Today morning after getting out from the snow I get to the highway, which is all clean to the asphalt. As I gain the speed I notice my steering wheel is all shaking and car feels wierd.... I had my alignment done 5K miles ago, so this could not be the reason.. I also did not hit any objects or anything.
My question is:

Is it safe to drive like that ? Cause it takes time to get dealer's appointment.
Second, has this happened to anyone? What was the problem?

Fuk, the problems just never end.

( I am on my first tranny still, thats the only good thing )


PS. Doing tire rotations and balancing every 7K miles and recently re-balanced front tires. Check tire pressure every two weeks. WTF is the problem??

 

You could have snow pilled up on the inside of your rims, if it is enough snow it would cause your wheel to vibrate.

 

Yeah, I had the same issue this morning. It's most likely just snow piled up in your wheels where it shouldn't be. I couldn't go over 60 for about 20 minutes this morning, then the snow cleared away from where ever it was packed in and the vibrations stopped.

 

Intresting thought, but I doubt cause it stayed like that for quiet some time, and by that time the snow should be off. My rims look clean and there is no extra snow.....

 

Did you also feel vibrations on your steering wheel? How do I get the snow out, is it from the other side ?

 

Yeah, probably snow packed in the inside of the wheel since there's a pretty large space.

I felt vibrations in the steering wheel, in the accelerator, and my seat. My girlfriend had this exact same problem about a month ago in her Matrix the day after a big snowstorm. For both of us, the problem fixed itself once the snow had an opportunity to fall off or melt away while the car was running.

Depending on how long you were driving your car this morning, the combination from driving and the heat from the wheels/car might get the snow all cleared and melted without you having to do anything. So it might be fine once you go to drive again later today.

 

SNOW what's that,, 55 degrees here but the east coast has all the airplanes. so were all stuck Anyway a out of balance condition ussally shows up as a vibration in the steering wheel between 45 and 60 mph...

 

Out of balance what? I had my front tires re-balanced 5-6K miles ago. I regularly rotate and keep good tire pressure. I also had alignment done 5K miles ago.
It just happened right after snow, I really hope its the snow....

 

I think he meant that the vibrations you were feeling is symptomatic of an out-of-balance condition (i.e. snow packed in your rims), and not that your car's tires are out-of-balance normally.

Trust me, if it just started today, then I'd say it would be an amazing coincidence that this problem arose and it wasn't caused by snow. Everything you are describing indicates it's the snow. My buddy told me that his WRX had the same problem this morning, so I'm guessing that a lot of people are experiencing the same thing.

 

And it could be a tire balance problem. Like one of the stickon weights got unstuckon. If the problem goes away then it's probably snow build-up, if it doesn't then have the balance checked. YMMV

 

As CO-CL-S said, you might have "tossed" a wheel weight.

Depending on who put it on, the change in temp, snow melt, whatever could have caused one to go away. It can cause some pretty nasty wheel shimmy.

FYI, I've seen some guys skip the adhesive clean-up step and just lay the weight on a less-than perfect surface (part of the old adhesive backing will still be under the new weight).

Some people will even tell you to put some good silicone RTV over the adhesive weights to keep the adhesive bond layer from being compromised.

 

Good point, I was stuck in the snow and my tires were spinning like crazy for some time, mayble blance weights got off or something. I am gonna drive home soon from work, its 8 miles drive on a clean highway... The temperature is like 33F, so the snow should come off... if it still continues I need to see my dealer.... It did not feel safe to drive, I was going slow and it felt like something will fall offf....

 

same thing happened to me yesterday. my car was shaking so bad I believe I awoke any future rattles Ive heard about around here but have been lucky enough not to have yet. I just pulled over, cleaned as much snow as I could away from the inside of rims, got back in and the problem was solved within minutes. dont worry dude, its no big deal ....

 

YES That's what I ment,,, also note that if your in D5 and the tires start spinning, 0 to 140 mph on the tire in 1 sec (not kidding check your speedo),,, this put a lot of stress on the little wheel weights and they can be thrown really easy. BUT I would guess you just have a ICE Build up on one wheel..

 

Went through the same thing this morning, It cleared up after about 15 minutes on the highway, when all the snow cleared out of the rims.

 

Another possibilty. Combination of the snow and your tires having a temporary flat spot on them from being parked on the snowy,frozen pavement. The flat spots and the snow would work itself out after a few miles. The centrifugal force of the wheel usually helps keep wheel weights in place so I doubt that's it.

 

Yes,, but I was referring to the longitudinal forces during initial acceleration,, yes there is still x, y, z axis during acceleration,,, the lateral forces will max out during constant velocity, and yes they will help out during acceleration but not very much initially,,, but let's not bore to death 90% of this board...

 

mine shakes between 60-65 mph, very slightly..and there's no snow out here in LA...what do you guys think??

 

IMO, the car is very sensitive to wheel balance -- and radial and lateral runout. I don't want to get into a 3-page story, but if the wheels aren't centered (dead on) and the balance isn't done on a well-calibrated machine at higher speeds, you can get some shimmy at various speeds (40-55, 60-70, and so on).

Also -- if your rotors are warped enough, that will cause it to, but you would probably feel the pulsing shimmy with brake application.

BTW, the weights do come off regardless of centripetal force. The wheels are not only being accelerated, but more importantly, there are idiots out in the world putting on those weights and if you hit a bump hard enough, you can generate a huge G force that will be much higher than that generated by centripetal force. IF the wheel's surface isn't clean where the adhesive backing gets located -- forget about it; it's coming off...

 

Thank you all for your replies. The snow was indeed the cause of the problem, when things melted and I cleaned up the remaining snow everything went back to normal.
Strange thing, never thought snow could do something like that....

 

Funny as shit I had the EXACT same problem, today and thought it was snow in the the wheel well but actually I pulled over and checked my tire pressure and it was all off, 32/35/29/30 psi, so put 40psi all around and problem fixed.

for a seconds I thought my brakes were warped again, but happened everytime i went above 60mph.

go check your tire pressure

 

Holy S!! I think the same thing's happening to me. It started today when I was heading to my bartending class. I felt an ungodly vibration in the steering wheel and seats. It seemed worse the higher the speed (65 was not fun). At lower speeds it felt like a shimmy/front-to-back sway. I was first thinking tranny, because mine is so on its way out. Then, I was thinking warped rotors. Then, i was thinking front end...rack & pinion...who knows?

I've also been hearing an intermittent squeaking/creaking noise in the front end as I come to a stop, as I leave from a stop, and there's a rubbing-type noise when I turn the wheels. This seemed to start when I picked the car up from the body shop last month, but it's been intermittent until this past week, so I haven't felt the need to take it to the dealer right away.

I really want to take it to the dealer tomorrow if it continues, but I don't want to miss more work, and I certainly can't miss my therapist appointment, so I'm hoping it is the snow causing the vibration. That said, the creaking noise started long before the snow.

Any ideas what the creaking noise could be?

Thanks!

 

Hey Bulldog...I am having exactly the same problem as you....front end creaking noise. When I was at my buddies shop, he took a quick look and said the front sway-bar bushings were loose, and that I should take it to acura! I am happy it happened soon than later, because i am at 48.5K miles and am taking it to acura...QUICK!

Is there any way that lowering springs could affect this? what B.S. excuses can Acura come up with?

 

When they balance your wheels...make sure they balance it all of the way down to zero!!! I had a slight vibration from 50-65mph and I had my wheels re-balanced and it stopped

 

Well, the vibrationg is gone, so I'm guessing it must have been the snow. I did notice I'm missing a weight on the front left wheel, but who knows. The weird thing is that it happened on both trips yesterday (to class and home), but not this morning when the temperature overnight wouldn't really have been warm enough to melt much.

I guess I'll call them and try to take it in this week...should it be covered under warranty? I haven't looked at my extended warranty yet for this.

Thanks!

 

I had the very same issue with my other car. I actually stopped mid-route to make sure I didn't have a flat. I noticed that each wheel had snow packed in it in different areas. I got out my snow brush and poked out the snow and the car drove fine after that. I, too, didn't realize how sensitive wheel balancing was.

I think it got worse as you drove it because the heat from driving and using the brakes probably melted some of the snow (and some probably came off while driving). Then the vibration got worse as the snow began to decrease inside of each wheel(think of a washing machine that bangs when the laundry gets off balance in the spin cycle--pushed to one side).

 

Yeh, it's weird, the snow freezes over and creates an off-balance feel. When it melts off, it goes away. Unusual feeling.