Why does my car have a bad vibration?

[housegsx]

My 96 Talon awd has a vibration. It's not all the time. It comes and goes, but it will increase or decrease with vehicle speed. Not engine speed.

So far I've put the wheels from my GSX on it and it still has the vibration. I've also checked the main driveshaft carrier bearings going to the rear diff. They aren't torn and don't seem to have any more play than the ones on the GSX.

Any ideas?

 

[rush2252]

It's not a wheel bearing.

Use a steth on it and see if you an hear it.. I have a rear one going out on my 2g and it doesnt move at all. With all 4 wheels off the ground and it idling in gear you can definately hear it grinding away. Its loud enough people think im in an airplane whenver they call me and is getting progressively worse. If you dont have access to a stethliscope use a long handled screwdriver. Stick the blade on something solidng near the hub and stick your ear on the handle you should hear it if its the bearing.

I also assumed It wasnt the bearing on mine as there is no slack whatsoever in it but sure enough its grinding horribly loud.


512-181 BCA is your part number for the rear on Awd or 518-121 cant remmber it will probably say evo on the description if a local parts store has it. Look at around $140USD if they have it


Just food for thought
Kolby


IF you dont have proper safety equip just put the car off all fours and rotate it by hand if its bad you should still hear it

 

[housegsx]

An alignment thats out will not cause vibration. Also, just because your vehicle drives straight and tracks straight DOES NOT mean your alignment is correct.

Things to check:
Tire balance
Out of round tire
Bent Rim (even a slight bend can shake the hell out of you)
Drive shaft (need the car jacked up in the air and run the car in gear looked for an out of round/ out of balance driveshaft) which is typically a bad carrier bearing, axle flange, etc
Wheel bearings can cause some vibration (not typical most times)
Motor Mounts, Transmission Mounts

An all honesty Tire balance, an out of round tire and/or a bent rim is most often times the issue. In your case it seems like it must be something else. Just go ahead and look over everything everyone has suggested and let us know your findings.

Good things to check. Definitely not the tires or wheels. And I've gone through plenty of bad wheel bearings and it just doesn't seem like that's the problem.

I still suspected it could be the drive shaft so I filled the carrier bearings with window weld yesterday. I'm just giving it a couple days to make sure it's fully cured before I go for a test drive.

 

[1g-tsi-86]

bearing can be worn out and make noise regardless of side to side or up and down slack. jack up all 4 wheels place hand on strut and spring have a buddy spin the tire real fast and feel for vibrations.

 

[GsXdSmKingGsX]

Yeah i went to a shop yesterday and told them your symptoms and they said even though there is no play or anything that its your wheel bearing. So there you go.

 

[housegsx]

FYI, the vibration was caused from a torn bushing on the front passenger side curved compression arm. I think it was noticeable at speed because the bushing would compress as the wheel was tracking poorly. Basically, the faster I would go, the more the wheel would get pushed backed, causing a very bad toe-out condition.

I found the torn bushing and filled it with RTV temporarily. And the vibration went away, so I am going to order a new compression arm today.