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YACT: Godforsaken vibration of doom!

E

EyeMWing

Banned
'02 Focus SE.

So, back in February, one of the wheel weights came off the left rear wheel. Ridiculous vibration ensued. I eventually (like, in late April, many thousand miles later) got it rebalanced because the better weather was leading to higher speed which lead to it being even worse. That seemed to fix the problem.

But it's back with a FREAKING VENGEANCE now. Vibration seems to be coming primarily from the same wheel, but I can feel it in the steering now (I'm not sure if this is because the whole car is shaking THAT MUCH, or if the front wheels are also affected)

Visual inspection of all 4 wheels doesn't reveal any missing weights - this concerns me greatly.

What should my next suspect be?
 
Oh mr.wing, oh mr.wing 😉

Aren't you at high school?

Anyway, my folks Prado wheels used to get unbalanced regularly, eventually worked out it was mud caking behind the rims after driving offroad...
 
Originally posted by: dug777
Oh mr.wing, oh mr.wing 😉

Aren't you at high school?

Anyway, my folks Prado wheels used to get unbalanced regularly, eventually worked out it was mud caking behind the rims after driving offroad...
Click to expand...

😕 Does time pass differently for you Australians?

And I can't see where any mud would've come from, since this thing is a highway dog. Small animals and children, perhaps. But not mud.
 
I know 😉

Jack each wheel up and check the tires for flat spots or bulges. Very carefully. You can check for bulges by placing say a stick under the tire to it just misses it, then rotating the tire gently...if it touches the stick or moves away from it, voila!

Exactly the same thing happened to a mate's car over summer, and we eventually narrowed that down to the left rear tire...
 
Originally posted by: dug777
I know 😉

Jack each wheel up and check the tires for flat spots or bulges. Very carefully. You can check for bulges by placing say a stick under the tire to it just misses it, then rotating the tire gently...if it touches the stick or moves away from it, voila!

Exactly the same thing happened to a mate's car over summer, and we eventually narrowed that down to the left rear tire...
Click to expand...

Will do. But it doesn't seem like the tire itself is misshapen, because it calms down above 80mph or so, when logically it should continue getting worse.

Will also rebalance everything. Again.
 
Originally posted by: dug777
I know 😉

Jack each wheel up and check the tires for flat spots or bulges. Very carefully. You can check for bulges by placing say a stick under the tire to it just misses it, then rotating the tire gently...if it touches the stick or moves away from it, voila!

Exactly the same thing happened to a mate's car over summer, and we eventually narrowed that down to the left rear tire...
Click to expand...

Can't he just jack it up so the tire is barely off the ground and then see if it gets closer or moves away from the ground 😕
 
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Originally posted by: dug777
I know 😉

Jack each wheel up and check the tires for flat spots or bulges. Very carefully. You can check for bulges by placing say a stick under the tire to it just misses it, then rotating the tire gently...if it touches the stick or moves away from it, voila!

Exactly the same thing happened to a mate's car over summer, and we eventually narrowed that down to the left rear tire...
Click to expand...

Will do. But it doesn't seem like the tire itself is misshapen, because it calms down above 80mph or so, when logically it should continue getting worse.

Will also rebalance everything. Again.
Click to expand...

Brilliant move. I know the first thing I do when a car starts vibrating is drive it at a high rate of speed to see if it "gets better" WTF is wrong with you kids?
 
Originally posted by: vizkiz
Originally posted by: dug777
I know 😉

Jack each wheel up and check the tires for flat spots or bulges. Very carefully. You can check for bulges by placing say a stick under the tire to it just misses it, then rotating the tire gently...if it touches the stick or moves away from it, voila!

Exactly the same thing happened to a mate's car over summer, and we eventually narrowed that down to the left rear tire...
Click to expand...

Can't he just jack it up so the tire is barely off the ground and then see if it gets closer or moves away from the ground 😕
Click to expand...

sure. but if he uses something bigger he can get it off the ground further and see down the length of the tire and stick easier...bit hard to do that given where your eyes are located on your head, when the tire is just above the ground...

to answeer you mr wing, his got rly bad between about 100-115kmh, then it almost totally went away above that.
 
Originally posted by: Crucial
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Originally posted by: dug777
I know 😉

Jack each wheel up and check the tires for flat spots or bulges. Very carefully. You can check for bulges by placing say a stick under the tire to it just misses it, then rotating the tire gently...if it touches the stick or moves away from it, voila!

Exactly the same thing happened to a mate's car over summer, and we eventually narrowed that down to the left rear tire...
Click to expand...

Will do. But it doesn't seem like the tire itself is misshapen, because it calms down above 80mph or so, when logically it should continue getting worse.

Will also rebalance everything. Again.
Click to expand...

Brilliant move. I know the first thing I do when a car starts vibrating is drive it at a high rate of speed to see if it "gets better" WTF is wrong with you kids?
Click to expand...

I don't change my driving habits unless something is imminently wrong with the vehicle.
 
Originally posted by: dug777

to answeer you mr wing, his got rly bad between about 100-115kmh, then it almost totally went away above that.
Click to expand...
Well, that's a bit odd. Doesn't make very much sense in my mind. But there have been PLENTY of opportunities to put various flat spots in these tires due to the cheesegrater roads around here and my aggressive driving.
 
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Originally posted by: dug777

to answeer you mr wing, his got rly bad between about 100-115kmh, then it almost totally went away above that.
Click to expand...
Well, that's a bit odd. Doesn't make very much sense in my mind. But there have been PLENTY of opportunities to put various flat spots in these tires due to the cheesegrater roads around here and my aggressive driving.
Click to expand...

Yeah, well he had a huge flat spot on the inside of the rear left 😉

I can't explain why it almost totally went away after about 120kmh tho...but it could be whatever makes it almost comfortable to drive over corrugations at say 80kmh. but utterly,. car shakingly unbearable at say 20kmh...harmonic resonance or something?
 
I like the clump of dried mud on the inside of the wheel idea.

Sometimes an internal seperation can cause all kinds of vibration problems.
Usually it's at it's worst on the ground but can show-up by being incredably hard to ballance
off the car on a high speed balancer.

*IF* it is a seperation.........in time you will experiance a blow-out 😀

Use your good spare 😛 You do have a good spare tire, not one of those space saver wannabe tires 😉
Just use your good spare to locate the vibrater. You know the drill. Change one wheel at a time.


...Galvanized
 
Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee
Oh!! Cause of internal seperations in tires? Running underinflated for extended periods of time
will do'er 😉


...Galvanized
Click to expand...

The tires were slightly underinflated when I bought it. Fun. But 2 of the 4 were BRAND NEW (stealership put them on) - and those aren't the suspect ones anyway.
 
one of the wheel weights came off the left rear wheel
Click to expand...
This might have caused it to wear a little different..... You may have gotten your tires balanced, but what about rotated? If you swap the rears with the fronts and still have that problem, get 2 new tires...
 
Bump since i want to know if either of my suggestions were right? 😉

I like the latter suggestion much more, since it goes away above 80....
 
Originally posted by: dug777
Bump since i want to know if either of my suggestions were right? 😉

I like the latter suggestion much more, since it goes away above 80....
Click to expand...

Not mud, rough visual inspection suggests that it's not a round tire anymore, but I haven't actually gotten the jack under it yet to investigate properly.
 
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Originally posted by: dug777
Bump since i want to know if either of my suggestions were right? 😉

I like the latter suggestion much more, since it goes away above 80....
Click to expand...

Not mud, rough visual inspection suggests that it's not a round tire anymore, but I haven't actually gotten the jack under it yet to investigate properly.
Click to expand...

yeah, you are very unlikely to see a bulge unless it's jacked up. No visible flat spots tho?
 
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
'02 Focus SE.

So, back in February, one of the wheel weights came off the left rear wheel. Ridiculous vibration ensued. I eventually (like, in late April, many thousand miles later) got it rebalanced because the better weather was leading to higher speed which lead to it being even worse. That seemed to fix the problem.

But it's back with a FREAKING VENGEANCE now. Vibration seems to be coming primarily from the same wheel, but I can feel it in the steering now (I'm not sure if this is because the whole car is shaking THAT MUCH, or if the front wheels are also affected)

Visual inspection of all 4 wheels doesn't reveal any missing weights - this concerns me greatly.

What should my next suspect be?
Click to expand...
for goodness sakes; take it to a mechanic.

check the wheel bearings, CV joints, axles.

since its felt in the steering column, suspect something more than out of balance wheels.
 
Originally posted by: Iron Woode
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
'02 Focus SE.

So, back in February, one of the wheel weights came off the left rear wheel. Ridiculous vibration ensued. I eventually (like, in late April, many thousand miles later) got it rebalanced because the better weather was leading to higher speed which lead to it being even worse. That seemed to fix the problem.

But it's back with a FREAKING VENGEANCE now. Vibration seems to be coming primarily from the same wheel, but I can feel it in the steering now (I'm not sure if this is because the whole car is shaking THAT MUCH, or if the front wheels are also affected)

Visual inspection of all 4 wheels doesn't reveal any missing weights - this concerns me greatly.

What should my next suspect be?
Click to expand...
for goodness sakes; take it to a mechanic.

check the wheel bearings, CV joints, axles.

since its felt in the steering column, suspect something more than out of balance wheels.
Click to expand...

The flat spot on my mates Commodore wagon's left rear wheel was felt through the steering column...an it's a RWD 😉
 
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