Noise and vibes from our aging cars!!!
 

Well, our cars are getting long in the tooth and noise and vibes slowly creep up w/o even realizing it. For a long time, I've been dissatisfied with rotational vibes coming from somewhere. A brand new set of Conti tires link did not seem to cure them. I've returned to Discount tires many times and they've balanced and rebalanced all four tires to no avail. As a normal PM, I changed all four struts, mounts, front ball joints as well. The steering rack was rebuilt about six years ago and I'm now feeling a little bit of play in it. I suppose it's time to replace it with a new or reman unit, not sure.

Last week, I was renting a Camry and swapped the tires between the two vehicles. This is one of those rare opportunities that I just couldn't pass up. It turned out that my Conti tires were balanced well. The noise and vibes are coming from something else - perhaps wheel bearing or maybe the front axles? Someone mentioned the front half shafts could be out of balance and that's a possibility. There is a distinct steering wheel shimmy that was present with the Camry tires. During long, sweeping turns at hwy speeds, I can hear and feel some sort of a vibratory sensation from the front end. It's subtle but I can always hear it. My wife thinks I'm smoking dope as she rolls her eyes :D

This summer, I'll replace all wheel bearings and see if the rotational vibes go away or at least reduce some what. For now, I'll quit blaming the Conti tires. :lol:

Anyway, just some food for thought for some of you folks who are chasing mysterious vibes and noises on our aging cars!

Cheers.

Re: Noise and vibes from our aging cars!!!
 

What no pictures of the SVX with Camry wheels? :) Good luck tracking down those suspension demons.

Re: Noise and vibes from our aging cars!!!
 

eeeewgaddd, those were some awful wheels :p

Re: Noise and vibes from our aging cars!!!
 

I just had a higher freq vibe (more a sound than a real vibe) after the tranny swap. Driveshaft type :)..... even though the joints were replaced and the shaft balanced.

Well, I re-torqued the pinion nut and rotated the drive shaft flange 180 degrees (relative to the diff input) and voila - all smooth ;).

If you get a low freq "shudder" when under load the front axle inner joints could be worn. A low cost trial is to swap the axles L/R.

Tapani

PS I have a very soft rubber disc in the steering column shaft - this causes some play and sound. Also the inner tierod ends were worn - easy enough to swap w/o pulling the rack.