Every time I go faster than 50mph, there is some moderate steering wheel shaking/vibrations. The car goes straight if I let go of the steering wheel, but the shaking continues. Could an alignment help? Just got the car and I've only driven it for about 100 miles.

 

Carwatcher, first, rotate the tires front to rear and see if the shaking goes away (should). If this is the case, you have either a rim/tire that is out of balance or the person that had the car before you hit a curb and tweaked the rim on one side a little bit (leading to the wobbling). If this corrects the situation, you can then pick a side of the car and rotate the tires back to how they were and see if the vibration returns. If it does, then the front wheel on that side is your problem. If the shaking does not return, then the rear tire on the side you didn't swap is your problem.

If rotating the tires front to rear doesn't fix the issue, then you will need to do an inspection of the tie rod ends, strut upper joint, and of the lower ball joint. Any looseness in these can lead to your wobbling. If you need an explaination of how to check these, let me know.

 

I'll do that. I did notice the 2 front tires are pretty new and the same brand, while the 2 on the rear are older, and a different brand. The ones on the rear might even be the original ones, since the car only has 30k miles.

 

Carwatcher, if the front tires are fairly new, it is very possible that you have simply thrown a wheel weight. While they normally don't get tossed, they can. But, normally happens right after getting the new tires put on.

 

I just went to check on the weights and the passenger side wheel has them, but the driver side has none, you can see the residue were some were attached. Maybe they are on the inside?

 

What Jag are you driving? My 2002 XJ8L has always been extremely sensitive to out-of-round tires or poor wheel balance, more so than any other car I have owned. Usually mild, beginning about 50-55 MPH and disapperaing about 65 MPH. If rebalancing doesn't solve the problem, immediately have those new-looking tires checked for an out-of-round condition, especially if they are not a brand you recognize; it doesn't take much to show up on a Jag, it seems. If tread wear seems normal and even, I doubt if alignment alone will help unless in the process they find something worn or loose.

 

My 03 X Type also does this. I have done everything except the alignment which I am does this week. The tie rod ends and ball joints look good, I even took my front calipers off today and cleaned the rust off of them, it seemed to help a little. I have new rims and tires on the car, when I got it the front rims where a little bent. The factory rims are very soft.

 

Quick question on locking wheel nuts, I just want to know if I have them. All the wheel nuts on every tire have this loose cap that moves around, just wondering if they are locking wheel nuts. It's a bit weird since there is usually only one per tire, but on my car they seem to all be the same. I'm just worried because I didn't see a correct key socket in the trunk.

 

I was having the same issue, but I saw felt the steering wheel shimmy at 30 MPH and at 70 MPH...

Took it to Midas this weekend, and for $8 a wheel, they balanced my tires...problem solved.

I also did my Serpentine belt and Coolant Flush (great time to do it now before the winter)...

 

Carwatcher, the loose cap that you are seeing is simply a decorative cap that Jag puts on their lug nuts. Put a lug wrench on the lugnuts and they will sinch down and allow you to remove the wheel. There is no special wrench needed.