I bought a CPO '05 TL (which had a bad front end vibration at speeds over 40-60mph). Noticed about 3 weeks after buying. ANYWAY, the dealer found that the "subframe was shifted." They told me it is "no big deal," but I can't help but worry. They finally fixed the vibration / pull after 4 tries.

Now, I brought it back for routine maintenance- tire rotation... and the vibration is back (and they told me after 3 return visits) that they can't do anything to get rid of the vibration. Plus, I can't rotate my tires. What the heck... I've never heard of something so silly.

Is this something I need to worry about (the subframe deal?) I'm afraid it will affect future reliability, safety... as the car ages (and the warranty runs out, thus becoming my financial problem.

Thoughts anyone?

 

A shifted subframe? They sold you a CPO with a shifted subframe?

While I'm not sure what exactly a shifted subframe will do for your handling and acceleration performance, I do know the vibration won't go away without it and it'll cause the car to inately deviate off track to the right or left, pending on the damage to the subframe.

Possible causes, that I am aware of is if someone slammed into the curb with their wheel and bent it. This means that the car was in an accident and a control arm and other various parts were most likely replaced.

To give you a rough estimate of the kind of work neccessary to correct the subframe problem, since I have experience.

You will need to pull the motor out, you will also need to remove various suspension components, the axel and transmission, that will give you access to remove the subframe, which is only 800$ but requires 8~10 hours of labor to remove and replace.

 

subframe problem... went away? my guess is 1 of 2 things... either your wheels need to be balanced... or your toe is off

 

a vibration caused from a "shifted subframe" that disappears is highly unlikely. I think you just need your tires rebalanced. rolling on stockies or aftermarket? If aftermarket you may have a cracked or missing hub ring

 

Has the car ever had the trans replaced? On most if not all FWD cars, the subframe is dropped to replace the trans. As fars as it shifting, it usually can only go back one way unless there's a lot of slop in the bolt holes. There's the obvious chance it's been in a wreck.

I vote for tire imbalance. These cars seem super sensitive to it.