Front end vibration (Long)

[David Sontos <dsontos@xxxx>]

I knew my front tires were getting worn when we took the trip up to
Cleveland and the first rain storm we hit pretty much confirmed that
when the front end decided to take its own path after hitting the first
big puddle. And we were also limited by the fact that the car would
vibrate over 60 MPH. So one of the first tasks after we returned to
Virginia was get new tires on the front and get a wheel alignment.

Having the new tires mounted and balanced the Merchants store does a
"Free" alignment check, which cost me $39 because I knew it was off.
After rolling out of the Merchants store I headed up to the freeway to
test out the new front tires. Well, we made it up to 62 MPH this time
and the vibration was back. Next step dial indicator check. According to
the manual you are allowed 0.080" runout on the wheels. I borrowed a
dial indicator from work and checked the drivers side wheel, about
0.018", OK. Next checked the passenger wheel, 0.065", wow. I noticed the
low and high points on the passenger wheel and they were right in line
with the lug nuts. I removed the tire and and rotated it 180 degrees on
the axial to see if the runout was the wheel or the axial. Retightened
the lugs and checked the runout, it was still on the same place on the
wheel which eliminated the axial. The low spot was directly at one lug.
I had some 0.010" shim stock available so I made a shim for the one lug
position on the axial. Remounted the wheel so the low spot was on the
shim and retightened the lugs, check the runout with the dial indicator
and runout was now 0.012", fantastic.

Time for a test ride. Hit the freeway and again still had vibration but
it felt different this time, not only was the steering wheel shaking but
the whole car seemed to be shaking. Lets put the dial indicator on the
rear tires. Jack the car back up again and both rear wheels are only
0.015-0.020" out. Rats, I thought for sure I had it nailed this time.
Well the only thing left to check was the rear wheel balance. Now I just
had this done last year some time and I didn't put that many miles on it
since. Ok, take off the rear wheels and lug them down to the store to
check the balance.

Picked up the rear wheels and noticed something right away, one wheel
had two giant weights where it only had one before, now I was anxious to
get home and get them mounted back on the car.

Have you married folk ever noticed that when you are right at the point
of making a major breakthrough that your spouse is always calling you
for dinner. Anyway after woofing down something my wife made I was back
out to the garage to finish mounting the wheels. Dropped the car off the
jack stands and headed for the freeway. Of course I hit every red light
there was on the way. Turned onto the freeway and started accelerating,
50....60....65.....70.....75........ Yahoo, smooth as silk

Hope you enjoyed my story and maybe gave some ideas of where to look for
your front end problem.

Dave Sontos
VIN 02573