My 02 saturn has been getting a vibration last few days between 65-80 you can't feel it except in the steering wheel. Sounds like they're out of balance so I balance them they were little off. Cool it's fixed right? Nope still does it so I closely inspect all the tires nothing a miss on any of them so I rotate back to front and front to back problems gone ..... but why? I see nothing wrong with the tires no odd wear no lumps bumps dips ect.... it has been sitting more lately since I drive the Sonoma often it sat for a week and a half before I last drove it a couple days ago......but I am perplexed. ....any thoughts?
tires causing vibration why?
- Thread starter ram_man
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softer spots in the sidewalls?
its an econobox?
worn suspension components
you can balance a square.. does not mean it rides smooth.
unless you are superman with micrometer vision you wont be able to detect out of round or any number of issues visually.
but they will still balance.
A road force balance would narrow it down.
its an econobox?
worn suspension components
you can balance a square.. does not mean it rides smooth.
unless you are superman with micrometer vision you wont be able to detect out of round or any number of issues visually.
but they will still balance.
A road force balance would narrow it down.
Originally Posted By: Rand
you can balance a square.. does not mean it rides smooth.
True, what brand tires? Mileage on them? A bent rim can do this also.
you can balance a square.. does not mean it rides smooth.
True, what brand tires? Mileage on them? A bent rim can do this also.
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I had this same problem when I had the Nokian's installed on my Forester. Steering wheel shimmy very slight but well enough to annoy the [censored] out of me, started at about 70mph. The installing shop tried spin balance 2 different visits and could not get it resolved. Took it to a shop with Hunter Road Force balance system and that took care of it.
Resonant frequency thing. Saturn front ends are very tight and transmit the smallest energies to the steering wheel.
Since you saw them spin on the balancer you can rule that out, and surely you've seen customers' rims that were bent that they find acceptable.
What you can try, since you have the equipment and might find the downtime, is unmounting your tires and flipping the outsides to face in. Since your hubs are offset for FWD, if there's a "lump" that gets less worse when you move it in relation to your hub, you'll improve the situation.
But it's a road force thing.
Since you saw them spin on the balancer you can rule that out, and surely you've seen customers' rims that were bent that they find acceptable.
What you can try, since you have the equipment and might find the downtime, is unmounting your tires and flipping the outsides to face in. Since your hubs are offset for FWD, if there's a "lump" that gets less worse when you move it in relation to your hub, you'll improve the situation.
But it's a road force thing.
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Saturn front ends are very tight and transmit the smallest energies to the steering wheel.
Tight is right, it took me forever to get the control arm in place, the sway bars on that car are loaded with tension.
Saturn front ends are very tight and transmit the smallest energies to the steering wheel.
Tight is right, it took me forever to get the control arm in place, the sway bars on that car are loaded with tension.
Originally Posted By: Rand
Originally Posted By: ram_man
Also suspension is in excellent shape and it used to be very smooth with no shaking
thats a blanket statement.
I take it you replaced all the front suspension and know that?
Control arms and struts and upper bearing plate. Control arms included ball joints. Tierods are original with no play.
Originally Posted By: ram_man
Also suspension is in excellent shape and it used to be very smooth with no shaking
thats a blanket statement.
I take it you replaced all the front suspension and know that?
Control arms and struts and upper bearing plate. Control arms included ball joints. Tierods are original with no play.
Originally Posted By: eljefino
It's not that sort of tension-- just that there isn't much rubber bushing between knuckles and steering wheel.
You need a come-along to pull LCAs in on these cars.
All i had was a 1 ton chain hoist, it looked funny but i pulled it in with that.
OP have you checked the wheel bearings, i have not seen many go before 150k but its possible that is has enough play depending on how its side loaded.
It's not that sort of tension-- just that there isn't much rubber bushing between knuckles and steering wheel.
You need a come-along to pull LCAs in on these cars.
All i had was a 1 ton chain hoist, it looked funny but i pulled it in with that.
OP have you checked the wheel bearings, i have not seen many go before 150k but its possible that is has enough play depending on how its side loaded.
How old are the tires? Since you are in Missouri, I suspect that tires age out at about 7 or 8 years. Then they will start to separate - and your first symptom will be a gradually increasing vibration. It might be a while before you can detect a bulge, but eventually one will appear. You want to be off those tires BEFORE that happens as there is a very small window between being able to see the bulge and a catastrophic failure.
Quote:
Tight is right, it took me forever to get the control arm in place, the sway bars on that car are loaded with tension.
There should be no tension on the sway bar when the car sits level. If you jacked up one side for this job, then you should have disconnected the sway bar before you jacked it unevenly. If you had both sides jacked up evenly and the sway bar was still tight, something is wrong.
The sway bar (antisway bar, roll bar, stabilizer) should actually be called an anti-body roll bar. It is a torsion bar spring with the job of restricting one wheel from going down when the other goes up (which is precisely what the body sees when the body rolls to the side in a turn).
Tight is right, it took me forever to get the control arm in place, the sway bars on that car are loaded with tension.
There should be no tension on the sway bar when the car sits level. If you jacked up one side for this job, then you should have disconnected the sway bar before you jacked it unevenly. If you had both sides jacked up evenly and the sway bar was still tight, something is wrong.
The sway bar (antisway bar, roll bar, stabilizer) should actually be called an anti-body roll bar. It is a torsion bar spring with the job of restricting one wheel from going down when the other goes up (which is precisely what the body sees when the body rolls to the side in a turn).
Before doing anything else, go to the workshop and rebalance all 4 wheels with tires on them. The important thing is to find the workshop with well qualified staff and calibrated machine. I am pretty sure that it will help. Believe me. Also check the appropriate tire pressure for your car.
Are the tires cupped? My Chrysler T&C developed a bad steering wheel shimmy at anything over 60mph. I had to take it on a 700 mile road trip the other month and it drove me nuts. Took it in as soon as I got back thinking it was a balancing problem or something in the steering or suspension. Nope, none of that, they said the tires were junk. All 4 tires had cupping and the fronts were the worst. Only about 27000 miles on them too. Rotated and properly inflated.
So, just to see if it really was the tires I had them rotate them and I took it for a highway drive. Sure enough the steering wheel vibration was a lot less. Still there but not nearly as bad. I drove it that way for a while but finally gave up and bought 2 new tires to replace the two tires that were in the worst shape. With the new tires on the front there is no more steering wheel shimmy. Smooth as silk now on the highway. Glad I did it because I have a 1200 mile trip next week mostly highway. Gonna replace the other two in about 5000 miles. I'm ticked the tires cupped and became pretty much intolerable at only 27000 miles. Still had plenty of tread on them and looked fine. But obviously they WERE the problem. Not sure why they cupped either considering the shop said everything else looked fine.
They were Kelly tires and the same tires my wife has on her Subaru. Took her car for a highway run the other day (about 50 miles) and those tires too seem to make the steering wheel shake as well. I don't know if all their tires do this but the ones I bought sure do.
So, just to see if it really was the tires I had them rotate them and I took it for a highway drive. Sure enough the steering wheel vibration was a lot less. Still there but not nearly as bad. I drove it that way for a while but finally gave up and bought 2 new tires to replace the two tires that were in the worst shape. With the new tires on the front there is no more steering wheel shimmy. Smooth as silk now on the highway. Glad I did it because I have a 1200 mile trip next week mostly highway. Gonna replace the other two in about 5000 miles. I'm ticked the tires cupped and became pretty much intolerable at only 27000 miles. Still had plenty of tread on them and looked fine. But obviously they WERE the problem. Not sure why they cupped either considering the shop said everything else looked fine.
They were Kelly tires and the same tires my wife has on her Subaru. Took her car for a highway run the other day (about 50 miles) and those tires too seem to make the steering wheel shake as well. I don't know if all their tires do this but the ones I bought sure do.
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
How old are the tires? Since you are in Missouri, I suspect that tires age out at about 7 or 8 years. Then they will start to separate - and your first symptom will be a gradually increasing vibration. It might be a while before you can detect a bulge, but eventually one will appear. You want to be off those tires BEFORE that happens as there is a very small window between being able to see the bulge and a catastrophic failure.
Tires are about 5 months old I believe.
How old are the tires? Since you are in Missouri, I suspect that tires age out at about 7 or 8 years. Then they will start to separate - and your first symptom will be a gradually increasing vibration. It might be a while before you can detect a bulge, but eventually one will appear. You want to be off those tires BEFORE that happens as there is a very small window between being able to see the bulge and a catastrophic failure.
Tires are about 5 months old I believe.
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