tc giving me problems again. smh...

i was getting a vibration in my steering wheel and took it to a shop and they said it was wheel bearings. i changed both hubs on both sides. problem was still there. i changed ball joints and tie rods and im still getting that same vibration. i cant feel it until i hit about 45mph and it shakes real bad till about 60-65 mph. then in 5th gear theres a small vibration when i get on the gas. ppl are now telling me its the axles? but wouldnt they be making a noise if they were bad?

i need help on this one. if ya know anything let me know. i love this tc but with all these problems im getting fed up with it.

thanks in advance

 

Tires that are our of balance can vise vibrations..have you had them balanced recently?

 

Wheel balance is first thing to check for if there's any steering vibrations. If the problem isn't taken care of after that then continue troubleshooting from there. Have you ran over any pot holes? Make sure the wheel isn't bent. Had a tire put on recently? You might have the TPS sensor bouncing around in the tire if it wasn't mounted correctly(this happened to me like 2 years ago).

 

I'll be third to say, balance your wheels

 

Wheel balance, damaged rim, poor alignment, warped/bent axles. How are your brakes, because there is a slim chance your rotors may be extremely warped.

 

i had a similar problem when doing 80 mph not that i recommend doing it,but i had my tires re-balanced and a new re-alignment and it solved the issue at least for me

 

Sorta the same issue. Bad vibration above 65. Had the wheels rotated and the front 2 tires balanced and the vibration GOT WORSE. Turns out Discount Tire Monkeys put my directional tires on backwards and had the tread running the wrong way. Once they fixed that (while breaking my Key fob) the vibration quieted down. Now I only get a vibration at 75 and I think my Rotors need to be turned as they have some deep grooves in them. I have never done a brake job on this car.

I would check:
-Wheel Balance
-Using stock lug nuts with aftermarket wheels? (big no no)
-Direction of tires
-Rotor condition
-Pad condition

 

With one exception, every time I've ever seen a vibration manifest through a specific speed range and then fade away, it was due to the tires. They may be out of balance, but I would also check for any seperated belts in the tires as well. Put your hand flat against the tread with light pressure, and feel all the way around it. Then do the same thing along the corners (where the crown meets the sidewall). If you feel any lumps or uneven treadwear then you've probably found your problem. A seperated belt usually shows up as a sort of wavy pattern in the treadwear, sometimes with alternating high and low tread blocks, or as a protruding lump along the corner or in the sidewall.

If it were mine, I would check that first. If there's nothing obvious then I would try to get the tires balanced. Tell the tire tech about the problem first. If they can't get the tire balanced, or if it requires an unusally large amount of weight in one spot in order to balance it, then it's probably got a seperated belt inside that hasn't shown on the surface yet. There is no fixing a seperated belt - the tire has to be replaced. The longer you let it go, the worse it will get - right up until the tire blows out while you're driving.

If everything with the tires checks out and balances ok and the problem persists, then I would move on to the alignment. Usually, if it's an alignment problem, then the vibration becomes noticeable at a certain speed and just get's progressively worse the faster you go (as opposed to a tire problem that dissapears again once you reach a certain speed). A 4-wheel alignment on a laser-alignment rack should identify anything in the suspension, steering, axle, or hub components that's bad - assuming the tech knows what he's doing. Make sure you get the spec sheet from the alignment - there's some lazy tech's out there that don't like to do it properly, as well as some outdated equipment that can't measure properly.

Personally, I've never seen a warped rotor cause a vibration except when you're actually stepping on the brakes... and I've seen some severely warped rotors

If you had a bent axle then I would expect the vibration to be present at all times - not just in a specific speed range. I think the noise you're thinking of is when a CV joint is wearing out. That causes a clicking noise when you turn tightly, but I've never seen a bad CV joint cause a vibration.

If a tech told you that you needed new ball joints and tie rods and it didn't fix the problem, that doesn't necessarily mean he was lieing to you. There's a good chance that those parts were going bad, but they hadn't caused a problem yet...but there is always the possibility that the tech lied to you, or was incompetent. There's a very good chance that - if they were bad - it was caused by the same thing that's causing your vibration. That would mean that the new ones will probably wear out faster than normal if you don't get it fixed.

...as an afterthought - have you used a can of fix-a-flat in any of your tires? Is there a pile of mud or dirt caked up on the wheels? Either of those things could cause this as well. That's about all I can think of.

Good luck!
~Laken

 

I am not sure if our cars are setup like this or not but I had the same issue on my 4runner and tried a lot of stuff trying to fix it, all that was suggested above. It turned out the bushings that mount the rack and pinion had worn just enough to allow for steering vibrations above about 55 mph. Replaced them and fixed problem.

 

Everybody pretty much coverd everything. It's more than likely tires or rim bent

 

Well I had a similar problem like you, but not as extreme. My steering wheel vibrated when I drove on the freeway above 60. It wasn't a crazy vibration, but enough to get annoying.

I got my brakes bled because my brakes were feeling spongy and next thing you know, vibration gone (the brakes still feel spongy though :/

Wouldn't hurt to try, Im not sure if bleeding the brakes will solve your issue, but for mine it did. Or maybe it was coincidence lol.

 

There is no way possible that air in the brake lines (or a lack there-of) could have any affect on a steering vibration. More than likely, your wheel had some mud on it that the tech cleaned off, or there was something wrong with the way the lugs were tightened down on the wheel... something like that. But hey, as long as it got fixed, there's no reason to complain!

 

Well i guess he can scratch that idea then haha. You're probably right he did something else which affected the vibration. And yup no reason to complain! I went in to get my brakes bleed and ended up fixing the vibration as well!

 

I have a problem. My car shakes when braking at higher speeds.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plcp&v=NW7W-TadBsg

Leave answers in the comment section on the video please