I bought an '07 Accord about a month and a half ago and started noticing the steering wheel pulsing/shaking at around 60mph, I notice the pulsing before that, but that's when it's most noticeable. I went to have the tires balanced and discovered three of the rims were bent. Replaced the rims, had the tires balanced and still had the problem. Replaced the tires, still happening. Mechanic said the rack and pinion was loose, replaced that, still shaking. Then he said the motor mounts were bad and wanted to replace all six, replaced three of the six because the warranty inspector said only those were bad. I'm still having the problem, but it does seem a tiny bit better. Ball joints and control arm bushings are okay.

If someone could help me figure this out I'd be grateful, this is driving me out of my mind. I bought this car under the assumption I would have a problem-free ride...

 

How does the tie-rod ends look and the upper control arm ball joints?

 

I haven't actually looked at them myself. I've had three different mechanics take a look and they all say they're fine. There's a little less than 100,000 miles on the car, I can't imagine what the people did to it to cause these problems.

 

The shaking is most noticeable at 60mph when I let my foot off the gas if that helps at all.

 

3 different mechanics ... wow.

OK, so go to your Honda dealer and describe your car symptoms.
I wouldn't go into what you have paid others to do, just say what the current problem is.

In my neck of the woods, you'll be looking at a $90 Honda dealer diagnosis fee.
So Honda dealer will tell you what is wrong and how much to fix.
It's a guarantee where I am, if you hire Honda to then fix it, and it doesn't, then their work is at no-charge.

 

CV axles might cause your symptoms. Car front end would need to be elevated on jack stands allowing engine to spin wheels up to 60 mph and watch (very carefully!) for vibrations.

Loose CV axle parts could allow vibration to occur. Usually occurs under acceleration, but might also occur constantly.

good luck

 

Here's a reply I got from a mechanic on justanswer: "Most of the time it is a warped from hub. If the hub is slightly warped or bent then this will happen. They will need to check the run out of the hub. The next most common is a front cv axle. If one of the axle joints is failing then this will occur as the acceleration will take up the free play but the deceleration will allow it to vibrate"

 

Presumably by "hub" he means tire rim? Warping of the bearing hub is unlikely. Since you replaced 3 rims and all tires, presumably vibration source must be other than wheels or tires.

good luck

 

It would be nice to know how 3 rims got bent! In damaging the rims there are a number of other components that can be damaged as well.
Since you have replaced the rims, tires and had the new ones balanced it's not likely they are the problem.
When the mechanic said the steering rack was loose what did he mean? The rack itself usually doesn't wear out at the gears that are used to steer the car. It's usually the seals that go out as well as the tie rods. The tie rods have both an inner and outer tie rod. The inner is under the rubber bellows and attached to the rack. These do wear and give a loose feel. In replacing the inners the outers should be replaced as well as they are probably gone or close to it. The tie rods will give the problem you are having.
You also have 2 bushings on the front lower control arm. The one toward the front sits horizontal and bolts to the underside of the car. The other one is on the rear portion of the arm and looks like a normal pivoting bushing. If the car took a bad enough hit up fron to damage the rims I would be checking the front attachment bushing (reffered to as a compliance bushing) to be sure it hasn't been damaged as well.

 

The people I bought the car from didn't tell me the rims were bent or why before I bought it and I didn't notice it. I checked the car history and there haven't been any accidents reported. I really have no idea what they did. It's back at the mechanic now and I asked him to check the cv joints, tie rod ends, control arm bushings and hubs, hopefully I can get it sorted out this time. I live in a rather small town and the closest Honda dealer is about 50-70 miles away.