nickp85

Ok, this has been an ongoing problem plaguing me for months with this car... I have let it go because it does seem quite minor and no one can seem to find anything wrong with the car.

Problem: Steering wheel shakes at speeds 50+ and I can feel a slight shake in the body of the car as well.

Now, one would think right of the bat, balancing... which is what the local tire place, ETD tire thought when they did an alignment after I got my new tires.
They did a balance with a "road force" balancer and the still occurs.
Now some background info, the problem does not happen all the time, only seems to happen on certain roads that are quite smooth and varies in degree of shaking compared to speed. I can't seem to pin it down what makes it happen... it would happen one day on a certain road and not happen the next... something ETD tire thought was perplexing.

The problem also followed through new tires, balances, rotations, alignment... everything is showing perfectly tuned and set... yet I have this problem.

Further background info... months ago, I had hit a pothole doing about 70 down the highway at night... I bent a rim and had it replaced.
Well Acura had the car about 5 times and they couldn't find anything wrong and thought I was crazy.
The shake is only slight but depending on the road, it comes out real bad. If you let go, it is shaking enough that you can visually see it vibrating.


The only thing Acura could tell me is that it MIGHT be the control arm in the front left but they have no way of telling.

I have looked up replacement parts for the control arm and there is an upper and lower... The lower is more expensive, I wouldn't know which one to get.
Before I spend the money and do both, I wanted to see if maybe anyone could shed some insight into this problem.

According to ETD tire, steering wheel vibration is front tire balance problem and shake in the body is rear tire balance problem.
They balanced all 4 tires and it almost seemed to make it worse. It vibrates now on more roads then it did before.



SOMEONE, PLEASE, give me some insight... granted it is nothing major, it is annoying and it always makes me feel like the car is gonna shake apart or something.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

CivicEx1998

Did u realize the problem happen after the hit of the pothhole or before? That could indicates weather the hit might had affected other parts of the car. But for now, it seems u have never thought after brakes, which can lead to vibration with a wraped rotor. A bad motor mount can lead to vibrations. Just a touhgt.

nickp85

Acura has actually replaced all 4 pads twice and cut all the rotors once since the pot hole incident... however I do need to get new rotors now because of the shake returning.

The pot hole was before 20K on the car in 2005 and now I have 53K. The problem happened with the bent rim but has never been fully correctly from what I remember.

After certain adjustments like alignment, balance or rotation, the problem tends to get worse, better at random and hard to keep track of.

I have no doubt it was the pot hole.

nbtx

Is this happening with the same set of tires ?? If so, try putting one front
wheel and tire on the rear; drive for a while, then repeat for the other side of
the car. My guess is that you have damaged a tire with the pot hole hit - now you
must find which one and replace it.

nickp85

Actually I have gotten new tires

I had the original Michelin's now I have Yokohama... unfortunately tires did not effect the problem.

csmeance

do you feel the vibrating in the seat or in the steering wheel? Which rim was bent and replaced? Also get a specs sheet of what the alignment is including the TOE.

nickp85

The bent rim was driver side front. It has since been rotated front to back every 10K and the problem happens either way.

I feel the vibration in the steering wheel and under the seat.

I got the specs from the last alignment, front aligned perfectly but the rear right camber is off... and Acura has no adjustment for it.

The only thing I saw was a service bulletin for my model about the right rear camber being out but it was a factory defect... and this problem hasn't been since factory.

ETD told me the right rear camber would only MAYBE cause the tires to wear unevenly but the michelins never did so I don't worry about.
I had Acura replace the right rear control arm under warranty for the service bulletin but it did nothing, the right rear camber is still out and it had no effect on the vibration.

nickp85

Bumping this up to the top... I'm hoping someone has a bright idea...

On a side note... the shaking seems to be worse the smoother the road is...

aaronng

What tyre pressure are you using? Have you checked if your driveshaft is bent?

nickp85

Acura is claiming nothing is bent and I'm no mechanic so I have no idea where to even find the driveshaft. Acura must have had the car about 5 times for this. The only thing they can seem to do is make it worse or better with adjustments but not go away. Then I take the car for a rotation or something for a standard service and it throws it off again. It's so random, I can't pinpoint what adjustments to the car make it worse or better. As i said though, the vibration is much more apparent on a freshly paved road as opposed to a highway that has been around for a while, not even bumpy, just older pavement.

csmeance

before we move any further, was it a factory rim that was bent or after-market. If either, which rims were they? Also does tis vibration increase as you push the accelerator or does it subside when you push the accelerator. In mty personal opinion, I would go to another acura dealership, tell them that you had aftermarket rims on and you hit a pothole pretty hard. Then proceed to say that you put on the factory rims and got an alignment afterwards. Then on the way to a friends house the next weekend, you took the highway and felt a vibration on the way there and back, going over 50MPH. Then proceed to tell them that you got the tires checked at a local place and now they don't know what is wrong. This will have them check directly the suspension and not the rim/tire.


Lastly, this may sound pretty far fetched, but maybe you may have broken/bent of of the lugs on the car itself, not the bolt things, but the screw that it attaches to. This may be a culprint as well.

darcheeseTSX04

blame it on the axle.

curls

I had this exact problem with my 1991 Integra, and also with my 2004 TSX. Many people I've talked to either thought I was crazy, or, have driven Hondas and know its almost a trait of Honda FWD cars.

It also happened on my mom's CR-V and her Toyota Camry, and on none of the aforementioned vehicles was it ever fully fixed.

For my Integra I had basically replaced everything possible, and it still existed: axle (inner and outer CV joints too), rotors, pads, probably a half-dozen balancings, new tires (in case one was out of round), had the steering rack and column inspected, new wheels, swapped things with friends' cars, and none of the things we did ever made it go completely away.

In my TSX I basically live with it although the steering wheel moves MAYBE 7mm, which is enough to notice but not enough for me to spend thousands trying to correct.

nickp85

The new and old rim was factory. The new one is a remanufactured rim provided by my auto body but it looks identical to the original. Funny you should mention the acceleration. I have noticed that letting my foot of the gas tends to make it worse on the highway. I also noticed on this one highway I have to get on, I have to accelerate up a hill and at the top I let up off the gas to maintain highway speed and it is usually bad then...

Weird thing is, there is a side road I take to get to the highway to go to work... I can do 60 on that road without a problem... only seems to be the highway causing the problem.

I have been to 5 dealers in the northern NJ area... including the famed DCH Montclair acura that I purchased this car from and that sponsors this board and they have claimed to have checked the suspension and found nothing wrong.

I have had about 7 different places, both Acura and not Acura look at this car and none of them can identify it. They even claim it doesn't exist because they cant duplicate. I told them it's hard to find and happens at random times but they take it out for 5 minutes and bring it back and claim nothing is happening.

ALso, not sure what you mean by broken lugs on the car.

aaronng

Does it increase with RPM, speed or throttle position?

If it is with RPM or throttle position, it could be a broken engine mount.

nickp85

The shake is worse at lower RPM... I don't feel it very much if I am doing 60 and need to jump to gear 3 or whatever to accelerate hard to say 80 or something.

On a side note, I have also noticed that if I am driving on back roads for like 15 minutes and then get on a highway, it is much better but when I leave work and get right on the highway to get home, it happens right away and is very apparently.

It just seems like something is loose but I don't know what it is at all.

nickp85

Sorry to bump this again, I just feel like someone has to know something I don't...

nbtx

I don't think this has been answered, namely does the vibration
follow engine speed or vehicle speed ?? Once we know, there are
other possibilities. Thanx.

nickp85

The problem seems to occur based on the quality of the road.

smoother = more vibration
50 mph or more = more vibration (only on highway though)
less RPM at higher speed = more vibration

I don't know if I just don't realize the vibration when I gun the engine on the highway cause I'm usually concentrating on passing someone or something. But if I accelerate to say 90 then coast down to 60 or so, I can feel more vibration then as opposed to just going 60 or 90 and staying there

thevikas87

iTrader: (2)

man....i have this same kind of vibration that occurs every half a second with im going around 80ish....on the highway....its like a small shudder....i HATE it and want it to go away....my friend said its tie rod ends...some other ppl said check alignment, or bent rim possibly, etc...i havent gotten it checked out, but i will soon, and ill let you know what i find

acutsx

The wheels are being tighten with proper torque, right ? 80 lbs ?

Have you checked the mounts ? engine mounts? transmission mounts ? if you hit the pothole hard enough bend the rim, you could have broken , bent other parts or loosen things.

nickp85

I don't know the specifics on what Acura checked but they new about the bent rim and the pot hole and claim to find nothing wrong with the car... they even go as far as saying it does not exist...

Whenever I bring it, I lose a day of work and all they do is tell me the tech could not duplicate the issue.

These dealers are such a pain, they won't take my word for it that it's happening, I drive the car 50 miles a day and I see it where as a tech drives it for all of 5 minutes and can't find anything so the car is fine. One of the dealers claimed to not be able to find the problem but wanted me to spend about 5K to replace the entire suspension system... serious scam going on there.

Just for reference, that was Acura of Ramsey in Ramsey, NJ. Don't go there, they will scam you. I had nothing but problems there.

I have given them all the details I gave you guys and they claim nothing is wrong. Car is out of warranty now and the extended one I have will charge me a 50 dollar deductible for going to the dealer.


Also, I really don't know if this has anything to do with it but the vibration seems to be worse when I am driving in weather under like 70 degrees. On some real hot days, 90 plus, same highways I drive every day to and from work... it was less apparent. Also seems to be less apparent in the rain.

Simba91102

Time for a new car?

nickp85

Well probably gonna go for a 2010 TSX when they come out during 2009, right about when I hit 100K on this car.

neocrynym

I recently had a very violent shaking going on (in my '04 6MT) that I could feel at anything above 50mph, and got worse the faster I went. Tire place rebalanced all wheels/tires and it still was doing it. Dealer couldn't duplicate, of course. I finally fixed it myself by putting the front driver wheel on the rear, and that wheel on the front. Problem solved. Because my alignment is slightly off, one of my front tires was wearing faster than the other, so that led to one tire having more tread (thus being a bigger diameter, more weight, etc.). 2 tires like this on the same driveline (your front axles) will cause shaking because essentially the transmission is trying to rotate 2 objects simultaneously that are different weights/sizes. Again, I know you've had all that looked at, but this is what cured my vibration...a simple 5 minute job of switching 2 wheels.

ELSpool

I just did a front brake job on my car, and for fun I had a friend put the rotors on the tire balancing machine, sure enough they were .50 ounces out. With a rotor close to 12 inches in diameter, that can easily cause a vibration at high speeds. To balance a rotor, is fly cut 180 degrees opposite to where the machine is asking for the weight. Obviously start with a small cut..and as mentioned before, I always have my tire road forced balanced.

TSX 3Pedal

From your description, it seems as though your axles are going out because it sounds just like my signs and symptoms when my axles went out.

Here's my link:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...light=personal

After I had my axles replaced, all vibrations and shaking disappeared.

I now have ~113,000 Miles and it seems as though these signs and symptoms are coming back

curls

TSX 3Pedal -- are you sure the axles aren't going out because of a vibration from another component? Just a thought.

ELSpool / Sam -- interesting! Never heard of someone balaning a rotor before (I've heard of turning them on a lathe but never balancing them). Who in Ottawa does that?

TSX 3Pedal

I have no idea where vibration from another component would come from.

I'm thinking that when my Ingall's ETD comes in, it will help with some of the vibration ...although it's not axle related.

ELSpool

Anyone who is comfortable enough to place a rotor against a grinding wheel...some after market rotors like brembo make spring weights, but thats usual high end stuff.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

I have on-car balance done before to correct hard-to-fix vibration problems. It basically takes into account of all the rotating components that attached to the hub. However, it requires the wheel to put back on exactly the way it came off by marking the studs.

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

This problem sounds exactly as one I had except tire balancing fixed mine.

I had a screw in one of my tires and a local shop patched it, but did a half-ass job at balancing the tire. I didn't notice because it was a rear tire. When I had my 70k service, the dealer rotated my tires and suddenly there was a vibration and wheel shake around 60-75 mph which changed intensity depending on road surface conditions. In any case, at my 75k service I had the dealer balance my front tires and presto, shake gone!

nickp85

Unfortunately that does not seem to be my problem... 4 brand new tires and same problem so they are not worn at all

moda_way

Well, I have about 77k miles and I'm getting this shake now. Go figure, nearly 190 whp, 160 ft lbs at the wheel, 5 lb heavier tires per wheel... guess it was going to happen sooner rather than later under these conditions. Time to look aftermarket b/c these look to be $500 ea.

zot09

I was actually about to post a new thread on this, but thankfully I found this before I did.

I've had my 06 for a little over 7 months now(bought it new), and I get this body shaking sensation as well. It usually happens on the highway, at speeds of 60+ for no apparent reason. At first I thought it was just the wind pushing my car to side a bit, but I don't see any of the other cars on the highway moving when I do. Sometimes the car whobbles so much that I think I'll end up hitting the person next to me if I don't pay enough attention *knocks on wood*.

Any help would be awesome.

Mokos23

i have the same issue sometimes.

Spoon

I realize you said 'no apparent reason', but next time try to notice if the road surface is a little rough. There is a patch of highway by me that has a series of very small bumps, minimizes the effects of flash flooding or whatever. Traveling over that, the entire car shakes, seemingly much more so than the other cars next to me. Has been happening from the beginning, early '05. When it occurs do you notice if the passenger head rest shakes significantly? Dealer, useless.

jlukja

I noticed my car gets a wobble now and again. I usually notice this at speed on the freeway (around 70-75). I've always attributed it to the road surface, thought it was the tires tramlining with the grooves in the concrete, but now I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't something else. Its as if, for about a second or two, someone took the steering wheel and nudged it side to side.

tsxflexer

Did you try having the wheel bearing replaced on the wheel that hit the pothole??

supraken

iTrader: (1)

Man... I also have this exact same problem... seems like ever since I hit that damn pothole, my car will never drive smooth again. Now the car is shaking whenever it's 50mph+, and the steering seems a bit wobbly sometimes on slightly rough surfaces.


To OP: I think you've mentioned in one post that it shakes more when you first drive the car from work. Have you considered that it might be the tires flat spotting from sitting for long periods of time? I'm not saying that this is the problem, but I think it might be something that adds to the problem.