Have you recently realized that your car seems a little off? As it travels down the road, your vehicle is swaying from side to side. Unfortunately, you didn’t know this until after a lengthy drive!
At this point, swaying may be annoying, especially if you continue driving straight rather than turning. Fortunately, we’re going to identify why your car is swaying left and right!
Why Does My Car Feel Like It’s Swaying?
1. Fractured Inner CV Joint
A CV joint is a part of the powertrain that houses two separate pieces connected to allow the wheels to move.
Aside from that, CV joints are located in the inner part of your car’s axle and are made of rubber, allowing your wheels to move up and down when you turn your steering wheel.
Along with this, when a fracture occurs in the inner CV joint, the powertrain cannot move up and down, which justifies why your car experiences that inconvenient vibration.
As a result, when your CV becomes shattered, it causes your car to sway left and right.
2. Screwed Up Motor Mounts
Motor mounts are what hold your engine in place as you drive. Also, they help stabilize your car so it doesn’t move left or right when going down the road at high speeds.
With that, it can be caused by the expansion and contraction of the engine compartments as they heat up and cool down, or it could be caused by vibration from bumps in the road.
Additionally, accelerating while driving on a curve or around a corner could cause your tires to lose traction and make them slip out from under you.
Overall, a loose motor mount can cause your car to sway left and right, but only if the problem is severe enough.
3. Misaligned Tires
Misaligned tires can cause your car to sway left and right while driving on the road.
As well as that, the reason behind this is that when the tires are mismatched, they can’t hold the same amount of weight or pressure, causing your car to sway from side to side.
At this time, tires won’t be able to travel smoothly together if one of them has been mounted irregularly.
Therefore, each tire will try to move forward at different speeds, and this causes a lot of movement in the car.
4. Unstable Lug Nuts
Lug nuts are used to secure the wheels to the axle. They come in different shapes and sizes and have other purposes.
In addition, the most common ones are hexagonal or square designs used to secure the wheel nuts.
Subsequently, hexagonal lug nuts are fitted with a flat face to prevent them from spinning off while driving your car.
Unfortunately, this flat face prevents them from tightening correctly, which can cause your vehicle to sway left and right while you drive it.
5. Crooked Driveshaft
A driveshaft is the part of your car’s transmission that connects the engine to the wheels and transmits power from one to the other.
Additionally, it has many components, but one of them is a joint known as a universal joint.
Further, it is also known as “wobbling,” which happens because a bent or broken driveshaft cannot move correctly about other parts of the vehicle.
That is why, if this joint is not functioning properly, you will notice that your car sways left and right when driving at high speeds.
6. Inclined Axle
An inclined axle is a defect in the vehicle’s suspension system. Further, when a vehicle leans to one side, the wheels are tilted toward that side.
That said, front wheels have a higher center of gravity than the rear wheels, so they have more mass and require more torque to keep moving forward.
Above all, if there is an inclined axle, the car can move either way after turning left or right because of this inclination.
7. Stuck Brake Caliper
A brake caliper is a metal arm attached to each wheel of your car that helps hold on to the brake pad so they don’t fly off when you apply pressure.
Also, your car sways because the brake pads are not being applied evenly all around the wheel, which could be due to debris, grease, or other factors.
Further, due to friction caused by dirt and grime on the brake pads themselves, the brake pads will attempt to shift out of position but will be unable to do so.
Therefore, it will cause your tires to move outwards away from each other.
8. Detached Vacuum Hose
A quick check of your hoses will help you determine whether or not one is damaged or disconnected.
Also, you should be able to feel for any leaks around the intake manifold and between some of its components.
In addition, the absence of air pressure can cause different sensors to become confused, which can cause misfires, backfires, losing power, and other issues where the engine doesn’t operate.
To that end, it can result in the front end of your car swaying and, in extreme cases, even rolling over onto its side.
9. Collapsed Spark Plugs
Spark plugs are responsible for igniting the gas in your engine, and as they burn, they create a high-pressure stream of compressed air that helps propel the car forward.
Besides that, if you’re experiencing a swaying car, there’s a good chance that your spark plugs are gone.
Apart from this, it is due to wear and tear on the electrodes or because they’ve been damaged by high-pressure water leaking into the engine bay.
That being the case, a collapsed spark plug will cause a left-to-right sway in your car, which is why you’ll notice it more when driving on wet roads or when you hit potholes.
To know more, you can also read our posts on why your car AC control panel is not working, why old men buy sports cars, and why your car is creaking.
Conclusion
Swaying or vibration in your car is never a good sign; therefore, it should not be overlooked.
As you can see, potential factors such as fractured inner CV joint, screwed-up motor mounts, and misaligned tires can contribute to car shaking when driving.
Ultimately, you should perform various vehicle maintenance tasks to decrease the likelihood of experiencing sway issues.