Thread: Steering wheel vibration under acceleration!!!

so i had my mechanic replace my axles about 4 months ago with brand new ones, not rebuilt units. as soon as i started to drive home the WHOLE car started vibrating. i immediately thought it was a bad axle because my car wasnt doing this before they were replaced. 2 months go by and i return my axles thinking they were defective and i my buddy and replace them both with new axle seals. as soon as i start driving home the vibration is still there.

so now im thinking oh, its the wheel bearings. so this weekend i replace the wheel bearings and put in new hubs as well along with all the seals in the hub. as soon as i drive drive it the vibration is still there and im pissed.

in the time i have dealt with the vibration i noticed it is speed not only speed dependent but also only occurs under acceleration. it starts vibration the whole car including the steering wheel from about 25mph to about 50mph and then levels off and stops as i cruise on the freeway. when i give it gas (even a little) it starts to vibrate again even when im cruising along. the vibration only happens under acceleration is what i narrowed it down to.

everything suspension wise is new in the front of the car. ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, coil over set up, bearings and hubs, axles (3 different sets), brake pads and rotors and es bushings in the control arms and all the motor mounts are prothane.

so tell what you guys think it may be at this point? my last suspicion is the LSD in the tranny. im going to jack up the car and put it in gear and see is the axle moves in there. is it time to replace the 200k mile tranny in my car?

have you replaced the steering rack bushings?

x2. It seems like something in the steering system, possibly coupled with a bad alignment in the front.

I have a shimmy in my p10. It's very noticeable and comes the same as you described. I have bought 4 new tires had them balanced and an alignment. Same shimmy still.

i wish it was a steering problem at this point. i did the alignment twice already right after the first time first time i replaced the axles and again two weeks ago after everything was replaced down there with new parts.



yeah, the steering rack bushings are ES polyurethane bushings. if i hold the steering wheel as hard as possible the rest of the car still vibrates violently as you can hear the windows vibrating inside the doors. i kinda get scared i might break the windows.

i have revised every freaking bolt down there and they are all tight. the sway bar bolts tend to loosen up after about a week of the whole front end of the car vibrating from left to right like it does.

maybe a bent rim?

just this weekend i replaced the wheel bearings i was so freaking happy cuz i was like "heck yeah, no more vibrations" so i swapped out my b14 wheels for my super advan sa3's. i put my b14s back on thinking it was the rims but it was the same thing so its not the rims.

well, although the ideas are getting thinner and thinner, I still doubt it's being caused by your transmission. Sure, it's possible, but that would be the absolute last thing I'd ever consider...in my opinion it's just so unlikely right now.

What's your clutch / flywheel setup? Sprung? Unspring? Cermaic? Is it stock flywheel, lightened, or something else? When did you last service it? Also, will it shake in every gear, or is it just one or two?

(I am assuming it's M/T. If it's A/T, this is a whole different ballgame)

haha, sorry i couldnt help but look at your avatar and not remember how funny those red stripe beer commercials are.

ok, back on topic. the clutch is a ACT HDSS that i installed about 4 years ago and has about 25k miles. the flywheel is stock. it shakes in any gear as long as i am giving it gas. it will vibrate 1st through 5th until im at a cruising speed and i am not putting the motor under load.

anyone else got any ideas?