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I have a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid. I was experiencing some crazy car/steering vibrations at high (and low) speeds and took it in to get all four wheels balanced last week. My mechanic said they were quite off and sent me on my way. The car seems to be fine now, except at speeds of around 30 MPH my steering does a little dance. (My front end is all tight -- perhaps could use some balljoints eventually, but they're firm as well.)

So my question is did my mechanic just do a sub-par balancing job, or do my tires have uneven wear or something from being out of balance? I'm too shy to storm back to my mechanic so here's to hoping you guys can give me some ideas first.

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You don't need to go bouncing back to your mechanic, just tell them politely that they did a job on your vehicle, but you still have a related problem.

Assuming the balancing job is good, get him to check the tyres, a tyre that is not running perfectly round can cause vibration at any speed and will still normally balance up ok on the wheel balancer.

Also, if you mean that there is a side to side motion in the steering wheel then I'd say get those ball joints replaced. They may well be tight with regards to the nut torque etc, but the ball and cup may be worn allowing the road wheels to track incorrectly when the vehicles weight is on the wheels, thus taking weight off the lower joints.

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  • Thanks for your reply! I won't pretend I used the best word choice when writing this question. I went back to the shop and discussed it with the mechanic, he immediately concluded that I just needed new tires (warping in heat or something). You make a good point about those balljoints, but at this point I'm guessing new tires would be the biggest factor, which I'll buckle down and purchase one of these days... :)
    – user31670
    Aug 24, 2017 at 13:22
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I had a similar issue not too long ago, Harsh vibrating between 20-30mph and then nothing before or after those speeds, turned out to be the driveshafts needed replacing as the bearings had gone. is the vibration coming through the steering wheel or the seat or both ?

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  • Interesting! I'm pretty sure it's coming through both. Always noticeable through the steering, however.
    – user31670
    Aug 24, 2017 at 13:18
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    I would take it to a different garage and ask them to balance your wheels again to rule that out, If there fine then ask them to check for any flat spots on the wheels, if there are none then possibly tracking but the garage will be able to tell by how your tyres have worn(if they've worn evenly across the tyre its all good), from there maybe look into replace the drive shafts and or bottom arms/ball joints
    – scriptss
    Aug 24, 2017 at 15:46
  • Thank you for the suggestions! I'll keep you guys posted
    – user31670
    Aug 27, 2017 at 3:25
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Most likely your power steering belt is slipping if the steering fluid is enough in the reservoir.

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