therealciviczc

Please God tell me someone else has run in to this exact problem. I read some of the other 'shakes' threads, but none mention a shake quite like mine.

The car is pretty much fine up to about 73mph. From 73mph to 88mph or so, the car has a horrible vibration, or shake. It is very very pronounced and then slowly fades as you get closer to 88mph. The strange part is that the vibration pulses. It vibrates for about 3 seconds, and then doesn't for about 5 seconds, then does for 3, and then off again. It is very very noticable... as in the mirrors shake, top squeaks, etc. The car does this under acceleration, coasting, deceleration, and brakeing, all in that general speed range. The tires have been rebalanced and the problem did not change... if anything, I notice it more now, but that's probably my imagination.

I'm really concerned. I'm about 1 day away from listing this thing in autotrader and taking a few thousand dollar bath on getting rid of it. I honestly can't afford to put a few grand in to guessing through the problem like the dealers will want to do (try to rebalance the tires, try alignment, try axels, try tires). Surely a problem that is this specific has an absolute solution.

I'm leaning away from CV joints simply because turning makes no difference, acceleration makes no difference, etc. I don't think its tires since they were just rebalanced and it did it before and after.

Thanks!! Please help me like my new car. At this point I think it was the biggest mistake I've ever made.

gosixers215

That's just the flux capacitor warming up.

Do you have aftermarket wheels on the car by any chance?

fire-ballz

it sounds like your u-joints might be going out on you. u-joints generally take about an hour to replace. try this out first then see what happens.

fyi: i own a mechanic shop

AssassinJN

I had a similar problem in my 944 Porsche a few years back, turned out to be that I lost a couple wheel weights so my balance was all thrown off. The weights would slowly unbalance the wheel every 5 seconds or so, the car would shake, then it would get back in balance for another short while.

A free quick check is to take a look at your wheels and see if there are any spots that look like weights may have fallen off.

Also did this problem just sudden start? Did it gradually get worse over time? Did you just change wheels, tires, hit a curb, etc?

therealciviczc

The car has stock wheels.

The balance was just done. It shook, so I took it in, got the tires all balanced, and drove it away still shaking. The tech did mention that a couple of them were off by a little, but nothing major at all. It really didn't change before and after the balanace.

The car only has 19,000 miles, so it doesn't seem like U-joints should be going, but I'll check it out.

xviper

We have NO U-joints on this car (except for the little ones in the steering column).

Wheel bearings maybe? Any sound associated with this? I realize that at that speed, it's not going to be evident due to other noises, but can you detect any mild whining at lower speeds that change with speed?
Just to eliminate the obvious -- tire pressures are correct? How about lugnuts? Torqued correctly? Axle nut torqued to the new 221 lb/ft?
Has anyone attemped to rotate the tires/rims? You know that our rims cannot be mounted on the opposite ends of the car, right? The back rims have a smaller centerbore hole. If someone at the tire shop mistakenly mounted a front tire on it and tried to put that rim on the front axle, a harmonic vibration can be created at a specific speed. Also, if this happened, you would have front rims on the rear. Although this is how you are supposed to deal with a flat (by putting the front on the rear and the spare on the front), keep in mind that when running the spare, you are to drive much slower. If you have a front rim on the rear unintentionally and drive fast, it would be like having an aftermarket rim on there WITHOUT hubcentric rings. The gap between the center bore of the rim and the axle hub would be too great. The rim may not be centered.

NFRs2000NYC

Does the vibration go away after 88mph?

(remember guys, 73-88ish is the top of third).....maybe he has a problem with the gear...

just spitballin....

therealciviczc

Its all gears, even neutral. It fades away as the speed increases. It may still be there, but its very minor. The shaking through those mid 70s and 80s is very bad.

djpeak10

you know i have the same EXACT problem with my car. I have read all the threads about this issue and cannot narrow it down to something. But what i have noticed is that on some freeways it doesnt do it, and on others it does. The mirrors and the passenger seat shaking is the worst. For the life of me i cant figure out what it is, but your symptoms are to the T exactly what my car does.

therealciviczc

I don't hear any bearing noise. I'll try to listen more, but usually that's pretty loud before you feel anything.

All the wheels seem to be right and the tire pressure is good. I'll try the axel nut.



I did find a post by someone back in 2002 or so that had a very similar problem. It looked like it was resolved by two new tires, two axels, and tightening the subframe bolts. That sounds like a pricey fix though. Its the pulsating that makes this confusing. The on and off shaking. It it was constant it would be easier to figure out, but its just three seconds shaking, 5 not, three shaking, 5 not... over and over. Ugh.