P5 Vibration at Speed

[Jnasty352]

I've looked at a couple different threads covering vibration problems, and haven't found a conclusive answer, and I know there probably isn't one but just trying to get some ideas. The drive is pretty smooth until about 70+ I start getting vibration in my wheel that gets worse and then seems to smooth out around 80, I feel like its pulling left and right slightly at random times after 80. I have brand new 17x8's on there with new 205/40/17 and I replaced the right wheel bearing about 4000 miles ago and the mechanic said the left looks good. I've had the tires balanced and have had an alignment. Wheels have hubcentric rings on them. I did the whole hand at 9 and 3 check for play in the wheel thing and it seems good, I'm on yellow speed coilovers lowered about the same as tein s-tech springs. Stock end links, I'm thinking I may need new axle's?

Any help's appreciated.

 

[zdigg]

Check your motor mounts, and pay attention to wether its actually happening under load(acceleration). Mine does the same thing and my mounts are shot, I just ordered new one.

 

[kosteniuks17]

I would make sure one of your rims arent bent. One of mine was slightly bent and would cause the steering wheel to shake around 70-85 mph.

 

[Fresco]

im gonna say its a wheel issue, heres what you should do to narrow down the problem, take your front wheels off, and switch them with the rears and see if the problem continues, if it doesnt check the wheels that were in the front and see if the sticky weights have come off (when a rim isnt cleaned properly prior to installing the weights they will fall off) also check to see if you have any flat spots on the rim this will give the rim (at speed) a noticeable hop. i doubt a wheel alignment will give you a vibration (at speed) however loose/worn suspension components (ex. tie rod ends, ball joints) can give the wheels a shake, pull type effect when acceleratiing. ($.02)

 

[tweety2300]

Bad wheel bearings don't always have play. Turn left and right while its shaking to see if it goes away or gets worse

It takes a pretty bad bend to make it shake if its balanced properly. Runing a 205-50-15 tire mine are fine and do not shake any at all runing ~2 degrees camber ( car needs camber kit badly)

For reference

Protege had one worse on 215-45-17 and still had no issues with vibration

 

[kamesama980]

In my expereience of a few years at a shop and several personal vehicles with bad wheel bearings, if it comes and goes at a particular speed, it's usually a wheel bearing. there are exceptions, which is why I say usually, but it's still usually.

My wifes P5 has 2 bad wheel bearings. You'd never know shaking it down but they sing...RR about 35-40 sounds like a pinion bearing in a RWD (torque and speed dependant), LF phases in and out with about a 4 second period from 55-60. Neither drag or have play (LF has been doing it 80k miles) but a chassis-ear at school pinpointed them.

previous cars I've had them be: growling from 30mph+, wind noise from 35-45, violent shaking 70-80 but smooth everywhere else, no noise but some play, and so on. I've seen bearings with almost no race left be smooth and quiet and the tiniest bad spot sound like the wheel already fell off.

 

[tweety2300]

Wheel bearings are weird my 323 didn't shake but were loud as hell and if you jacked it up and spun the wheel it would spin a little and stop like someone hit the brakes. Never got why it didn't cause any vibration likethat

 

[meGrimlock]

going to chime in on the wheel bearing. most shops will recommend you do both wheel bearings if 1 fails. mainly because it is a wear item and you've already got the car on the lift. do you hear any groaning at certain speeds? i only say this because i had front left wheel bearing go out, then a couple months later the front right, both times exhibiting same symptoms you are describing.

also check for uneven wear in the tires, dent or out of round wheels. check that the lower control arms are torqued to spec. had that pop off on me before, not fun. symptoms for that was car was pullling at highway speeds as i hit the gas and lifted off the gas.

 

[kamesama980]

Even having worked in a shop that did wheel bearings I wouldn't suggest doing them both unless you have a symptom. I never once had a car come back within a year with the other side bad. bad bearings are the result of damage from external sources or damaged seals. (MFR defects wouldn't be fine for 10s of thousands of miles THEN fail). While I do consider them a wear item, it's not like brakes where you can attribute it to a certain mileage or driving style (other than gross abuse wearing them faster)

 

[esnave09]

I had the same thing happen as Grimlock. Both of my front wheel bearings went bad within a month or two of each other, and in total I made 3 trips to the shop for them to be repaired (thank God for warranties). Although mine started making noise around 25, it's worth looking into, cuz I've heard these are another pain with P5s.