Noise and vibes from our aging cars!!!

[alia176]

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

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.

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

Cheers.