so like the title says, when i'm braking and the car passes down through 30mph as i decelerate, the noise and vibration increase ten fold. it's quiet as anything above 32 and below 27, but in that small band you can feel the vibration and the noise is so loud it can compete with the radio.

i thought i had a warped rotora rotor on one side so i swapped them out for the original slotted rotors i had that i had someone turn for me, but unfortunately it did not cease. anyone have any ideas? i doubt alignment since i don't have vibrations at any highway speeds. my pads are new. i don't have any reason to believe i have any issues with my CV joints or anything. i'm out of ideas.

thanks in advance!

Bob (SSTS)

 

were you in an accident lately? frame damage? Maybe chopped tires or a bent rim?

 

Hm, check your wheel bearings.

 

hey buswell, no, no accident lately. the car has been doing this for a while. could be possible about a bent rim though, it's impossible not to hit potholes out here.

optomos - i'll do the wiggle test to check the bearings the next chance i get, i gotta see if there's a better way off hand. i'll have to go back and see if that was a common problem with the tl.

thanks for the suggestions.

 

hey guys, my mechanic friend suggested that it may be the rear brakes since i don't feel it in the steering wheel. any takers? i haven't changed the brakes (rear) since i bought the car with 27k miles on it. i have 88k miles on it as of tonight. wouldn't surprise me. i know they need to be done.

SSTS

 

well if you said you changed the rotors and it didnt help it i doubt its the rotors. You cant do the wiggle test on the wheel to check for a bearing (unless its really bad) most bearings will make a hum and sometimes slight vibration, but tis usually something that graduadly gets louder as speed goes up. An alighnment doesnt fix a shaking wheel, a tire balance would.

Its strange its just that one narrow speed that it does it. Can you tell where the sound is coming from? front rear? thats what i woudl do is isolate that

 

yeah i had my old rotors cut and i put them on sunday sunday afternoon.

i'm doubting it's the bearings because i don't hear any hum at all from the wheels. i had a bad bearing on my old SHO so i know what it should sound like. gonna do the wiggle test this afternoon. i'll try rotating the wheels as well to see if i can find any obvious binding in their motion.

and like you said i don't think it's the alignment simply because there's no vibration in the steering wheel other than what the rest of the car is experiencing.

i always thought it was coming from the front, but to be honest with you i have a hard time determining it for sure now (partly psychological since it was suggested it could be the rear). i have to have one of my friends ride in the backseat and listen. i plan on bringing the car in to acura get the tranny fluid changed soon so i'll have them rotate the tires and check the balance and alignment to be sure.

one thing is that i *know* i need new rears. i bought the car with 27k miles on it and i have never changed the rears (88k miles on it as of last night), and since i don't know when the previous owner had the slotted rotors put on the rears it could conceivably have been 70k miles or more since they were last changed.

i'm ordering some new rear rotors and pads today. if i'm lucky i'll have them by saturday and be able to solve the problem. i need swaybar endlinks too

thanks again for the help.

Bob

 

so thanks to excellent customer service by Excelerate i had my new rotoras and pads by that weekend but had to bring my car back to the body shop because as mentioned in some of my other threads i had been backed into about 4 weeks ago and the body shop did not fix the car right. but they completely repainted it and fixed everything right, so i'm a happy camper now.

got the car back last week and put on the rotoras last saturday but the rear right caliper was shot so the car was undriveable. got my new caliper last night, threw it on and everything is fine. the rear brakes were beyond gone and i'm certain it was causing the vibrations i mentioned in this thread. so problem solved.

so my lesson learned is that it's wise to change your rear brakes after 65,000 miles. first car i've ever had to do the rear brakes on too.

SSTS

 

Thanks for the update. It is interesting that the vibration only occurred in such a small speed band.

Bob

 

yeah, i have to admit that i really didn't believe the rear brakes were the cause of my issues. i knew they needed to be changed since i have high mileage, but i never thought it would cause that kind of problem.

i've had several cars in my ownership that i've take over 110,000 miles on the odometer (i usually inhereted or bought the cars with 60-70k miles on them to begin with) but i never ever had that kind of problems with the rear brakes or vibration in such a small speed band. not bashing acura or anything like that, just reinforcing that i never would have thunk it.

SSTS