I own a 2002 xk8 coupe with 60,000 miles on her , at higher speeds, 80+MPH I have a slight shake in the steering wheel. I do however at normal speed 30mph I can hear little rattle noises when I hit little bump in the road and I don't really know exactly where or what to look for. Any clues on what I should be looking for? And could this be the problem with the steering at high speed?

 

I would think the shake in the steering wheel at high speeds is probably balance related...

As far as the rattle when you go over a bump, it could be a myriad of things, but I would have someone bounce the car up and down and see if you can hear the noise and isolate it that way.

Also, I would definitely check to see if your upper shock mounts have been replaced ever - you can check those for starters by looking under the hood on both sides for breakdown of the bushing material (you may have to remove the plastic cover to see)... if they are original they probably are in need of replacement (it is related to time and not mileage, as my 2001 with 30k on her needed those replaced last year).

 

Just had a new set of eagles put on ,and it did take out a lot of shake away. Maybe I should invest in a road course balance, ya think?

 

As blindside said, the upper shock mount are the first place to look. If they are crumbled and/or the shock is not dead in the middle of the hole, there is your rattle.

The wobble in the steering wheel could be the upper or lower control arm (wishbone) bushings or Inner/outer tie rods, and could be completely unrelated to the rattle (though both happen when you hit the same bump).

The Bushings/tie rods can be allowing the wheel to toe out/in and this gets transmitted to the steering wheel as a shake.

 

The low speed rattle is often caused by worn sway bar bushings, so check them, also.

 

That is the cheapest rattle fix, too at about $15 to be good as new. Check the passenger side bushing to see if it is still there. Mine was missing. Crumbled to dust.

So the Previous owner stuck a piece of rubber between the sway bar and the frame to quiet the rattling, so mine didn't rattle....