1999 Ford Taurus, steering wheel shakes when driving due to front passanger side tire movement/problem. The tires have been rotated and still problem from that area. What could it be?

If steering wheel shakes bad tire on front. If whole car shakes bad tire on rear. Or tires could be out of balance. If steering wheel shakes when brakes applied, front rotors are warped.

many causes.

loose lug nuts
wheel out of balance; weight fell off
bent wheel
incorrect tire pressure; over pressure can damage the tire
faulty tire;out of round, tread separation, etc
loose wheel bearing
worn shock absorber
worn steering / suspension component; bushing, tie rod end, ball joint, etc
alignment issue

You can rotate the tires, front to back to see if the problem follows the wheels or is a front end only problem.

sounds like your front end is out of alignment check your tires for wear other than in the middle and take to tire shop to see if the tires are balanced right

Does the steering wheel shake side to side while driving it as well? this may be due to a separated tire or bent rim.

If the noise is only when the vehicle is moving it sounds lek you have a bad wheel bearing. You can inspect ford move ment or play shaking the tires up and down and left to right while lifted up on hoist or jack. If there is no movement doesn't necesarily mean the bearings are okay, however if there is movement in bearing replace and drive again. Antoher way to determine Which wheel bearing is bad is to drive and turn to the left, if the noise gets louder than it mens the rightside wheel bearung is bad. If you turn to the right and noise gets louder replace driver side front wheel bearing. Also Rub your hands across your tires, does it feel wavy or uneven, you could have cupped tires, I DON'T KNOW HOW NEW THEY are but cupped tires will also make this noise. One way to see if it is the tires is to do a rotate If noise changes at all then you no its a tire causing noise. Hope this helps.

get under the vehicle (use ramps) and check all linkages for movement pull push on the anti roll bar links, pull push on steering rack and pinion and linkages, any excessive movement, jack each wheel at a time, using a bar check the lower wishbone joints for movement, get the bar in the gap between the wishbone and lower part of the shock. and pull down, if any movement in ball joint up and down replace. while wheel on vehicle check for movement in bearing you will feel a tiny amount not much but pull and push on wheel with opposite hands on 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock and do the same at 9 and 3. now with both wheels off the ground but with the tyres still on, have some one holed one wheel and push pull on wheels each side there should be even movement between both wheels, if everything is fine with the the steering linkages and this dose not feel or sound right then this could be the problem also to add if the inside and out side of the tyres are wearing then the tyre pressure is wrong and needs adjusting to the right tyre pressure .

Hi, jack up the car and hold the front wheel. Shake back and forth, and side to side. Movement sideways indicates ball joint wear, easy replacement.

Movement back and forth = wheel bearings gone.

Check the condition of the CV boot rubbers. If split, you will need new ones and to swap the CV joint.

Check the power steering fluid, if it is low then the pump might have a leak and casue the shaking from inadequate fluid supply.

Hope this helps.

Crawl under the truck and check the U-joint on the drive shaft for wear. Grasp the drive shave and rotate the drive shaft side to side and watch to see if there is any movement in the knuckle. Yes = Replace U-joint

No (see next paragraph).

Jack the front of the vehicle and rest the frame on 2 tripod stands.

Grasp each front wheel tire 2 different times first at 9 and 3 O'clock positions and alternately move the wheel in and out.... Then do it again Grasping the tire from 6 and 12 O'clock positions. ANY movement other than rotation or brief shock strut travel is unacceptable.

Your checking control arm bushings, ball joints, rod end / tie rod bearings for movement.

If you find nothing at all after this then have all of your tires re-balanced.

Thanks for using FixYa.

Kelly

You need to have the front end inspected for damaged steering components. Check your Tie Rod ends, A frame bushings and ball joints to make sure there isn't excessive wear or lose connections. If all of that is in good working order Drive down the road with a friend in the next lane over and have them look to see if either wheel in bouncing. If either wheel is bouncing you need to replace the struts. they are replaced in pairs, both sides. The front end will need to be aligned after you do this.

Usually shaking of the steering wheel brought on by going over a 'bump' is caused by a suspension component problem. Since u just had the brakes done (no history of this type problem before?), I am wondering if possibly something was not tightened properly during the repair (this would have the same effect of a worn component). I would bring it back (carefully) to the service facility, and ask them to check the front suspension components, and explain what happened while driving.
U could check a couple of things yourself, if u want. Jack up one side of front of vehicle, place on safety stand, grab tire at 3 oclock and 9 o'clock positions, try forcing the tire as if u wanted to turn the wheel to the right, and then left., U should not have any 'play' in the wheel. Next, grab the tire at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock position, try to force the tire in and out . There should be no 'play'. Repeat on the other front tire, if you have movement when grabbing and trying to move the tire, u need ball joints or tie rods. A slight bump in the road should not result in what u describe unless something is seriously wrong. Have this checked asap, as this is not safe. Let me know what u find.