Dave L

Hi,

I have a 97 RL with 106.5K miles on it. I have a fairly bad vibration that starts at 45mph - typically under acceleration and continues up to 60, but seems to reduce after that.

Recently I had the fron Upper A Arm bushings replaced and that seemed to help.

The tires are Potenza's with about 5k miles on the. I have had them balanced and rotated twice.

Noticing the front left had high wear on the inside - I had the alignment set this week and they said the toe was off by 1/2" (hard to believe) but that is now corrected.

I moved the front left tire to the rear and 'it seems to me the vibration is coming from that corner.

In fact its more of an 'occilation' than vibration. When you roll the window down you can hear a noise that coincides with the viration. It sounds like a tire going flat - but pressure is fine.

Note: no vibration in the steering wheel and no odd brake pulsing (maybe rules out warped rotors).

The alignment guy (not a tire dealer) suggested the menioned tire may be bad (delaminated) and that would cause it.

Another mechanic wanted to replace the shocks and stuts (which may be necesssary).

How should I diagnose this? Will a tire dealer be able to zero in on a bad tire?

Thanks,

Dave

neuronbob

Hi and welcome to AZ! Your RL is a first generation RL. I have therefore moved your post there to obtain more appropriate replies.

Ken1997TL

A good tire dealer or even an Acura dealership should be able to diagnose a bad wheel, tire etc. You may have a flat spot on the tire or a defect.

Dave L

Hi, Thanks for the comments. I went back to the tire dealer and they said one of my tires has a separation and I need 2 new tires (after 6k miles) since they dont want to sell me only one. They said you should only replace pairs - what do you think? I bought these in July... seems odd. Dave

Ken1997TL

Its odd, but they are correct about replacing them in pairs. Otherwise you'll have uneven tread and that'll cause various issues with your alignment etc.

Dave L

Thanks for the suggestions.

I repleced the bad upper right A arm bushing (and others), had it aligned (toe was out bad) and replaced the front tires (one did have a separation).

This fixed 'some' of the problem(s): a) clunking while turning left, b) bad handling on rough roads, and c ) vibration at cruise.

But, a underlying prolem still exists: on a flat road, when moderately accelerating from speeds of 45 mph and about, a chasis shaking starts and does not go away until you get off the gas. It persists all all speeds above 45 mph as long as power is applied. It is more noticeable going up a grade - I tested this with the cruise control on at 45 mph on a grade and it continued to shake.

I call it a shake because its more pronounced than a vibration - its bad enough that the whole car shakes (seemingly laterally).

Any thoughts on what this might be? A CV joint going bad? Bad Motor or Trans mount? Etc.

I have pretty much ruled out tires and wheels as the tires are new and I have had the wheels checked twice - sure seems like a driveline related issue(s).

joshuaren

you know I have a similar problem with my car.... when accelerating on the highway or going up a grade , my steering wheel (NOT chassis though) shakes slightly.. not the steering column-its not something a passenger would notice- just some left to right shaking in the steering wheel.... it is noticable to passengers however if I let go of the steering wheel while accelerating at high speed. is this something like your problem?

Dave L

To answer your question (above) Yours is somewhat similar to my problem. Before I replaced the Upper A Arm bushing I was getting a steering wheel shake and vibration. It turned out I had a bad tire on the left front (sepated belts). Once I replaced the bushings and bought a new set of tires - and alighned the front end the stering wheel is rock steady.

But the ongoing chasis vbration (under power, 45mh +) is puzzling.

I am suspecting its a CV joint going bad, or a warped rotor.

Dave L

The plot thickens: when I first drive the car - for the first 50 miles or so its like a majic carpet --- but once I stop, say for gas and get back on the highway - the front end shake I mentioned before starts up again. It is most pronounced going uphill, under power and worse on right had bends. They steering wheel is rock steady. There does not seem to be any brake related ocillation. Its bad enough that I am reluctant to take it on any highway driving. Any thoughts?

chitownRLer

are you using a premium gas like you're suppose to?

Dave L

Yes, I am using premium. Its interesting - the shaking 'feels' like a real bad engine misfire. It gets worse the longer you drive.

Ken1997TL

Have you changed your differential fluid recently?

Bad motor mount?

chitownRLer

you may have a cylinder misfire(recently i had a cylinder 1 misfire on mine) i had to replace one of the fuel injectors....

Doncarlos

DL,

I am presently going through which seems to be an identical issue, as we have same symptoms - vibration at front left wheel but not steering, sounds like driving on a flat tire, more prominent around 40-60mph, etc...

I also went down a similar path starting with tires, alignment, steering, rotors, engine mount, driveline, and even thought it was my engine struggling while accelerating but it still happened when I was deccelerating. Before I spent any money on fixing it, I had my buddy look at it who is a mechanic that specializes in hondas/acuras. After one ride he said that it's the wheel bearing and maybe tie rods.

We jacked up the car and shook the front left tire with hands on 12 and 6 o'clock and then again with hands on 3 and 9 o'clock. I guess that's how you can see if it's an upper or lower tie rod. He said the tie rods were good and confirmed it when he later went to change the wheel bearing. We took a look at the CV joints and the boot looked good, however, if it were bad, this would be the best time to change it.

The wheel bearing cost me $58, $50 to press the old wheel bearing (which was shot) out with a press at his shop, and $150 of total labor. About $250 total, but that's off the books and he's my buddy. The job can easily run double or triple regularly, so if you can find a way to do it yourself or with some help you can save a lot of money.

It just got fixed two weeks ago, and it resolved the issue immediately. I wanted to test it out and drove like 120 on it, and it was fine. However, this past weekend when I was driving to NYC, a hint of that sound/shake returned. Today on the way to work though it didn't make a sound. My mechanic said that the wheel bearing was definitely shot, this problem definitely got a lot better, like 90% better, so he wants to take another look at it Wednesday. Usually when one wheel bearing goes out you should change them both, so I'll probably do the other one eventually, but it's riding good. I'll get back to you on Thursday.

Dave L

Don, Thanks for the heads up - yes your symptoms sound just like mine. I am puzzled with my problem - as it only starts to occur when I drive it about 50 miles - after that it always starts to vibrate. I need to find a good shop near where I live in Reno, NV - to go through it in the way your mechanic did. Any one know a good shop in Reno or Sacramento? Dave