Hey guys I have another issue I need some assistance with.

A little background first

I have a 94 Accord EX with 267,XXX miles. In the past month I have swapped with a f23A, replaced the inner and outer tie-rod ends, performed a 4 wheel alignment(toe), installed D2 drop springs(I know, cheap but I'm saving for some good coil overs right meow), installed some 17x8.25 XXR 527 wheels wrapped with 225/45R17 Pirelli Cinturato P7 run-flats(because they were free from work with 500 miles on them), performed complete rear brake job, and as of 1 hour ago, complete front brake job. Also replaced the front motor mount, the other 3 were still good.

I've only put about 3,000 miles since the motor was swapped in.

Well, I did the front brakes because the rotors were warped bad and caused one hella vibration while braking. Well I removed the whole front spindle to press the hub/bearing out. Did that on both sides and put some new pads on. I had to "rebuild" the drivers side caliper because It was seized. Bled the brakes then slapped on the wheels and started to head home. Stops like a dream now, no vibration, and feels 1000 times better than before.

Well, I have a 3 mile road that I take home with a speed limit of 55MPH, while coasting along at a little under 60MPH, I noticed the steering wheel starting to shake a little. I didn't think much of it, I live in Louisiana and all of our roads are crap. So I keep trucking along and I finally get to the road that my house is on, which is freshly paved as of last week. So I did a little test, I got it up to 55MPH and wouldn't you know it, the vibration is there. It varies a little, If I had to guess, it would be from 40+. I haven't gone over 60 so I can't verify if its still there. I will find out tomorrow.

The upper and lower ball joints are crap but the vibration wasn't there before I did the front brakes so I'm kinda lost.

-The tires are balanced, road force to be specific.
-Wheels torqued to 100ft-lbs(I go a little over, personal preference)
-CV shafts are good

I thoroughly checked all the components I loosened when I did the brakes to make sure that they were all correct before I buttoned it up and left. I have done plenty of brake jobs in my time and this one was a pain in the ****.

I have searched the internet since I got home and can't find anything that relates to my exact issue. Everything online is about a vibration while braking.

Any help would be greatly appreciated because I have a pretty long trip Friday and would like to take my car.

Thanks in advance for looking and helping out.

 

If you are certain about the wheel balance being perfect, was there any rust on the hub surface (if you reused the hub), do you have hub centric rings in the wheel (adapter to fit between wheel and hub to fix gap), or is it possible you turned the tie rod when the knuckle was out?

 

Thanks for the quick reply 95accordCE6.

I am almost 100% positive that the wheels are balanced perfect because 1) I did it myself and 2) when I drove the car during lunch to go get the pads and rotors there was no vibration. I was very careful when putting the wheels on to not scratch the surface so I know I didn't knock a weight off. There was some rust on the hub surface but I removed all the rust with a polish pad and some rust off. I do have hub centric rings(forgot to mention that). And the tie-rod end wasn't really in the way so I'm pretty confident that I didn't turn it but I'm not gonna completely rule that out.

I'm thinking about just going in early and rebalancing the front wheels for reassurance but I doubt they are off.

 

No prob, I'm just trying to think of causes. Just to be sure id rebalance the tires, I balance my own at work and granted we don't have a road force machine, I find that I have to balance mine every 2-3000 miles and the balance will be off .25-.75oz...just enough to cause the slightest vibration in the wheel and irritate me lol I'd also recommend replacing the balljoints and realigning it, since if there's enough play that will cause a variance in toe degrees on the machine...though I wouldn't expect it to be enough to cause a vibration. Do you mean just a vibration or does the steering wheel shudder ever so slightly back and forth?

 

Yeah I'm just gonna rebalance and while I'm at it, I'm gonna check my CV axles for excess play. They look new but I got the car from a sketchy kat and the car was pretty beat up so if he put them on, I know they are cheap.

I get paid Friday and we have a Honda dealer so I'm going to go buy new upper and lower ball joints for both sides.

Its both really. Just started happening all of a sudden. I felt it in the steering wheel, at the same time I felt it in the body/chassis.

 

Well I got a little more information for you. Unfortunately I slept in and wasn't able to balance the front tires BUT I did find out that it is just around the 45-60MPH range. I got it to 70-90 and the vibration/shimmy wasn't there. So I'm gonna try and pull it in during lunch and balance atleast the fronts and report back with my findings. Hopefully that is the issue but I'm not going to hold my breath on that.

 

UPDATE: I checked the balance of my front wheels on 10/23/14 and found the passenger side wheel to be off by 15 grams. Added the weight then went on my way. Unfortunately, the vibration came back the next morning. I started to do a little thinking and being that the caliper had to be forced back in when I changed the front brakes that it might be causing the vibration. I've personally never heard or experienced anything like that so I looked around the internet for a while and found out that it actually does. So today I got around to rebuilding both front calipers and so far so good I haven't had any issues.

On a side note, I bought some 4th gen prelude seats and got those installed. Probably the best upgrade I've done to the car since I've gotten it. It was a pain and took about 4 hours of fab work but it was definitely worth it.

 

You said you did the brakes because the rotors made one hellavu vibration while driving but then you said the vibration wasn't there before you did the brakes.

 

I think you may have misinterpreted the information a little.

My original issue was a vibration only while braking so I replaced the pads and rotors. After that, I got the vibration while driving.

When I did the brakes, I had really force the piston back into the calipers(bleeder valve open), and upon inspection yesterday, when I forced it back in while I replace the front brakes, the caliper to piston square cut seal was getting caught up on a line of corrosion on the piston.