if your steering wheel is vibrating at higher speeds when you are not braking, then it's a balancing issue. You might also want to check your tire pressure as well.

since you mentioned that your steering wheel shakes when you brake, that is a sure sign that your rotors are warped as RonJ has indicated.

Alignment can be an issue when your car pulls one way or the other when you let go of the steering wheel and it might also show up in uneven thread wear in your wheels.

The alignment appears to be the least of your problems. Also note that if your tires are near the end of it's life, it would not be worth balancing it. It is better to consider buying new tires.

 

thank you

 

if the tires need to be balanced, and i am driving....say 60 mph, and then i brake...just cuz the wheel is still vibrating, that doesnt mean it is necessarily the rotors, does it? if it needs to be balanced, the wheel will also vibrate when braking too?

 

If vibration increases when you brake, as you have stated, then you could also have a brake rotor problem.

 

At 60 mph it'll be hard to tell if it's the brake when the tire is out of balance too.

What happens at say 40 mph. At lower speeds, a warped rotor will still shake the car when braking, and it will get worse the harder you brake.

 

I might be wrong in saying this but couldn't a loose wheel do the same thing if say some of the lug nuts have come off/loose?

 

It could be a blown shock, if balancing and rotating your tires doesn't fix it. Warp rotors usually gets more pronouced when traveling down a hill and lightly using the brakes.