My 00 SI feels like the wheel is going to fall off. It has been like this off and on for the past 2 weeks. It started, then stopped the next day and didn't start up again till a few days ago and has been getting worse. I just put new tires on before this started and took it back to see if it was a tire defect. They said one of the wheels was off balance and they fixed it. I didn't notice it again till a couple day later and it was very minute. Alignment done 1 week ago.

Description:
1. Usually starts after about 10 minutes of driving or so and I feel it in the steering wheel not the brakes at all.

2. It feels like the front passanger side wheel has a really bad warped rotor but about 4x as bad w/o applying the brakes

3. Becomes more severe when I have the clutch pushed in.

4. The wobbles decrease in force, but is still present, when i push on the gas above 4k rpm.

5. Starting today, if I lightly push the gas in slightly(5%), then i hear a small clink, like metal against metal. Almost like a small hesitation similar to bad u-joints on a RWD driveline going bad or diff going out.

6. There is no pulsing or anything coming from the brake pedal.

7. The car pulls to the right sometimes durring this crap.

8. As I slow down to a stop it feels like the rotor is warped and the brakes are catching on the rotor at a certain point. pulse pulse pulse

I have read in the forum about this type of issue and it being either the CV or the Diff. I am hoping that someone on here will be able to narrow it down for me. I am concerned I am going to be driving along and the wheel will lock up or something. I don't want to go to a shop about it untill I know more and can figure out better parts to replace the bad ones with. I can't be w/o my car for very long since it is my daily driver.

Current inventory of car. (planning on block upgrade and limited slip)
2000 Civic SI
AEM V2
Jacobs Electronics Pro Street (Removed about 1 month ago due to not starting car)
New Cap, Plugs, Wires (2 months ago)
AEM VAFCII (Ya I know, get rid of it)
High Flow Cat
Mugen Twin Loop
Tein SS
Omni Camber Kit F+R
Toyo T1-R
O2 Simulator
Brembo Sport Rotors in Front
Brembo Cross Drilled/Sloted Rotors in Rear
AEM Ceramic brake pads (Excellent)
ACT Clutch - Street
Short Shift

 

Did you have any indications at all of the problem before your tire install? Any other work going on at about the sametime you had the new tires put on? Some questions on your description.

on #3- when it becomes more severe, are you talking about frequency or actual harshness? Does the harshness or frequency change proportionally to vehicle speed or engine rpm?

#'s 6 and 8 are contradictary

Did you have your wheel package done by a reputable shop? What kind of machine/wheel weights did they use? How far off balance was the tire you said they found out of spec? The fact that it started right away after they worked on your car AND they found a wheel out of balance after you brought it back to them makes them look really suspicious. From what you say it sounds like a balance problem, but then your description makes it sound like it could be something much different.