93SC with 80K miles has vibration when turning left

Shockwave

Registered User
I am working on a 93SC with around 80,000 miles with new KYB struts and shocks installed by previous owner.


When you turn left, steering wheel about a 1/4 turn off of center, and going around 30 mph or more the car develops a vibration that can be felt through the floor board. The sound seems to be coming from the pass wheel well area.

This only happens during left turn not right turns or straight ahead. Also the car had a slight pull to the right.

The local Car-X manager is a friend, so I have had him help me with the car but we can't find out what the problem is. We both decided that even though the wheel bearing feels good it might be bad. Also there was a very slight play in the lower ball joint on the pass side.

So I pull the caliper bracket and remove the rotor and spin the wheel bearing by hand and push and pull on it and can find no play and it spins smooth. Even though I feel it's good I replace it anyway. I also replace the lower control arm and install new strut rod to control arm bushings. I had some moog control arm to frame bushings that were blue, but I didn't change them as the stock ones look like new, even the sleeve is still pretty and not rusted. I seem to recall something about the blue Moog bushings going bad after a while as they are slightly smaller in diameter.

I also notice that the outside tread block of the pass tire is cupped or wore uneven. So I add about a 1/4" more negative camber and rotate the tire to the rear. The tires are directional and probably have around 5000 miles on them. So I took the car back down to Car-X and have the car aligned. According to my friend all the specs are in the green and it should be good.

After all of this the problem still persists and the pull seems to be almost gone but still there slightly.

I have driven the car with the ABS fuse pulled to eliminate the ABS from the equation as it almost sounds like ABS engaging. To eliminate a tire problem, I have run the car with the space saver tire on the pass front. Also the car has another set of SC wheels with snow tires and these were on there when the problem was first noticed, when the car was purchased. So I think this eliminates tires.

I'm looking to try anything, just need new ideas?




P.s. On the wheel bearing hub assembly: I did use my impact gun to remove the nut and to install and torque. The impact gun I have has a dial that goes to 4, and there are two clicks between 3 and 4 on that dial. When I tighten lug nuts I set to 3 and one click, and this allows me to still tighten the lugs with my torque wrench set to 100 ft. lbs. My torque wrench only goes to 150 ft. lbs and I used that to check to see if I had that much. I also weight 190 lbs and used an 18" breaker and could not tighten further. Specs call for 186-250 ft. lbs. After the fact, I read that using an impact gun can ruin the bearings. Anybody feel they could be damaged? It feels nice and smooth when I spin it.
 
Sounds like the bearing is in good shape –and no you haven’t damage it by using the impact gun.
I would have swapped the driver side rotor and pads over to the passenger side to check for warped rotor or related problems. And also have a good look at the calliper mount and slider pins.
 
Wow, that's tough. I would get it on a rack and spin the front wheels while they are turned and see if that shows anything obvious. Check your diff. fluid, look for any discoloration or metal flakes. Also take a look at the other three bearings, especially the rear ones, they go bad. It is rare but I have seen on a few occasions bearings go bad but it only shows up on the inside of a turn instead of the usual outside.
 
SWAG, my steering rack was bad(loose on drivers side),
and sometimes pulled left then right, and got exaggerated when I put the brakes on,
and tire wear did not make any sense after alignment.
 
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I found the problem. Turns out the previous owner had installed motor mounts, when they installed the long through bolt on the pass side they didn't get it into the k-member. So the bottom of the mount was just riding on the k-member so it was being pushed up against the limiter. This also casued the motor to be closer to the pass side, which allowed the exhaust on the pass side to rub on the frame from time to time. So when I made hard left turns especially while accelerating or with the motor under torque I was getting vibration from the engine/drivetrain right onto the frame. It was a simple case of pulling the bolt out and moving the bottom of the motor mount down onto the k-memmber and installing the long bolt.

Most people on here ask for help, but never post the solution so I'm bucking the trend.

Thanks to those that responded becasue once you eliminate all the normal stuff then you can start looking elsewhere.

Jerry
 
I found the problem. Turns out the previous owner had installed motor mounts, when they installed the long through bolt on the pass side they didn't get it into the k-member. So the bottom of the mount was just riding on the k-member so it was being pushed up against the limiter. This also casued the motor to be closer to the pass side, which allowed the exhaust on the pass side to rub on the frame from time to time. So when I made hard left turns especially while accelerating or with the motor under torque I was getting vibration from the engine/drivetrain right onto the frame. It was a simple case of pulling the bolt out and moving the bottom of the motor mount down onto the k-memmber and installing the long bolt.

Most people on here ask for help, but never post the solution so I'm bucking the trend.

Thanks to those that responded becasue once you eliminate all the normal stuff then you can start looking elsewhere.

Jerry

Great find Jerry. Does that mean you'll try and make our next meet?
 
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