suspension rattle?

[Speshull Droo]

Last night i slid off the road and into the ditch, going between 15-20. we pulled it out with my buddy's trailblazer, and it seemed alright for a few miles. Later, when i tried to drive it home from my buddy's house, it's developed a steering wheel shake that starts around 25 and gets progressively worse until about 50, where it becomes constant. now, the ditch was filled with about 10inches to a foot of snow, and i wasn't going that fast. so what could this rattle be?

[500KCamry]

Pull off the wheels and clean the inside of the rims.

[userlain]

Crap in the rims.

The shaky steering is either from your front wheels being very poorly aligned(now), loose lug nuts on the wheels, or broken power steering/rack and pinion.

Torque all of the lugnuts on all of the wheels, then go and have an alignment done. That should fix the problem.

[Mike Gerber]

Did you lose a wheel balancing weight from the impact? Look for marks on the wheel where the weight could have been. Did the wheel or tierod get bent? Take 500KCamry's advice and pull the wheel off to clean it but also check for damage to the wheel and tierod.

Mike

[Speshull Droo]

thanks guys. i'll do that tomorrow at school, where i have a lift and air ratchet.

[Speshull Droo]

guess it wasn't anything serious..... it just stopped the next morning and hasn't come back.

[atobe]

you should still gets the tires balanced for fun since you do it at school and it's free i bet

[karugs]

Agree with Mike. The small balancer might have been dislodged. I would have it checked, balanced, and if needed aligned as well. Check your bushings too, to be sure they're all intact. Drive safely