Thread: Steering wheel vibration under acceleration!!!

by the way, thanks fellas for even posting to help me solve this issue.

If you havent done so, make sure your front tires arent cupped. It happened to me and it was the last thing I checked. Replaced the tires and the vibration went away.

i will check that out. the tires on the car where perfect when i first replaced the axles and as soon as i drove the car down the block i noticed this terrible vibration. i just keep thinking something happened in that replacement of axles that totally messed up my ride.

true, if your toe was off or if you tire are a big POS. they can be cupped.

Flat spot on tire, or any tire balance issues, or anything like that would still happen at speed regardless of acceleration. I'm starting to lean towards bad motor mounts as well.

Have you done a visual inspection down below? How does the passenger side carrier look?

I know it's not the best thing to do, but you might try putting the front up on jack stands and put the car in gear. Watch the rotating assemblies (while remaining safe!) for any wobbles or anything. Take the wheels off and do it again to check brake rotors, etc.

When you say you're experiencing steering wheel vibration, are you talking about just the steering wheel or does the whole car vibrate? Does it vibrate by turning left and right quickly, or does it vibrate up and down or side to side?

my thinking in the beginning was:

-axle gets pulled out the tranny
-gets pulled out of the hub
-new axle gets put back in the tranny
-new axle gets put back in the hub
-vibration starts

so i think the only three things i can think of going wrong there would be
-defective axle
-wheel bearings get jacked up
-something goes wrong in the tranny when the new axles are put in or old ones pulled out.

You have to disconnect the strut from the steering knuckle at the least to get the axle out. Likely, they disconnected the tie rod and the lower ball joint as well (if they aren't experience with the particular chassis). Those parts and anything connected to them could all be trouble areas.

Then if they're crazy, they could remove the passenger side axle carrier just for kicks.

cheap aftermarket axles lack the damper in the middle. The car I mentioned earlier in this thread is a cheap axle, it lacks the damper, and shakes like a bitch.

You can see what I'm talking about in this thread. http://www.sr20-forum.com/112512-post1.htmlHe also makes note of the damper but in his case it doesn't vibrate. My car shakes even worse on decel under engine braking. Which makes me think mine is mounts unlike yours.

i read that post over and over when i first started to look into it being my axles. i checked and mine didnt have that damper but when i looked in to it, mine didnt come with the damp because it isnt rebuilt. it is a brand new unrebuilt axle.



i asked my mechanic what/how he took my axles out he said he undid the ball joint to do it and nothing else.

Yeah, that could do it. OEM axles have that damper on there for vibration reasons just like this. The fact that replacement axles don't have them makes me angry. Yet another part for our cars that sucks aftermarket