Steering wheel shakes occasionally

[issai]

My steering wheel shakes a bit when I hit certain bumps or road inconsistencies. Doesn't happen all the time. And the shake almost feels as if the whole steering column vibrates loosely when "disturbed", for lack of a better word-- but then resumes feeling solid immediately afterward.

 

I know I might be comparing apples to oranges but never felt anything like it in the 96 Camry, 01 Accord, or the few BMW's I previously owned. I'm only listing these cars to distinguish that the steering wheel vibration in the Subaru is very distinctive and unlike steering wheel shake experiences in the other cars.

 

Is this normal? Or a symptom of an issue?

[blklgt05]

if nothing is lose with ur rack&pinion, then it could be the balance with your wheel/tires. If the person that balanced ur tires used weights on the flat surface of the wheel(which most do) AND the EDGE of the wheel, then you will have some mild~moderate vibrations at certain higher speeds from maybe 60~80+. Depends on how it was balanced. When I get my tires balanced, I usually try to tell them to only put weights on the flat surface of the wheel, not those snap on edge weights.

 

Also check if any of your wheels, shocks, swaybar mounts, endlinks are loose. Also check your tire pressure. Other than these, I don't think theres anything else that could cause that. Maybe u just live in a bad area with a lot of pot holes :\