My car shakes badly

[Skipandrun]

History:
3 days ago, there was a snowstorm here and that day the road was too messy and difficult to drive, which it cause me to slam on the big pile of snow between highway and exit. I was in the exit and trying to go to the highway, that part of the road has a thick pile of snow but i have to cross it. Too thick that i cant control my car (even at 50kmh), what happend is i slammed up to the middle. The snow is too high and thick that my car failed to get out from there. I have no choice but to call a roadside assistance. After more than an hour in the middle of the highway, the tow truck came (while im waiting there, 2 more car got an accident one in my front and one in my back both have serious damage).
So what the tow truck did is, he put the chain on the "left" part of my wheel cause he said he had to pull me to the highway. Luckly i get out on the snow, but i still have to run lower than 50kmh because of the condition.
The next day, everything was clear and the highway is back to normal. So i hit the road up to 100kmh. Then suddenly i felt the car was on bad vibrating, the whole chassis was shaking and i have to slow down up to 80kmh. Still i felt the shaking down to 60kmh. I was worried why is that happend. First thing came to my mind is maybe because it has too much snow under my wheel and the mudguard. so what i did is when i get home. I clean it up everything on the bottom. The next day, same thing! from 60-100kmh the car was shaking and vibrating badly and i know i cleaned all the snow on the front wheel. that came to my mind that maybe theres something wrong with my car. I was thingking maybe the wheel got disalligned because of what happend to me on the snow. Or maybe because the way they pull my car. I ask my friend to drive my car and he felt it too. I went to my friend who was a car mechanic and he roadtest my car. Same thing he felt that shaking too. He suspected that maybe the suspension on hte left side because when he jack my car he check both sides of the front wheel and he said theres something wrong on the left.
he told me the best thing to do is to service my car and let them check.
I dunno maybe you guys knows something about what happend to my car. Everything is normal on the slow speed, only when i hit 60kmh up. (the way you will feel it is when you hit more than 60, then release the feet on gas pedal, let it idle and then the shaking starts).

[corolla_goof]

Normally, I'd say that's a balance/alignment, or snow in the wheels.

[sinnaever]

^^^
+1

[Tech1984]

When it was pulled out, I'm betting he hooked onto your left drive axle and bent it or pulled it out of joint.

[creslayer]

my car shakes aswel but im affraid if i carry it to the dealer they'll say its cause of my mods! strange thing about it when in idle it shakes, but when i turn on my lights it stops? or something electrical in the car the shaking stops? what could this be?

[SuperchargedMR2]

My first guess would be that you knocked it out of alignment when you hit the snow. I would have it aligned & balance the wheels. If that doesn't take care of it than look for more damage.

[chminle]

something similar happened to me a couple winters ago. I turned left at an intersection a little fast and slid into the semi. The car slid sideways and caused some damage to my rear side. I made it home okay without towing and didn't realize anything wrong other than the body damage. I drove it the next morning and the car was vibrating like the wheels were misaligned. It turned out I bent the axle of my car during the collision and ended up costing me way more than I thought.

[SuperchargedMR2]

Does your car have VSC & TC? Are you using winter tires? If not than this is a perfect reason to realize how important they are & get a set now.

[Skipandrun]

Originally Posted by corolla_goof

Normally, I'd say that's a balance/alignment, or snow in the wheels.

Cleaning the snow has been done before we do another roadtest and call the service. Well that was my first tought.

Originally Posted by Tech1984

When it was pulled out, I'm betting he hooked onto your left drive axle and bent it or pulled it out of joint.

Originally Posted by SuperchargedMR2

My first guess would be that you knocked it out of alignment when you hit the snow. I would have it aligned & balance the wheels. If that doesn't take care of it than look for more damage.

THis is what im going to do tomorrow

[himmie]

Alignment would be the most likely. It could also be snow packed in somewhere that it shouldn't be.

[littleslim1474]

well since you said u cleared the snow of out of the rims its unlikely that there causing the vibration unless they got bent. Also since it starts at 60kmp its normally to slow for a wheel to cause that. Either he hooked it on the axle on the left which is the short one and bent it, which is unlikely since the shaft is so short or he bent another suspension item when he pulled it out the snow

[Skipandrun]

Ok, so i went to garage this morning for an appoitment to see whether my car needs some alignement or not. So what they found out is my car needs wheel alignment and balancing. As a free, they reshape also my gas pedal. Everything is alright i guess.

[SuperchargedMR2]

Originally Posted by Skipandrun

Ok, so i went to garage this morning for an appoitment to see whether my car needs some alignement or not. So what they found out is my car needs wheel alignment and balancing. As a free, they reshape also my gas pedal. Everything is alright i guess.

Good to hear that it's an easy fix.

[Skipandrun]

Originally Posted by SuperchargedMR2

Good to hear that it's an easy fix.

thanks Jim! 3 hours of wait.

[roberto1187]

last night it snowed for the first time in NJ..and today I use my car on flat road and i notice a vibrating noise on the passanger side..i yet have to hear more sound and investigate..not sure where to take it from there

if i do get a balance and alignment, would it be covered under warranty. please advise