70 MPH shake

v8killr

Registered User
Since i bought my car last year it has done this.I will be cruising along at 60 or 65 and as soon as i hit 70 or a little above it wants to shake like mad.The steering wheel shakes up and down and i get a bad vibration.I don't think the motor mounts are going bad because it don't look like it's sitting low in the engine bay and i'm not leaking any fluid.One thing i thought it might be was the shocks because the guy i bought the car from put LX style shocks all the way around instead of OEM or any of the aftermarket shocks.I'm really not sure what it is,but it is anoying as hell when you can't keep up in traffic because it wants to shake it's self apart.Any info would be great before i take it somewhere and have them look at it.
Thanks David
 
More than likely it's the tires not being balanced well enough. Do they show signs of uneven wear or cupping ? Does the shaking stop or decrease sharply when you apply the brakes ?

Sorry to say this, but if you have been driving the car this way for a year, the tires are probably not going to be salvagable.

David
 
how old are your tires, my truck did the same thing until i got a new set of tires and had them balanced.
 
I thought about the tires when i first bought the car driving back from iowa.The tires i have on there now seem good..... but it does do it more from a high rate of speed when i hit the brakes.So i thought the rotors where junk and they might be... but would that cause this problem?The reason i never really worried about it was i rarely go on the e-way and that is the only time it will shake like that.The funny thing about it is...at one point i thought my steering wheel was loose because it would shake so bad sometimes :p ....but i'm not that stupid...... ;) .I do know the tires seem good and i'm not sure about the balancing.I think i'm going to have to take it in to make sure the front end is ok.
thanks for the advice guys.
If the front rotors where bent or out of round would they cause this problem?
I would think if they where...it would be like that all the time(shake),but it
could be that i only notice it when it's at a higher rate of speed.
 
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v8killr; I had these exact symptoms up until I yesterday, when I replaced my tires & balanced the new ones. (nearly new set of 4 for $30 :D mounting/balancing cost more :eek:)

I was aware that the old ones were not balanced on the rims. This caused a shake that would violently represent itself at about 70 miles an hour, and the steering wheel would also shake like you describe.

As for the shake occuring when you hit the brake pedal, it is almost definately warped rotors. This is a common problem with many modern cars actually.

Get your tires rotated/balanced, and the problem will very likely be solved.


Now that I'm thinking about it; when they balanced my tires they removed the old weights and didn't install new ones on any wheels. Are they not always necessary? The tires are certainly balanced..
 
its tires!!

my car did the same until I bought new tires.

rides like a dream...well iit did..now its sittin in the driveway!
 
I do know that the tires on it now are ok.I'm not sure of the brand off the top of my head but i will check into replacing them asap.I know i need to replace two of them because they have bald spots on them.The weird thing about it is the tires where pretty new when i got the car and it has done this since i've owned it.I think one of the rims might have a slight bend in it that you can only feel when your on the e-way.I'm going to go tomorrow and get it checked out,
Thanks all,
David
 
Something else I found out; with new or relatively new tires there is no more wheel hop!! (At least not on my car? :confused: )
 
A couple of things.

1. The reason you are supposed to rotate your tires around the car is that the tires can "scallop" or cup as it was said earlier causing bad vibration at a particular speed if a tire is on the same corner of a car for a long time. I learned this the hard way on a car I had like 15 years ago.

2. Tires out of balance can also do this.

3. If it only happens when you hit the brakes I would say it's warped rotors.

Oh another hint, if you feel the vibration in the steering wheel, it's a problem with the front tires. If you feel it in the seat more than the wheel it's a rear tire problem. Good luck
 
Just to add to that also if your steering wheel goes back and forth it's more likely rotors but if it goes up and down like you said best bet is tire balance, or maybe a seperated belt :(
 
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