shaking

[T_love]

maybe you guys can help me with this before i cough up $75 to get it checked at the dealership. My car is shaking. This happens mostly when i'm rolling to a stop, around 80MPH and whenever i let off on the gas. it feels as if one of my wheels is wabbling(sp?)

One guy told me it might be that one of my wheels is not balanced or one of those metal balancing thingies fell off. If it's balancing wouldn't it only shake at highway speeds not at 5MPH. By the way when i'm rolling to a stop the interval between each bump/sway gets longer, like there is a blister or something stuck on one of the tires.

Sorry for the long post , Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Xaev]

Could be so many things.

Try getting up to speed where the shaking is easily noticable and shift into neutral. If it goes away then it could actually be driveline related If it continues, even in neutral, it's probably wheel/tire/brake related.

If you can feel the shaking through the steering wheel its almost always out of balance or out of round front tires. If the wheel pulls to one side or another in unison with the shaking it could be your front brakes dragging. If it's more of a pulsing sensation while braking to a stop it could be warped rotors or improperly torqued lug nuts.

I've seen all these things cause some of the symptoms you listed. There are other things as well but those are the most common I'd think. Hit any curbs lately? ;p

-Xaev

[T_love]

I can feel the shaking through the steering wheel. I kinda don't think it's the rotors coz i had messed up rotors on my Maxima and this feels different also its not pulsating when stopping.

So basically the easiest thing i can do for now is change the tires?? They are worn out so i guess i might as well do that even though i was saving to just do the 5lug swap soon and the 4lugs will be useless then.

i haven't hit any curbs yet, just brushed against one while parking.

Oh $#!T i just remembered, some lady backed into my car right by the passenger side front wheel. That was about three months ago and i only started noticing the shaking a week or so ago that's why i kinda don't think that it was because of that.

[singlecamhonduhkilla]

DAMMIT WHEN U FIRUGRE IT OUT.. TELL ME MY ****S DOING THE SAME THING.. I THOUGHT IT WAS THE TIRES BUT I HAVENT GONE TO GET THEM CHECKED.. AND IT ALL STARTED WHEN I CHANGED MY BRAKE PADS IN THE FRONT.. SO IM THINKING IT MIGHT BE WHEN I PUT THE TIRES BACK ON I DIDNT DO THAT ALL THE WAY OR SOMETHING.. JOE

[Xaev]

If they have treadlife left on them just have them rotated and balanced at a tire shop.

A large difference in alignment up front could cause shaking too, and wouldn't be unusual after being hit but I'd think you would have noticed the shaking immediately after the accident in that case

-Xaev

[C-Kwik]

Give us some history of your car. Mods, any accidents, run over anything, any brake lock-ups? This could be a lot of different things. From as easy as something lodged in the tire, to a bent wheel, to loose lugnuts. Give each wheel and tire a good visual inspection. Put your car on jackstands if you can and rotate each wheel to see if the wheel wobbles or not. Push on each one to see if there is any play. Check the lips of all the wheels, inside and out to see if there are any bent lips. Check for flat spots on tires from locking up.

[Evilbud]

A cheap way to check things is to pull off the front tires and check them for defects. . .or rotate them to the rear, and if its the tire the shaking will feel different / go away. Sounds like a tire may be seperating, or that could just be my desert life logic where tires only last 1 year - Las Vegas

[SpeedRacer1]

I'd put my money on alignment if it occurs while your not braking and perhaps even if you are. Is your car lowered? My other thought would be warped or out of spec rotors on the fronts.

[Evilbud]

A cheap way to check things is to pull off the front tires and check them for defects. . .or rotate them to the rear, and if its the tire the shaking will feel different / go away. Sounds like a tire may be seperating, or that could just be my desert life logic where tires only last 1 year - Las Vegas

[T_love]

The car is pretty much stock(as far as i know). I'll try rotating the tires and see if that makes a difference. I checked the lug nuts and they are on pretty tight.Thanks for all your help guys. Keep the ideas coming

[T_love]

Will do

[scruf1986]

I had a similar problem with my car. My problem was actually with part of my frame. There is a piece that connects to the bushing and the frame. In my car this was loose and causing my steering wheel and car to shake. However if thats not it I would just check the rotors.

[T_love]

I had a flat tire this morning so i went and filled it back up and decided to go to a used tire shop and get some tires for the rears. The guy took off the driver side rear tire then looked at me like he had just seen a ghost. The tire had a huge bump on it. The belt had broken and i have no idea how i managed to drive on that thing for two weeks considering i'm on the highway daily.

Next time the first thing i'm doing is putting the car on a lift and checking the tires before i look at anything else.

Thanks for your help guys. You probably saved my life coz i would have kept driving on it until i got my 5lug swap.Damn, i got goosebumps.

[GodDrivesA240sx]

Glad you fixed your problem. I had a similar problem once. When I would take off or slow down there would be this horrible shaking comming up through the wheel. As time went on it got worse and worse. I had no idea at the time what would cause it, so I asked my dad and he said it was probley the center bearing on the driveshaft. Sure enough it was, the rubber was all chipped away and wrapped like.

Figured I'd just throw that in here incase someone decides to use the search option and finds this thread