit until our return home. Started out the next day and guess what?

NO WHEEL SHIMMY! I could not reproduce the event?? not at 50,55,60,65,70,75 or 80 miles per hour? We drove for 6 hours straight at various speeds.

Now I'm really lost. Don't know if I should just sell or repair it, as I would do most the repairs myself.

Has this steering shimmy been a intermittent problem for anyone else?

I Live in Ga, Odyssey from Florida

[andysings]

What do you think of this! Recently I bought and installed 4 well used snow tires on steel wheels (Bridgestone Blizak ws-50, size 235/65/16) for my 05 Ody EXL-Res and my steering shake is completely gone!!!!!!!!! I didn't even have them balanced (assumed the previous owners had)

( I took off Hancook Optimo same size, on alloys, that's what was on the van when I bought it 10,000 ago, which were recently balanced as well as an alignment done)

I've taken the van up to 85mph and no shake whatsoever.....Is it possible the alloys wheels are the problem, the tires, a combination?

Does anyone have a shake with steel wheels?

Whattya think of this?

[itguy337]

I have a similar instance. I bought brand new 16 inch wheels from Discount Tire this year and put my Blizzzak WS 70's on them, they were balanced normal, no road force balance and no shimmy at all. Like Butta...

I noticed last year when I had the same Blizzak WS 70's on the OEM Wheels, that they were "better" but still had a very slight shimmy. I think different brand tires make the OEM wheel harder and harder to balance. I have gone through Michelin, Yokohama, Goodyear and Bridgestone. All have had issues.

I think its the wheels of 05 and 06 EX and EXL's. Of which only some 05 and 06's have this issue, not all Do we see this problem with OEM wheels 07 and up?

[andysings]

I'm thinking it's a wheel issue as well. Anyone with steel wheels having a problem? I'm so pleased with no shimmy shake that I don't want to put the alloys back on. I guess the real test would be to mount my Hancooks on the steel wheels.

[kfakhri]

Guys, I have been reading this discussion for a while now. I have an '06 Odyssey purchased new in the Seattle area. I have been having this steering shake for about 15-20k miles. Van now has 87k miles. The shaking starts at about 62-63mph and seems to be worse when decelerating. I have checked all mounts, rotors, axle play, suspension component nuts and bolts, and nothing has helped. I have not done the road force balance. I'm leaning towards replacing the stock alloy wheels with aftermarket ones. I will report back as soon as I get this done. Honda has really dropped the ball with these vans. I have had many small annoying problems with my Odyssey. Rotors warping due to defective brake pads, steering pump whine due to steering fluid reservoir strainer getting clogged, axle seal leaking. My brother owns a '06 Sienna with more miles than mine and no issues what so ever. This is possibly my last van from Honda.


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[frogbite]

It happens on the 07 as well as that is what I have. It very well could be the combination of the wheels and tires. The Cooper CS4s my van had previously did not have the shake but were noisy which is why I replaced them.

[kfakhri]

Frogbite, you have saved me so much time and money. I can't thank you enough. About a month ago, I was very close to taking it to my local Honda dealer, but from your experience it seems like they just start replacing things until they can find the part causing the issue. That's not how it supposed to work at a dealership, a shade tree mechanic yes. Again thanks and good luck.


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[itguy337]

I'd have to agree with frogbite with the wheel tire combination. When I had Yokohama on oem wheels they were the worse. Goodyear tripletreds were equally as bad till I got the road force done. When I put the softer winter blizzaks on I didn't have to road force and they were a lot better and a slight shimmy came back after 3 months, but nowhere as bad as the all season tires.

New wheels puchases this year and the blizzaks are smooth. I wish I can get rid of the oem wheels, but I'm tired of dumping money into wheels, tires and expensive roadforce balances. Right now my new wheels are dedicated for winter tires only.

If your in the south and not needing dedicated winter wheels, maybe someone can buy brand new wheels and see if it resolves the problem.

[chobes]

The vibration happens on the '09 as well. My '06 had no issues, but the '09 has had it since day one of ownership. (I bought it certified pre-owned) My '06 had the split 5-spoke wheel, and my current '09 has the factory 9-spoke wheel. The dealer has swapped 3 different sets of the same wheel, all three have the same type of vibration. I'm so sick of the issue that I opened a case with American Honda today, will keep everyone here posted on the outcome.

[kfakhri]

After much frustration, I was able to narrow it down to a bad tire. After replacing the tire, the vibration is gone and all is back to normal again.

[frogbite]

I wish someone from Honda would read this thread and comment on it. I know there are lots of variables that can cause this, but I don't see similar threads on Ridgeline forums.

[sprintrn]

We recently bought a 2010 Odyssey EXL with 24k miles on it from a GMC dealer in NW Iowa... running into the same issue with the wheel intermittently shaking at 65-75 mph. When we bought the van, we were told the previous owner put new tires on it. With only 24k miles on it, I thought that was odd -- why would it need new tires with that few miles?? But we test drove it (never got above 60 mph) and it was a nice van... so didn't think too much into it. Hindsight being 20/20... that was probably a mistake and we should've run away from it!! We are taking it to Smart Honda in Urbandale tomm to see if they have any ideas. The feedback in this thread has been VERY helpful and I'm going to mention the suggestions about the road force variance and road force balance. I appreciate everybody's willingness to provide feedback. I will let you all know what I find. Thanks again!! ~Rustin in Central Iowa

[itguy337]

My personal opinion is the wheels are no good. I bought aftermarket Alpina alloy wheels from Discount Tire for my winter snow tires, and I didn't need road force balance, just a normal balance, and smooth as silk. Just needed a hubcentric ring insert (very important). The same tires on my stock OEM wheels would cause a slight shake.

I waited for wheels to go on sale. I think it cost me $70.00 a wheel. So the question now, is is it worth $300 for new wheels? Last time I had my tires road forced at the dealer properly was $130.