I would almost be positive that it is one or a couple of your wheels were not balanced right. I have experienced this in one of my cars, wheels being out of balance caused the shake, but from what I have read in these new F150's is that they make it worse. The tight feel of the steering wheel makes the vibrations feel really bad. I would probably bet money on it being a tire out of balance. Take it back to the dealer, and have them balance the tires. I would also call the place you got the tires, see maybe if they will do some sort of Guarantee, maybe you can get them to pay for the tires to be balanced???. Good luck.

 

first thing i would do is get the balance checked. i had the shimmy between 55 to 65. i put new tires and wheels on that i got prebalanced from tirerack.com and the shimmy went away. i have had the same shimmy at that speed and its always been the tire balance. if you cant get it in for balance right away try rotating the fires front back. maybe one of the weights fell off or the guy doing it made a mistake.

***I guess i type to slow somebody beat me to the answer. one good thing for you is we agree.***

 

You need a good road force balance. read this article

The GSP9700 Vibration Control System includes Hunter's exclusive Road Force Measurement System to help detect potential tire uniformity causes of vibration that are not balance-related.

 

that sounds like a tire out of balance to me. An easy way to verify is to rotate the tires to the back, if the shimmy dissappears but the rear vibrates, you know you have a tire out of balance.

I picked up a vibe after my lift was installed too. I am in the process of getting it worked out, I love the look too much to take it back to stock.

Hang in there, you'll get it fixed.

 

Go have them road forced balanced! Mine did the same thing but very very slight at 65-70 ....The shop didn't have a RF balancer so tommorow I will have them checked on a RF machine...

 

Dont fret now.... I had the same probs after my lift. A little shimmy from the wheel. 60mph. I took a close look and noticed a couple of the weights had flown off. Took it in to a local tire shop and had them rebalance the wheels. Done, no more shimmy. i am sure it's something simple. Sart with the rebalance and go from there. I'm sure it will be fine. Good luck JP

 

Thanks for the support guys! I drove the truck to work last night and got several comments. I'll post some pics as soon as I can get my GF to let me borrow her digital camera.

The shake was still there, it seems to be the worst between 50-60mph. The odd thing is it sometimes would go away between those same speeds. I don't think I'm feeling any shake/vibration in the seat just to clear that up. It baffled me last night to feel it at 55 then 10 minutes later look down and I'd be running ~52 and it would be much much better.

What's bothering me is there are several guys on this forum that have 35" tires and I haven't heard any of you complain about steering wheel shake. I know Porkchop and myself are the minority that have 35" tires with only the front end leveling kit, but to my knowledge he doesn't have a steering wheel shake. The others, EddyG and Jparea, you guys have 35" tires with various amounts of suspension lift, you don't have it.

The reason I'm emphasizing that you guys have 35" tires w/o steering wheel shake is due to my conversation with my service tech this morning. I tell him my problem and question if they rebalanced the wheels and tires. He wasn't sure, but he thinks NO. Then he asks if I feel the "shake" in my seat and I say no. He then tells me that it's most likely due to "tire flex on those extremely large tires you put on there". He tries to make me feel better by saying that his truck does the same thing with oversized tires.

I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I didn't have this before the leveling kit, I didn't have it after the leveling kit with factory wheels and tires. The rest of you guys have 35" tires (most on 18's or 17's) and you don't have it. True most of you have suspension lifts, but for the life of me I can't see how a lift kit could prevent steering wheel shake over a leveling kit. As you all know I paid a fortune for the front end alignment so that's not the issue.

Oh well, maybe it can be fixed. Just wish the shake occured around 35-40 mph bc I rarely drive that slow. I'm more of a 60-65mph guy, and yes the shake is there also. Below 50 and I can't tell I've even changed the tires quiet and smooth steering, above 50 still pretty quiet slight hum but a terrible steering wheel shake!

 

Ultra - I think the SM is full of it.

You have to find a shop with a Hunter 9700 wheel balancer. This is the road force model. If you use anything less you really will not understand if it is a wheel issue or tire issue. The 9700 will identify if this is a wheel/tire issue immediately. It will also give the tech the best possible way to configure what you have to minimize vibrations.

Here is tool that will locate a shop that has one in your area

http://128.242.141.111/pub/search/FindGSP9700.cfm

There is a huge difference between all other machines and the 9700. Don't let anyone tell you different.

 

Thanks for the link dlewis. I did a search and guess what, my dealer has one of those units you were talking about. IN fact every freakin tire store within a 50 mile radius of me has one according to my search results with the above posted link.


I hope I've found the culprit. Yesterday after I got home I quickly took a rag and wiped the road film off my wheels. Upon closer investigation, I saw that on the inside of my RF wheel there was some tape residue. These wheels use the stick on type lead weights (no groove for the old style). I'm sure you guys are familar with them, they have double sided tape that looks like foam. Well the tape residue I saw inside the RF wheel was white and kind of foamy. So I've got my fingers crossed that one of the weights got slung off or accidently bumped off while being installed. When time permits, I'll have them re-balanced and hope for the best.