Perhaps I have finally resolved my vibration issue

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I've done one wheel bearing in the back. A hub assembly.

Haven't did them in the front. They don't make noise.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Maybe it's just your freeways around you. I know with some cars I drive I can feel a little vibration in certain parts of town but other parts are smooth as glass, only with those cars though.


I've noticed the roads in northern PA like that. Almost like they're grooved to better deal with winter weather. Once I cross the state line back into Ohio, smooth as glass compared to those roads. Maybe the roads are like that there for the traction. In his area, Buffalo sees extreme winter weather so I wouldn't be surprised if that was it.

RH,

Drive some other cars and see how they ride.
 
Originally Posted By: redhat


--Bad front caliper
Will have to check with an infrared thermometer and measure brake temps. Maybe one is sticking?



This is a possibility, have had it happen in the family. Be suspicious if it gets worse the longer you drive. You may be able to take the car out of gear after driving and see how easy the wheels are to rotate. In our case it was the mastery cylinder but the principle is the same.
 
Especially if the wheel heats up after a hwy run. Also check the back ones by seeing how easily the wheel rotates.
 
Just got back from a drive. Front rotors are around 180-200 degrees. Rears are about 115. Not sure if thats means anything. Both fronts are similar.
 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Maybe it's just your freeways around you. I know with some cars I drive I can feel a little vibration in certain parts of town but other parts are smooth as glass, only with those cars though.


I've noticed the roads in northern PA like that. Almost like they're grooved to better deal with winter weather. Once I cross the state line back into Ohio, smooth as glass compared to those roads. Maybe the roads are like that there for the traction. In his area, Buffalo sees extreme winter weather so I wouldn't be surprised if that was it.

RH,

Drive some other cars and see how they ride.


Will do. FWIW, the '14 Civic rides smooth as glass on the thruways, expressways and decent looking roads around us. That car is on cheaper Fuzion tires too. Perhaps this double-wishbone suspension that the Accord has is just super sensitive to imperfections in the road and semi-worn parts? I can remember a time when this car drove like a new BMW.
 
Originally Posted By: redhat
....... Here's a summary
-Had Dunlop Signature IIs put on, vibrated
-Had Dunlops re-balance
-Returned Dunlops
-Had Firestone Champion Fuel Fighters installed, vibrated after a couple of days
-Had Firestones re-balanced, no change
-Changed tie-rods and alignment, no change
-Changed axles, no change
-Returned Firestones and had Bridgestones put on, all set


Originally Posted By: redhat


Vibration is back.

Trying to do more diagnosis, I took off two wheels from the front and put two of my steel wheels with snow tires on. The vibration still seems to occur, but it might not be as pronounced. It is tough to tell as the snow tires ride so different.

My additional test tonight is going to be putting the rear (alloys + Bridgestones) on the front and the snows on the rear (or the other alloys). I'm really lost as to what could be going on now. I have a couple of hunches.

--Perhaps bent rims or out of round rims?
I am skeptical to this just because more than one Firestone employee assured me that they'd catch a bent rim and that they'd checked for them.

--Bad front struts
Perhaps the strut isn't doing its job as well as it should and the road vibrations are resonating and not keeping the wheel flat on the road?

--Bad front caliper
Will have to check with an infrared thermometer and measure brake temps. Maybe one is sticking?

I am considering getting a road-force balance, but I've probably had three different sets of tires balanced 6-7 times. I'd figure it'd be right at one point.


When I read your first post, I thought that it was unusual for 2 sets of tires to cause a vibration. Not impossible, but the odds are against it. I was going to suggest you consider that there is something else causing the vibration - and perhaps you needed very, very good uniformity tires to keep the overall vibrations down so they are undetectable.

Now that it is back, I don't think it is tires or wheel related. 3 sets of tires is nearly impossible.

You could road force the tires to check the wheels, but I am going to bet it is not there.

Is the vibration in the front (steering wheel) or the back (seat). That might narrow things down.

Consider steering rack, brake rotors and/or drums, brake pads (broken anti rattle clip), wheel bearings.
 
2 weird situations I've had.

First, I had a 80 VW Scirroco which started vibrating the steering wheel and dash so bad the guages were blurry.

It started while 350 miles away, and quit , then, started again on way home.

I turned out to be a fist sized rock had bounced off tire, and up onto the CV joint next to transaxle.

My wife even told me she heard a thump, but expected to her rock bounce down the street which she didn't (very perceptive on her part). I couldn't find it when I looked.

The other was my dad's 90 Lincoln Town car he bought used seemingly in perfect condition. After driving for awhile on any random day this shaking would come up through car for several years.

he finally got an automatic trans shop to find out it was a bad torque converter that wasn't filling right, and would be out of balance.

It seems all those tires could be bad?
 
Nobody seems to wonder about the brake rotors being out of balance? Unless you have high quality rotors that have been balanced, I doubt the cheap rotors are even close to balanced.
 
This Friday/weekend, I will begin a second look over the front end of the car. I also have a clunk which I am thinking is a strut mount.

I will more than likely put struts in the front. Rears were already replaced last November. I will also check the carrier bearing on the intermediate shaft (thanks to bourne for the suggestion and what to look for).

Still tracking this down. Will double and triple check all bushings. All looked good two weeks ago. Also, with the axles out, will check front wheel bearings for play and how the bearing feels. Perhaps wheel bearings are bad.
 
Just curious, you say "higher speed", what speed exactly does it happen at? Does it only happen at highway speeds (around 55-65 MPH), and only while steady cruising? Does it go away if you accelerate or get worse? Does it only happen once the vehicle has warmed up or will it do it when the vehicle is still warming up?
 
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Originally Posted By: mightymousetech
Just curious, you say "higher speed", what speed exactly does it happen at? Does it only happen at highway speeds (around 55-65 MPH), and only while steady cruising? Does it go away if you accelerate or get worse? Does it only happen once the vehicle has warmed up or will it do it when the vehicle is still warming up?


It happens at highway speeds, usually 55mph and up. But I have noticed it around 50mph upon decel. It happens when accelerating and steadily cruising. Upon acceleration it has appeared at times to get worse or subside. Then other times, it makes no difference. I am not sure about its relativity to vehicle temp. My drive to highway speeds is usually 2-3 minutes where the car has had a chance to warm up.
 
I still think you have something in drive line somewhere going off.

Car is front wheel drive?

CV joints on front axle need to be checked.

If rear wheel drive, then, drive shaft.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Maybe it's just your freeways around you. I know with some cars I drive I can feel a little vibration in certain parts of town but other parts are smooth as glass, only with those cars though. Like that exact wheelbase and suspension on that particular car gets the vibrations with bad asphalt conditions. I'm on a road trip in Washington right now and have felt it a little off and on in a brand new Avalon, rest of the trip was fine except for one section outside of Phoenix that I've never driven this car on before.

But a bad wheel is possible. Have you done wheel bearings?
I take back what I said about the Avalon.

I'm in Montana now and swung by a dealer and had them balance the tires. Smooth as silk at all speeds now. Issue was at 80 mph and I couldn't feel the vibration until that speed, and you can't go that fast anywhere else I was until Washington to Montana.

But I still have had it happen in other cars on certain roads.
 
I would check the front engine mount. It is vacuum operated, they sometimes fail and can cause weird vibration issues. Check that the mount will hold vacuum also check the hoses and make sure they are all OK. Can also check the solenoid valve and make sure it is working properly.
 
Originally Posted By: redhat
Just got back from a drive. Front rotors are around 180-200 degrees. Rears are about 115. Not sure if thats means anything. Both fronts are similar.


^^^Here is your answer. Rotor thickness variation from hot rotors and pads pressed together while stopped.

In the world of C5 A6 Audis this is very common. The allroad had cheap pads and new rotors on it when I bought it and within a month I was getting the shakes at 55mph. I upgraded to high quality pads before it got too bad and with normal driving the problem cured itself.
 
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