I have an EK hatch with a strange slight vibration in the front, I feel it in the steering wheel. The oscillation becomes progressively faster with speed. I had the wheels balanced and a fresh alignment. The car has been in no acidents. The oscillation decreded when I put firmer suspension on the front end. Any ideas what it could be?

 

Broken engine mount or wheel bearing.

 

What size wheels you got on the car? I had 17 inch wheels on my car and just today I sized down to 15 inch and all season tires (from directional) and my vibration in my steering wheel left completely.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bart2546 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What size wheels you got on the car? I had 17 inch wheels on my car and just today I sized down to 15 inch and all season tires (from directional) and my vibration in my steering wheel left completely. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Because it was a wheel balancing problem you had.

 

Does it do it on all roads? On my car, I had the same problem only on some roads. I checked it out and it was a blown shock. You may want to check those out. I guess the shock didnt work well enough to take out the vibrations on a slightly bumpy road.

 

My car would shake when I get around 75-80 mph.

 

that is what mine does, it happens on all roads, each to both of my ( fresly blanced and tire pressure checked) sets of rims. I doubt it is shocks because I recently upgraded from stock to better shocks and the vibration was unaffected. Also the vibration is very rythmic and has no intermittentcy, which leads me to beleive that is independent of road condition

 

at low speeds just rolling it feels asthough one side gets momentairly higher than the other. Almost as if one of my wheels is egg shaped.

 

bump

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cbmprelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have an EK hatch with a strange slight vibration in the front, I feel it in the steering wheel. The oscillation becomes progressively faster with speed. I had the wheels balanced and a fresh alignment. The car has been in no acidents. The oscillation decreded when I put firmer suspension on the front end. Any ideas what it could be?</TD></TR></TABLE>
- wheel bearing
- axle
- improperly balanced wheels
- flat-spotted or out-of-round tire

You can try to isolate a wheel/tire problem by rotating tires front to rear. If the vibration remains in the front, it is likely a wheel bearing or axle problem.

 

Targa pretty summed it up for you!

 

thanks targa, I will be changing the oil very soon, is there anything visual that would tell me whether its a wheel bearing or the axle?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cbmprelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks targa, I will be changing the oil very soon, is there anything visual that would tell me whether its a wheel bearing or the axle? </TD></TR></TABLE>
Typically on the axles you will see torn CV boots - not always, but usually. A torn boot indicates that you should replace the axle. Occasionally you can get away with just replacing the boot, but if it has been torn for a while and all the grease is gone, just replace the entire axle.

To check a wheel bearing when you have the car jacked up, grab onto the wheel at 12-o'clock and 6-o'clock and wiggle it around to feel for any play. If it does not feel 100% solid (and all ball joints on the knuckle are good), replace the bearing.

 

hmm, I replaced the front rotors with brand new ones and wiggled the wheels in the air, but nothing. Can a motor really cause vibration problems?