Vibration on Deceleration

[tercel4wdrules]

I was driving my car to school in Santa Barbara (coincidentally I saw a girl driving an Corolla All-Trac on campus today) and when I was descending into Camarillo on the 101N I got this nasty vibration on deceleration, it was shaking pretty bad at 55-60 MPH. I've also noticed the vibration coming from the front-end when I'm on a turn on the freeway. The only way I got rid of the vibration was to use the gas to stop it and then manipulate the speed with the brakes and then hit the gas again to stop it. It was pretty scary for me. I'm thinking it's those CV joints, but what else can cause this? I need to be able to drive this thing on 230-mile round trips, since I was fortunately granted parking... I'm thinking about getting those GSP axles. Any help will be appreciated.

[Typrus]

Hey! Sweet! Grats on the parking!

CV's are a possibility. Likely if putting on the gas takes it away. That will put a positive load on the joint, keeping it from doing its little wobble routine.
See what direction turn makes the sound worse. That'll help you decifer which side it's coming from.

We'll see what other suggestions come up.

[tercel4wdrules]

Thanks! Actually, I had a funny moment yesterday as I was picking up my parking permit and this guy behind me was laughing at me when I told the clerk that my car was a station wagon. Not to mention it doesn't match in with the BMWs and newer cars on campus, but it's unique. Now I wonder if anyone else on campus has one... Hmmm...

When I'm taking a right turn on the freeway is when I get the vibration, because when I'm on a overpass and turning left I don't get that.

The darn thing feels slow on these long 45 mph stretches we have here.

Thanks for the help.

[keith]

Have someone turn your steering wheel sharply back and forth while you look at the suspension pieces. You can usually see the part that needs to be replaced, half of it won't be moving in sync with the other half. If all the steering parts look solid, then it could be the cv joints or the upper strut mount.

[Petros]

You also might look over the engine mounts. It is less common but if one or both are failed it could cause a vibration under certain driving conditions.

[xirdneh]

this nasty vibration on deceleration, it was shaking pretty bad at 55-60 MPH. I've also noticed the vibration coming from the front-end when I'm on a turn on the freeway. .

lug nuts?

[ARCHINSTL]

lug nuts?

Ditto on this - happened to me when I was a kid on my Dad's '54 Ford - someone (not moi) forgot to tighten one side...
Tom M.

[keith]

There are a couple of other things that can cause this. A bent rim could be the cause, but either you hit something, and you would remember that, or its been there for awhile, or you just rotated the bent rim from the rear to the front.

You could have broken a belt in a tire, but that usually only happens to old worn out tires or tires that have been in one position for a long time and then rotated to the opposite side of the car. Unless you rotate tires regularly, either don't rotate at all or only rotate front to back. I prefer not at all.

You could have thrown a weight and one of the front tires has simply become unbalanced.

[takza]

I rotate mine every 5K. Just had to do it again cause the front 2 were worn more than the back ones...keeping the trans from coming out of 4wd on dry pavement driving straight ahead.

Plus its puts the best tires on the front for winter.

That vibration sounds like CV joints to me...though I've only seen vibrations on cornering or acceleration.

First thing would be to have the wheels balanced and see if that makes it go away?

[Typrus]

I can't see how putting power and braking to maintain speed would affect a balanced wheel? Should just vibe regardless at its inherit frequencies.

[takza]

I can't see how putting power and braking to maintain speed would affect a balanced wheel? Should just vibe regardless at its inherit frequencies.

I've seen unbalanced front wheels that would do this...you could use the brakes to quiet them down....could also be out of round tires. Loose wheel bearings?

[GTSSportCoupe]

Probably a long shot, but you don't have warped rotors do you? Does your brake pedal pulse? Just thought I'd add another thing for you to check. Warped rotors would only be noticeable when braking, not turning though.

[tercel4wdrules]

Well, I finally figured it out, and good thing too... I found out that the rear tire had developed bulges so I had it replaced. My dad asked them to check the front end and then sure enough the problem was clear. It has a bad ball joint and control arm bushing on the left side. It has a considerable amount of play on the wheel when moved back and forth and it imitates that awful clunking noise I heard when it was vibrating. I decided not to drive it back to Santa Barbara as it was getting worse and worse. I've heard that ball joints can snap at any moment, so for now it will be sitting parked at home. I also found out it's not cheap to have the ball joints and bushings replaced, it's around a $315 job with alignment included, which is an even better reason to keep it parked. Oh well, I do miss the car over here.

[keith]

$315 ouch. It's a deadbone easy job for DIY.

1. Disconnect the strut from the steering knuckle (two bolts, mark the location of the groove in the upper washer, it sets the camber)

2. Remove the two bolts and nut on the ball joint.

3. Use a small Pitman Arm Puller (Autozone $12.95) to pull the ball joint from the lower control arm.

4. Re assemble, get that concentric washer on the upper strut bolt aligned exactly where it was. Do that and your front end alignment won't be changed.

While you have the ball joint out, you could go ahead and undo the stabilizer bolt and control arm bolt and pull the control arm. Replacing the bushing is a very labor intensive job and you may find that it really wasn't necessary. You usually have to do both side with the bushings and you will get a little smoother ride, but I don't think that it is contributing to your vibration problem. I think that most of that $315 quote must be for the bushing.

I recommend that you just do the ball joint and test drive it.

[tercel4wdrules]

Thanks for the help keith. It's $150 labor to replace both control arm bushings and ball joints. The ball joints are around $35 each and the bushings are around $25 each. That brings the parts total to $120. Then add alignment to that for another $45 and then you get the final quote of $315.

The bushing on the left side is somewhat popping out and the rubber is cracked. Next time I go home I will try to take a picture if I remember. Regardless, I'm over 100 miles away from the car and I have no spare time to do it, so it'll have to wait a few weeks.