So, when I am driving on at 25-40 miles I don't feel or see any vibration in my steering wheel; however, once I start getting to freeway speeds(60+) is where it starts to notice it. I recently had my car aligned, so I thought if there was an issue they would have told me. I doubt it is a tire balancing issue either. If it was I would think the car would not drive straight when the steering wheel is straight on the freeway. Any other ideas on what could be causing this issue? Rims that maybe bent(which I can't tell from a visual check)? Wheel bearing? Or something else? Thank you

Edit: could it be that my lock plates were not installed correctly?

 

When does it happen? When you are on the brakes? Accelerating? Or just anything at that speed?

If it is just shaking at freeway speeds in general, first suspect would be the balance of the tires.

I know you said you doubt it, but why do you doubt it? That is the most common cause of steering wheel vibration.

 

When steering wheel shakes at highway speeds and not while applying brakes, your first thought should be to check wheel balance.

 

It's when driving at those speeds. I doubt it because I recently had to have my front tries replaced and they said they did balance my tires. But, now you having me thinking maybe they didn't?

 

Could have thrown a weight if they didn't clean the wheel up good before they put them on.

 

Yup exactly. Happened to me on my last car. Mounted tires and soon after I got vibration on the highway. Turns out they did a poor job putting the weights on and a few fell off.

 

Steering wheel vibration at speed is almost always a problem with the tires/wheels, and the specific issue here is typically wheels that are out of balance or faulty tires.

Your tire shop may have setup the weights correctly, but maybe you lost a weight while driving, or you might have a defective tire with layer separation.

I would start by having the wheel balancing checked. If that checks out, you might have an unusual problem with the tires. I had defective tires (the defect was layer separation) and the problem only displayed at higher speeds.

--Spike

 

I usually come back for another balancing for a tire which was freshly seated within 200 miles. It's my opinion that a tire needs to "settle" after the bead seal has been reseated and especially on a new fresh tire.

Go back to the place you got tires from and mention your problem.

 

Had one experience where the shops balancer was off.. 2oz out of spec on every wheel. Car shook like a bastard.

Defintely don't assume just because you had it done, that it was done right.
Especially if it's the most likely cause of the problem.