Shaking steering wheel

[Sepal]

Hi yall. I have a 2005 Toyota Corolla S: manual gearbox and 211,000 miles. This car has been so reliable (needed just a clock in 211,000 miles outside of regular maint.) however now it's having its first seemingly major problem. When I accelerate onto the freeway (not all onramps cause this) the steering wheel will start shaking violently for about 3 miles down the freeway at 50-90 MPH (speed does not matter), and then it will smooth out to normal. I have had the tires balanced twice and it otherwise drives farily smooth, I just don't get the shaking for 3 miles part.. ..Anyone have an idea on what might be going on here?

[invader]

Are you on original struts and front wheel bearings? How are your ball joints and control arm rear bushings? Tires are in good condition?

[silver04rollas]

1 - Most likely, your wheel balancing or alignment is out. Get your wheel balanced again and see if it works. If that does not work then try get an alignment.

2 - While you are at it, get your front tires checked. Seem if there is a bubble anywhere on either of the tire. Sometimes tires become defective and get a bubble on the tread which results in vibrations at highway speed.

[Sepal]

The struts and bearings are original. It has a 6 month old set of Falken Ziex ZE 912s (about 25,000 miles on them) and had an alignment just a few months ago. The tries are wearing normally. I'll check into the bubble thing, but even when the tires are rotated this shaking still happens after accelerating onto certain onramps and will last 2-3 miles of freeway driving and then smooth out to normal.

[matrixjim]

check your CV axle, worn CV joint, any torn boots.
Any pulsing on the break pedal when breaking?

[REN69]

Brakes will also do that as well... warped rotors or a ceasing caliper.

[tygerpro357]

easy way to check the balljoints/struts is to jack the front of the car up from the lower control arm so the wheel comes off the ground but the suspension stays under load and try to wiggle the tire from left to right, using a pry bar try to gently lift the tire up and down, and on the diagonals try to wiggle it (i.e. top left and bottom right) if it wiggles on any of those then you have a bad suspension component and that would cause a steering wheel to shake until the suspension parts settle again

[alligatorgar]

you are over due for struts.

[MasterTecInSTL]

You said you balanced them but did you rotate them? If you have a bad tire in the front moving it to the rear should move the vibration from the steering wheel to your butt.

With that many miles you can't discount anything. In all honesty I'm thinking of a possible transmission or axle issue here...

[kevbot13]

05 Corolla LE automatic with a little over 90k miles and I get the same shaking steering problem as OP, it's most notable when braking at higher speeds though...