Vibration with speed, goes away when turning

[Thomas91169]

I searched (been trying to fix this problem for about a year now) and didnt find much.

I have a vibration that gets more apparent/audible the faster the car gets, peaking at around 75mph. You can feel it through the steering wheel or floorboard its like someone put a vibrator under there, and in the cabin it sounds like im running some super swampers for tires on the freeway. But heres the kicker - when i give any steering input to the right, it completely goes away. turning left does not make the vibration go away though.

Replaced (in order I replaced the item:
-Entire front suspension (ebay kit - upper/lateral/lower control arm, Inner and Outer TRE, Sway bar endlinks)
-Had it aligned
-Shocks (Koni Yellows) and on stock springs - although pass front is still a KYB GR2 due to the mounting tab shearing off one day on that koni
-Front wheel bearings
-Wheels (18" enkei's to stock 16's) and tires (now maybe 5k on them)
-Had it aligned again
-Sway bar bushings
-motor mounts.
-both axles

I read there was a tsb on having bad mounts that will cause the axles to always be at a state of compression (ie being forced into the diff) due to the motor being misaligned or other suspension components being damaged, which is why I replaced the mounts, and then went ahead and did the axles thinking a new set would fix it. Thought maybe thats why when turning right it tweaks the axle so it doesnt make any noise/vibration. No bueno though, still there.

Im out of ideas. Other than the fact most of the dust boots in that ebay suspension kit are already looking like theyve had 100k on them (maybe 10k old) and are looking worn out, I cant think of anything left to replace.

Maybe its something in the diff which could be why giving steering input makes it go away?

 

[WhiteThunder]

hmm sounds like my car when the drive shaft was going out. It slowly started shaking at high speeds 65-75 then when i hit 80 it would just go away. Ended up replacing Ujoint/yolk. I'd leave it up to the experts on that one though, since im not one. Hope maybe this helps

sorry didnt even take the time to notice you have a gst. My post was completely useless sorry sir

 

[VTEC_THIS]

This is pretty basic but worth mentioning since I don't see it listed above. It can be something as simple as your wheels not being properly balanced. When was the last time you had the wheels and tires balanced?

When we bought new wheels for our daily driver we had them mounted and balanced at a place that only does wheels and tires but they must have put the wrong dimensions in the machine when they balanced them because after we installed them we started feeling strong vibrations especially at highway speeds. It drove us crazy trying to figure out what it could be, the first thing we thought of was that the wheels were out of balance but we dismissed the thought almost immediately because you wouldn't think a place that only does wheels and tires could screw up something that simple. We finally gave in and brought the car to our regular mechanic and he confirmed they were way out of balance and rebalanced them for us. Problem solved.

Whether that's your problem or not I can't say for certain but it's definitley worth checking into before you buy more parts trying to troubleshoot the problem.

 

[mrfister11]

front diff.. is your subframe bent anywhere?

 

[VTEC_THIS]

I just did a quick Google search and it looks like it could be your passenger side wheel bearing. I know you said you have already replaced your front wheel bearings but it's not impossible for a wheel bearing to fail prematurely or to have simply been bad out of the box.

Here are some links:
Vibration in truck except when turning right! - S-10 Forum
loud vibrating/rubbing noise goes away on right turns
Vibration/Noise.....Goes away when wheel is turned
vibration stops when turning right - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

 

[Thomas91169]

wheels/tires were balanced 5k ago when I had the new tires installed. This only slightly made the vibration a little less apparent when going from the old tires on those wheels to the new set, but over time it came back to the previous noise level/feel.

no subframe damage thats noticeable by eye. All body parts are still OEM with the factory sticker on them, so its never been in an accident.

EDIT:

damn I didnt even think about googling it. Thanks for those links.

The two front bearings are about 10k old by now and are autozone brand. I have my old ones that I could swap out (replaced them not to diagnose the vibration but because they had huge amounts of top/bottom play) and see if it goes away with the old set.

 

[SrKegler]

Alomost has to be a wheel bearing. I'm not familiar with 2Gs, on 1Gs the torque specs are around 150#. Is it possible the bearing wasn't tightened enough??

 

[Thomas91169]

I doubt it I torqued the shit out of them, even though the originals werent too difficult to get off (bolt wise), extremely pita to get out of the knuckles though.

 

[Thomas91169]

Mark this thread as resolved!

I just swapped out the pass side wheel bearing with one of my old ones. Sure enough, vibration went away.

Cant believe it was that simple. Guess it was just a shitty bearing from the get-go. Thanks guys!

 

[dxxparsell]

Wheel bearings, or maybe the boot, personally I would replace the entire "axles"

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Autozone wheel bearings last about what I might expect. 10k apparently.

 

[Thomas91169]

Wheel bearings, or maybe the boot, personally I would replace the entire "axles"

Uhh the issue was resolved via replacing the pass front wheel bearing.

Autozone wheel bearings last about what I might expect. 10k apparently.

Less than that , ive been dealing with it for a while but as of last month it started to get really annoying.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Dang! I've heard people have had good results with Timken bearings, but otherwise I guess it's OEM.

 

[Thomas91169]

Autozone sells both Timken and Duralast; I got the duralast. My drivers side is still good. Think that pass side was just junk from the get go. Standard duralast, just like alts its like russian roulette.