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So, I've got this vibration...


ptcfast2

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Alright, so I'm down to one last issue on my 98 Lumina. I've got a vibration which I can feel in my steering wheel that comes and goes at 50MPH and around 70MPH. I can feel it in the floorboard as well. I'm puzzled as to the cause. I recently replaced a bunch of suspension components to attempt to fix the problem to no avail...here's what I know:

 

-Car is perfectly aligned.

-Tires don't seem to be the cause (they are also new) - rotated all around and vibration does not get better or worse. They were just rebalanced as well via a road force balancer.

-Tie rods are new, steering rack is new, CV joint on DRIVER side is new (passenger is a bit older but fine), bearings are new

-Struts are new, coil springs are new

-Nothing seems loose on either side, but I might go in a re-verify torque on each bolt that I can get at

-Mounts are new (engine, dogbones, tranny, etc...)

-Subframe mounts were replaced last year

 

 

Any ideas on what it is or how to pinpoint the actual cause of this?

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Brakes are fine and rotors are only 2 months old - wish I could blame it on them! The vibration comes and goes, it's almost like whatever caused it "resets" after turning or going after a bump and slowly wobbles its way back until I drop down to a speed besides 50-55 or 70-73.

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Hub bearings?

 

Timkins with under 5,000 on the rears and 10,000 on the front - no whine or vibration from them as far as I can tell. The only thing I've never replaced on this car are the rims...they are the factory crapola ones with hubcaps. I would assume an out of round rim would cause the car to shake at higher speeds no matter where it is? That's the only real thing I can think of, could also be the CV axle on the passenger side - it's older. Vibration is more pronounced in the floorboards btw...maybe one of my subframe bolts isn't torqued to spec....I would assume I could hear some clunking if that were the case though. I tigehtened those suckers as hard as I could with a torque wrench and then a breaker bar to finish the job. :lol:

 

EDIT: Ugh...I'm scratching my head on this one. I'm going to go take the car on the highway in a bit with a friend and ride in the passenger seat to see if I can figure out what wheel area of the car is vibrating the most. Will update soon...

Edited by ptcfast2
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Timkins with under 5,000 on the rears and 10,000 on the front - no whine or vibration from them as far as I can tell. The only thing I've never replaced on this car are the rims...they are the factory crapola ones with hubcaps. I would assume an out of round rim would cause the car to shake at higher speeds no matter where it is?

 

You know, I didn't think of the rims. Yeah they can cause a vibration that changes at various speeds, it all depends on the frequency of the vibration they create. Unless multiple rims are out of round though, I'd expect a change in the vibrations when you rotate the tires. That and it should have been caught by the tech balancing the wheels...

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You know, I didn't think of the rims. Yeah they can cause a vibration that changes at various speeds, it all depends on the frequency of the vibration they create. Unless multiple rims are out of round though, I'd expect a change in the vibrations when you rotate the tires. That and it should have been caught by the tech balancing the wheels...

 

Yeah, that's what I thought - yet I've had these rims balanced multiple times and nobody has ever said anything. But, at the same time I wouldn't put it past a chain shop tech to not give a damn and just put it back on the car. The reason I'm leaning towards rims (the only reason) is because this vibration has ALWAYS been with the car. I've never been able to make it go away - you hit those speeds and it just starts. You hit a bump or hit a certain speed and the vibration goes away...but it comes back. Talk about frustrating!

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You can feel it in the steering wheel? How so? Does it wobble the steering wheel going down the highway? If so, it has to be a wheel or tire(s). You say it comes and goes which would be indicative of a tire, not a wheel.

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You can feel it in the steering wheel? How so? Does it wobble the steering wheel going down the highway? If so, it has to be a wheel or tire(s). You say it comes and goes which would be indicative of a tire, not a wheel.

 

Well I'm starting with the rears first. I put the spare donut on the driver rear and the vibration I felt in my back went away. I can feel an additional vibration emanating from the other side as well. If you take a look at this post: http://www.w-body.com/showthread.php/52294-New-Rack-Tie-Rods-Alignment-Steering-Wheel-Still-Off-Center?p=1051950&viewfull=1#post1051950 you'll see the other issue I had up until recently. The tires that were on the front are now on the rear (the alignment shop that fixed my problem rotated them), so I'm going down to Firestone first thing tomorrow and demanding they replace the rear tires free of charge since they most likely ruined them. I think they are defiantly contributing to the problem if not causing it.

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