I have a friend with a hatch that is having problems with a vibration coming from the front of the car while driving in general

Heres the deal
- Everythings tightened down securly, checked and double checked.
- Fairly recent replacement of Wheel bearings
- New OEM axles are less than a year old.
- Brand new OEM brembo rotors with AEM pads installed very recently, problem did not exist at that time.
- Had a good mechanic check out the tie rods, ball joints, and wheel bearings, and said it was not them.
- Wheels are 100% balanced, and got them rebalanced when this problem arose, and still, no luck.

We are somehwat stumped and are soon going to just replace the entire front hubs with new ones.

I had speculated that maybe the rear drums were starting to go ( Lots of milage on them, they are the OEM ones from mile 0, lol) but then again, we are pretty sure it feels like the front, but im trying to put all the info out that i can.

Was wondering if anyone had any kind of insight on this?

 

I had a similar problem once. It turned out to be the brake rotor which was warped by just mm. Changed the rotor and problem was fixed. I would have them checked out because you can't tell if a rotor is warped by just looking at it. (Unless it's REALLY bad and then it would be pretty obvious).

 

Is it vibration under acceleration? or just a vibration in general? is it constant or does it stop? Swapped or not swapped

 

Many causes. Motor mounts could be it. You have to be more specific when you feel it vibrate and when it doesn't. Does it only happen when he drives? Doesn't do it in park? Then we have a suspension issue. Most likely shocks will give a bumpy unpleasant ride. New shocks make your car feel like jellow.

 

partially seized caliper maybe.

 

Ok well, its speed related, so motor mounts are out of the question, but the caliper idea isnt too far fetched. We found it to be brake related, and the caliper is gripping then letting go, or so we think.

As a solution we are replacing the entire front hub assemblies as a whole, with spare EX/SI complete hubs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by figone007 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I had a similar problem once. It turned out to be the brake rotor which was warped by just mm. Changed the rotor and problem was fixed. I would have them checked out because you can't tell if a rotor is warped by just looking at it. (Unless it's REALLY bad and then it would be pretty obvious).</TD></TR></TABLE>

You don't always have to replace the rotor. It can be finished to even it out. Cheap alternative if done properly

More info as to when you actually feel the vibrations would he helpful.

Usually the rotors are damaged and become uneven when you use brakes without sufficient pads. The wear indicator will scratch the rotor, making a notification to change the pads but this will also damage the rotor obviously. Has he ever heard squeeling from the brakes in the past from the wear indicators?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Synbios &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

You don't always have to replace the rotor. It can be finished to even it out. Cheap alternative if done properly

More info as to when you actually feel the vibrations would he helpful.

Usually the rotors are damaged and become uneven when you use brakes without sufficient pads. The wear indicator will scratch the rotor, making a notification to change the pads but this will also damage the rotor obviously. Has he ever heard squeeling from the brakes in the past from the wear indicators?</TD></TR></TABLE>


Vibrations are felt at speeds over 45mph, under that nothing really, and even when braking, nothin really. The vibration stays the same when the brake is applied, so we dont think it is at all the rotors, but we have come to the conclusion that the whole knuckle is just bad, so we are replacing everything. New front hubs.

 

If you have the assemblies then go for it. I suggested a seized caliper because a buddy's IS300 was exhibiting very similar behavior to your friends' car just a week ago and his turned out to be the aforementioned caliper. It went from nothing to all to hell in a matter of a few days.

 

Turns out it was the rotors, even tho they are new, they have been sitting for quite awhile in a garage, and we came to the conclusion that it was due to that, so they are going to be serviced soon and be resurfaced to see if that makes a difference.

 

waddup people i have a huge problem in my hands i hit a pot hole today so when i was driving on the highway going 60ph heard a werid sound after i ease off the gas pedel sound like a wheel bearing or can it be something else or can it be the axle, rotors cause when coming to a stop feel like the brake pedal was shaking i dunnno can someone help me out with this

 

I beleive its your axles.. double check both of them.. they cant be "new" if they are less than a year old.. they are used and sometimes they go bad.. maybe you got a boot leak which causes it to vibrate. this happened to my swap. I had brand new axles then after about 5 months it started to vibrate under accelration but it wasnt constant.. realized I started gettting grease on my driver side wheels. jacked up the car and it was an axle leaking from the boot.. took it off and it looked completely new after I wiped it. but replaced it with a new axle and the problem was fixed..

 

can it be a wheel bearing and rotors too i really hit that pot hole hard