Well once again I am encountering very slight vibrations at highway speeds. Time and time again I have went through the susp. and replaced everything that even looked old. The ONLY things that I haven't redone are the front wheel bearings. They are simple to replace, so I might do them since they are 180k+ miles old. Do you guys think that this is causing the vibrations? The bearings themselves make no noise or anything, so I was wondering if thats even it. The only other thing that I was thinking of is where the axles go in the trans. The axles are only 10k miles old, but my trans bearings are totally fubared so maybe that is sending the vibration through the rack? Suggestions? Like I said everthing else is new.

 

If it's not making noise I would imagine that it's not the hub assemblies- I had to replace all 4 on my hatch as they were making these horrible noises. But, I have been wrong be4......

 

I figured that. But let me tell you it f&*king sucks when you fix a shaking steering wheel and it comes back again. want to fix this once and for all. ttt

 

Cmon help me have stable steering again--post any input, cause I know other people were in this boat before.

 

I'm about 99% percent sure it IS your wheel bearings. Just change which ever side you feel the most vibration on, or even better......BOTH. They're about $40 bucks a pop depending where you go. If you've ever had clicky CV joints, those definetly help f--- up your bearings, making you feel like you're having epileptic seizures while you have both hands on the wheel . Try to get a hold of a Slide-hammer if your doing it yourself. The front hubs are pretty hard to ***** off.
Good Luck brutha .

 

I really don't think it is the wheel bearings. The usually roar pretty good when they are bad. Just a thought but do your wheels and tires need balancing?

 

Jack the car up and grab the wheel at the top and bottom and jiggle it and see if there is any play if you feel play then it's the wheel bearing and it should make enough noise for you to know that the wheel bearing has gone bad. Have you also had the allignment done and checked tire pressure?

 

could it be the wheels aren't balanced?

 

don't think so but it could be, i'd get the allignment checked

 

tell us what you HAVE done. maybe there isnt sometihng you have NOT done...

 

Yeah I agree, your wheel bearing should get real loud when they're shot.

I'm experiencing the same problem you described. I'm not totally ruling
out the bearings, it's just that the last time I had a bad one I experience
different symptioms.

Many people have suggesed my alignment, or a busted wheel weight.
I think I might have my alignment checked, I hit a nasty pot hole a
while back...



[Modified by Creep, 6:03 AM 2/19/2003]

 

Here is what is new, to rule out the good components--Upper/lower ball joints, outer/inner tie rod ends, powerslot rotors and are NOT warped, full energy poly bushing kit, axles, Sprint Rx springs, Illumina dampers, new bfgoodrich touring ta tires followed by a alignment by a shop that does lowered cars. Toe is set at zero. Camber is around 3-4 degrees negative, no camber kit cause if I tried to set it towards zero I'd hit the fenders. Lowered 3.25 inches---that seems to be all, so tell me what else i can do to stop this bullshit. BTW I jacked her up and everything is tight with no play.??????

 

My first guess would be tire balancing. Get all 4 balanced and check the pressures. You could also possibly have a wheel that is bent slightly from hitting a pothole or something.

Usually the sympton that a wheel bearing is going bad is noise, not vibration.

 

I got those tires mounted and balanced a month ago. The tire dude said 2 of the rims spun slightly untrue, but he balanced it out. Yet the other 2 were totally fine. I dont know where each wheel went when they were put back on though, so the supposed ones that were bent and compensated for by balancing could be on the front. The vibration came back last week, and it happens from 70-80 MPH thats it. But not all the time sometimes it wont shake at all. Its driving me insane. What do you suggest for tire pressure--they are at 32 lbs.

 

if i remember right, you can test the wheelbearings by feeling for freeplay in them. to do so, jack up the front, and grab the top and bottom of the tire and try to wiggle it. in other words, push in top & pull in bottom, then reverse, back and forth. if you do suspect one to be bad, i would recommend just doing both while you're at it. i did it last summer and it wasnt that bad. just remove your hub assy, bring it to a machine shop, have them press out the old brgs, press in the new, and re-install. an alignment afterwards is recommended and might even further solve your problem.

 

did you torque your wheels with a torque wrench when you installed them?

you can also find a set of tires and rims that you know are good(as in balanced) off another car and try them on your car. then see if the vibration is still there


[Modified by upstatecrx, 6:34 PM 2/19/2003]

 

My right rear tire makes a huge noise when I make 35-up MPH turns, I did the 3 and 9 o' clock AND the 12 and 6 o'clock- no movement. Dragging drum or bearing?

 

I had one bent wheel, it caused my vibration between 55-75 MPH. Even though they are balanced properlly doesn't mean they touch the ground true. Do you have expensive wheels? I know any type of wheels are expensive.


[Modified by performula, 12:13 AM 2/20/2003]

 

just b/c teh tires were recently balanced doesn't mean it was done right; I had new wheels/tires put on my rsx & they didn't do it right so i took it back & they balanced them using a different method, I can't recall what they called it, but it still could easily be that. just an idea as I replaced all 4 hub assemblies liek 4 months ago on my ef & the bearing symptoms were different..........

 

We put the car on a lift this morning at my friends meineike shop. We checked EVERYTHING over and no play, looseness or wear. BTW I don't have expensive wheels, they are the stock 14 inch. steelies with hubcaps, with new rubber and supposedly balanced. So what should I go have the front 2 rims re-balanced? Oh yeah what is speed-balancing?

 

The machine balances the wheel at a certain speed.

 

Some other thoughts if you haven't nailed this yet:

1. Swap your wheels front to rear. If the problem goes away or changes, it's in the tires.
2. My Miata had a 60 MPH shimmy what was solved with GOOD tires and proper tire pressure. Each type of car has a resonant frequency where the slightest imbalance will be amplified at a praticular speed range.
3. If you determine it's a wheel and tire problem (I bet it is), go to a shop that had a Hunter "road force" machine. Put the lowest road force wheels on the front. A good shop with a road force machine will also rotate tires on the rim to minimize vibration. Call Tire Rack and ask for authorized installers in your area with a Hunter road force balancer (is it a 9000 model? dunno)
4. My wife's BMW had a high speed steering wheel shimmy which was caused by worn inner tie rod joints. You said you replaced these, but it's just another data point for you.
5. I second the advice to make sure the wheels are properly torqued. If a guerilla hammers down on the lug nuts with an impact wrench, I bet it can cause enough wheel flex to make for a shimmy.

 

Just thought I'd throw this one in since my class has been discussing Suspension for last couple of days..

According to the book, an Axle Bearing will make two types of noises. A high pitch and a low pitch. A high pitch noise is caused by Spalling of the Bearing. This is when small metal parts of the Bearing start to fall off.. A low pitch noise is caused by Brinelling. This is when a Bearing has indentations due to shock loads.

But that's just a book..

From a Tire lecture in class:

Tires noises at high speeds are due to imbalance.. A 15in wheel which 1 ounce of out balance can have a pounding force of 4.6lbs at 60 mph.

But that's just what I think.. I have been wrong.. The best way to find a vibration is to have a SKILLED TECHNICIAN at a dealership use a frequency finder thing (I'm not sure what it's called but my instructor has two of them). It's just some gadget that tells you what's making a noise in the car. This thing is precise. It can find an imbalance from pulleys in the engine bay and all over the vehicle..

But hey, maybe instructor is wrong.. He was just GoodYear Tires 3rd best Tech in the United States. Anyways, good luck..

 

if your wheels are untrue or out of round, get new ones. period.

when the bearings went on my old car, i heard a crunching noise as the tire rotated. it was terrible.

 

with the amount of camber you have it might be possible to go through a new set of tires in two months.