Hi Scotty,
I have a 2008 toyota corolla with about 105k miles on it. I have it since it had 80k miles (3 years ago). Recently I have been feeling some vibration hen I'm in the highway above 65-70 mph. Also the steering wheel at higher speed than 70mph it feels a little bit unstable. I changed the tires back in September or October last year. I took the car to the shop recently and they told me that the issue was the lower arm control, spatially the one in the driver side. I had my doubts since the diagnostic was pretty quick. I removed the tire of that side of the car myself at home and lift up that side of the car to check it out and the only thing I saw was the rubber in the lower arm control a little bit cracked but just a little, and when I moved the lifted tire in the 9-3 positions it hadn't any wobbles, it moved just a it but it was moving the tire of the other side as well so I suspected that it was normal as part the direction system. I also moved it in the 12-6 direction and had no wobbles at all. Any suggestions? I understand that the force applied by me is a lot lower than the actual force when the vehicle is moving at high speed so I'm not sure. Would it be possible these low arm control are really bad? if so, where do you recommend to purchase this type of parts. Let me know if you have any additional questions for clarification.
Thank you!
Okay so Maybe the tires are out of balance, you should start with that first since it’s cheap, if that doesn’t help check your intermediate steering shaft it could be worn out causing a loose steering wheel, when did you do your last alignment?
last time I did an alignment was in September/October 2020 when I installed new tires in the car.
Okay so that was about 8 months ago you should get a tire balance and alignment anyways an that should help, also take a look at your steering shaft for your vehicle I really think that could be the culprit and how to check it is tug on the shaft if it moves it’s shot, suspension parts like ball joints and control arms will do it too also your tie rods but you said you checked them, if your mechanic said it’s your lower control arm it might very well be, if you have no play in your steering shaft it’s most likely your control arm