FRONT END- High Vibration at high speeds

[bluecalais79]

This may have been covered somewhere else before, but does anyone have ideas on what may be causing fine to medium steady vibrations at high speeds, say, over 75 or so. It's noticeable as it is causing the entire dashboard to vibrate. 

I tried swapping the tires front to back, some very minor improvement. I just installed new front strut cartridges which helped but it wasn't cured. Perhaps a 4 wheel alignment? I was planning on getting that anyway. I am currently running Uniroyal Tiger Paws which have about 15,000 miles on them. These were cheap tires about $76 each on tire rack and I note they are no longer being carried by them. , perhaps another better set of tires like Cooper CS-5 Ultras would cure this? 

Its making the car un-fun to drive on the highway and I need to be going at these speeds to keep up with traffic.

 

thx

[55trucker]

At that speed I'd suspect 1st that one or more wheels/tires are out of balance.

[digitaloutsider]

In my experience, vibrations at speed have almost universally been caused by tires/wheels out of balance. Are you on stock wheels?

[bluecalais79]

I've got the stock 5 spokes but they are original to my 1996 CS and are not in good condition, that's for sure. The original wheels have tires on them that are 10 years old so I swapped them for the wheels that are on them now with the Tiger Paws. I plan on getting a refinished set and I will go with a better tire. 

[55trucker]

So at this point you do not know if what you have are properly balanced.......

[Amanita]

I had something similar to that happen over the summer. One of the CV Axles went bad on my '98. If your tires are properly balanced that would be my best guess. It wasn't bad enough to make my dash rattle but it only got really bad on the interstate.

Edited May 4, 2020 by Amanita

[bluecalais79]

Good point, they were properly balanced when I had them brand new on my white 1996 but at 225-60r16's. I thought they were too much tire for the FE-1 car so when I got a set of refurbished wheels I dropped down to 215's and got Coopers. I gave the 225 tiger paws to my brother when he had the car, he put slightly over 10,000 very hard miles on them so there certainly is a chance some weight(s) fell off them. All told they probably have about 15-16 thou on them. It's anyone's guess now whether they stayed properly balanced.

This is only happening at high speeds on the interstate but it's really annoying which is too bad since the motor is running great with the repairs done to it.

[55trucker]

Sounds like you're paying a visit to your tire shop of choice to have the 4 checked....or drive at less than the speed necessary to created the situation.

[bluecalais79]

Good call, if I keep it legal I got no woes. Easy to say, hard to do for sure. Anyway, seen as I've been told (that at least for now) my nephew doesn't want the car, it's mine to fiddle with so the urgency to get this stuff done has evaporated. And with this Covid going on the cars are mostly sitting in the driveway anyway. Car show after car show is being cancelled. We also got the word yesterday that Barrett Jackson has cancelled their Auction in June at Mohegan Sun here in CT.

 

[Schurkey]

Lately, I've had more problems with broken belts in the tires than out-of-balance tires.

Jack the front end up, spin the wheels, LOOK at the tread.  See any bulges?  See any places where the tread is exceptionally worn compared to the rest of the tire?  If so--broken belt.  Getting to be common as dirt around here.

Yeah, could be CV shafts.  Could be loose/defective wheel bearings. Bent wheel(s).   Could be something really wrong with the engine mounts, or differential problems.

 

I put a rear driveshaft into my Trailblazer yesterday to cure a 68--78 mph vibration; but I'm fairly sure that's not your car's issue.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Schurkey

[bluecalais79]

Thanx, the search continues...…...

[bluecalais79]

Solved. Just a quick note to thank all of you, as you were all correct. I was glad to be wrong here. I've been away but when I returned earlier this week, I got around to finally putting on my refurbished (original) 5 spokes with a fresh set of  Cooper CS-5 Ultra H rated tires, 225-60r-16, which is correct for the 3.4 package 1994 cars. I felt the difference coming out of the driveway! No more tire noise at any speed, and no more fine vibrations at any highway speed. I guess those Uniroyals were junk after all. 

These Coopers are a great set of tires, I noticed they corner a bit soft but if that's the tradeoff I'm all in. Now I can enjoy this car and put the money into getting the bad paint on the drivers side panels re-done, instead of the front end. 

Kudos to all who helped, I now have 2 reliable W-Body hwy cruisers, ready to go, each with a full size spare in the trunk

[55trucker]

Peace of mind is bliss........it's definitely more enjoyable to be driving the vehicle......rather than repairing the vehicle.