Wobble

[MrBen]

Okay, so I have had this problem with steering wheel vibration on the freeway. I have replaced lower balljoints, tie rod ends, the uppers are still good, replaced the axles. Still have vibration and still have popping noises when ubrput change in speed occurs (taking off or slowing down). What could this be?

[racerx]

cv boots?? they're usually the cause of popping noises.
have you had your alignment done lately?

[k-roy]

Wow that would really piss me off.
Make sure you cv hub nuts are tightened to ever whats that like 120 ft/lbs?
Then have a professional alignment done, also have the tires balanced and rotated while they are at it.

[Blkblurr]

The torque specs are 134 ft lbs. If you have just replaced the axles, it should not be the cv boots. Did you do the axles yourself? If so did you buy already assembled axles? The vibration can be coming from unbalanced tires, warped brake rotors or a slightly bent wheel. I have no idea what the popping sound is. Have you checked the rear control arm ball joints? That could cause the popping sound if they are worn to the point of coming apart. This happened to my 89. Very dangerous problem if they are badly worn.

Hope this helps

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

Okay, so I have had this problem with steering wheel vibration on the freeway. I have replaced lower balljoints, tie rod ends, the uppers are still good, replaced the axles. Still have vibration and still have popping noises when ubrput change in speed occurs (taking off or slowing down). What could this be?

The "pop" could be caused by transmission wear or clutch alignment/wear. I have a similar situation where I get a clunk if I am too abrupt when starting to move or slowing down. I learned to deal with it by being gentle on the gas and not slamming the car around. It may be the differential developing wear around the main pin/shaft or it can be the clutch. I don't know how one can verify which one it is. As for vibration, try this. When moving at highway speed, try to slowly vary the amount of gas you are giving it. I found out recently, when one of my tires was WAY out of balance, that I could get the vibration to seize at a certain throttle setting. Have you tried moving your rear tires to the front? are you sure that your rear tires aren't out of balance? Sometimes they may cause the unexplainable vibration. Also, check all the bushings in the front suspension. A-arm mounts, lower a-arm mounts, radius rods, etc. Hope this helps :)

BTW, really cheap tires are often prone to having balance problems due to the cheapness. Just not very high quality. No matter how much you try, you may not be able to get them balanced correctly or end up with a pound of weight on the rim. Also, have you ever used the Fix-a-flat type products that inject a sealer into the tire? Those are notorious for balance problems too because they don't settle evenly and change the weight distribution.

[MrBen]

Axles and balljoints were done by my mechanic. The uppers on the front were fine, he just regreased them and said they were showing no signs of serious wear. The rear drivers side upper balljoint was bad, I replaced it. Passenger side is fine.

As for balancing, when I do this, it tends to aleviate most of the vibration but it slowly goes back to the normal vibration. The tires are Arizonian on the front (werent very cheap) and Michelen on the back. I will try to rotate them soon when the rain stops. I would assume the tire shop would tell me if my wheels were bent also. I have not balanced the rear tires, but did about a year ago and still had the same problem. Maybe I should do it again even though it is 10 dollars a wheel.

Alignment helped a LOT. Before the tie rod ends were replaced, the steering in general was very loose. Now it is great. But, that vibration still exists at highway speeds and has been a problem since I got the car.

I haven't checked any of the bushings because I dont know how or where to look.

Nope, no fix a flat crap in my tires.

[nswst8]

Any mods done to your ride if so these usually tend to be the culprits. If not with the age of our rides motor mounts could be dried and cracked causing your problems.
As for the bushings if you can raise the car and any and all rubber joints need to be checked again if they are dried and cracked they will promote vibration.
Sounds like you have alot of little problems compounding everything. Not a big deal just start knocking them out one at a time.
Hope this helps, LOL
NSWST8 :cheers:

[Blkblurr]

Did you check your front break rotors? They may be warped.

[MrBen]

No mods at all.

Front rotors are new and did it with the old rotors too.

[k-roy]

The way to check the bushings is to disassemble the front suspension. Disconnect the upper and lower ball joints, and remove the spindles. Then move the upper and lower control arms up and down. if they feel loose or have play in them thats your problem. There may be an easier way to do it but thats the only way I can think of.

[k-roy]

I just checked the manual and it could be bad tires (rotate them to the back), wheel bearings, rack and pinion unit might be going bad, bad springs (do you have stock springs?), loose stabilizer bar, bad shock mounts, improperly lubricated suspension components, imporperly lubricated calipers (get some caliper lube). Its tough to tell exactly what it is without seeing it in person. It sucks but its gotta be something listed on this page.

[MrBen]

Well when I get home I will go get them balanced, then rotate them. I dont know what to sayabout the rack and pinion because I jsut did tie rod ends inner and outer andmy mechanic said that was what was bad, and it turns out it isnt. I know the balljoints are fine because the lowers were just replaced and he said the uppers were just fine and they look fine to me.

I guess I will also lubricate my calipers and suspension components even though it was done not long ago. Something in my head tells me it is the springs or shocks because they are stock and as a result have about 250k miles on them.

THANK YOU ALL for your input, and keep it coming :)

[k-roy]

Im thinking it could be the rack and pinion internals. It is a high mileage car and that is not too uncommon to go out.

[nswst8]

As I said it is alot of little problems that are resulting in your delima.
250K, lower ball joints, inner & outer tie rods, balancing,
Wheres your location, if up north undercarrige corrosion.
Do the math.
NSWST8 :cheers:

[Blkblurr]

It won't be the rack and pinion because the only parts that would cause the problem, if worn, are the tie rod ends. I am very familiar with the internals because the company i work for makes the systems that build and rebuild rack and pinion steerings systems. My bet is the rotors and break calipers as well as balancing the tires. Could be a tire tread problem also. It will not be the shocks or springs because I just changed mine at 230,000 for the first time and I had two broken coils on the front and both shocks were bad in one direction, I had none of these symptoms.
Hope this helps

[MrBen]

Alright. Undercarriage corrosion?

This problem is beginning to freak me out. When I got the car over a year ago the wobble was horrible, and with all these components being replaced I was sure this was the problem. The axles were replaced two times on each side with remanned (under warrenty) within a weeks period. Do you think these axles could be bad? They are like 2 months old. Basically what happened is we got a couple sets of bad axles in a row. The symptoms were car vibration at low speed. Dont have that now though.

[MrBen]

Well I just went on a drive. On the freeway, the steering wheel vibration or shimmy starts around 50 and ends about 70. After 70, there isnt vibration. Before 50 there isnt vibration but it kind of feels loose; like whatever you feel in the road, you feel in the steering wheel. This feeling is NOT as bad as before the balljoints, tie rod ends, and alignment were done, but I can still feel it.

Upon exit of the freeway, the normal slowing down off the ramp occurs. I had the brake pedal down as far as I could push and the car pretty much rolled to a stop. This feeling was much worse before the back brake booster things were done a few months ago, but still exists. Seems like I just dont get real sharp sharp response from the brakes, but I do get decent response. I have Honda pads and rotors on all brakes that I had a friend install about a year ago.

The reason I bring up the brakes is because someone mentioned the calipers. Could this be the issue? I stopped by Schucks and the parts guy said it sounded like the idler arm bushing.

[dXsquared]

idler? on a rack and pinion car? i think that parts guy is on crack... idler's are only on recirc ball systems... :bong:

[danronian]

Mine vibrated at the same speeds before I rotated my tires. Mine also makes weird noises while shifting, I think it is the engine mounts since they are all worn out.

[nswst8]

North western state salt, snow, wet cold climate, extreme weather conditions.

Now I can understand the brakes might be out of adjustment not thats there is alot of adjustment to do here the brakes are pretty straight forward.

Now if the drums or rotors were out of round you will feel it in the brake pedal upon braking. My rear drums were out of round cause I tried to use a less expensive drum and I felt it in the pedal while braking.

You need to have a suspension shop look at your bushing and mounts.

Again it sounds like alot of little maintenance items that have been needed to be addressed.

Hubs are another possibility.

Your looking for one specific problem to solve.
Do the math.
NSWST8 :cheers:

[MrBen]

Yes I have been catching up on maintenence from the last owner. Have poured over 1000 into this thing. Now that balljoints and tie rods and axles and water pump and timing belt and oil pan and major tune up and brakes and lots of small things have been done, it is a decent car. Just want this damn vibration and popping to STOP. I get the run around from my shop, telling me its my balljoints, then saying it's my tie rods, now I dont know what he will say. I will pop in the tire shop tomorrow and get the tires balanced. If that doesn't solve it I will rotate. If that doesn't I will go to my mechanic and ask him what to do.

[Blkblurr]

I live in ohio and we use more salt here than any place on earth. My under body has not begun to rust. It can be as simple as your front brake rotors being warped. Have you had them turned or checked yet. I have had this on several hondas. It could be your calipers not opening all the way causing warped rotors to show up more. This condition will cause your steering wheel to wobble. Again tires out of balance will cause bouncing and a bad tread or slipped belt can also cause wobble. These problems would show up more if you had bad ball joints because your suspension / steering system would not be as tight and would allow more wobble.

[MrBen]

Well when I brake, it is the same amount of wobble as it is any other time, no more. I really don't think my rotors are warped because they are Honda rotors and they are fairly new. I could be wrong though.

I just remembered my buddy telling me about a little o ring gasket on one of the calipers being boogered up when he did the brakes abut a year ago. Do you think this could have anything to do with it? Yeah I know I am asking and throwing out a lot of possibilties.

[Blkblurr]

If your calipers do not open all the way after you release the brakes, the rotor will continue to rub on the brake pads. If your rotors are warped, this will allow you to feel this in your steering wheel as well as your brake pedal. You will feel this whether or not you are appying the brakes in your steering wheel. If you check your rotors and they appear to be ok then I would find a set of wheels and tires to borrow. Put them on and see if that makes a diff. I have had both problems before.

Hope this helps.

[MrBen]

I went by Discount tire and was told the front right wheel was slightly bent. New one is being ordered and will be in on Tuesday. I HOPE this solves that problem. Still doesnt solve the popping though.

[Blkblurr]

Can you explain the popping sound a little more. Maybe I can help

[k-roy]

Hmm I think the popping could be the sheel bearing.

[MrBen]

The popping occurs whenever an aprupt shift occurs. This being when I let the clutch out so the car bucks a little (abrupt start) and I hear the pop. In first gear I can lay on the gas and lay off several times and the popping will go back and forth. It's like if it pops when I slow down, it HAS to pop when I speed up. This meaning if it popped when I slowed down rapidly to a stop, I can be damn sure it will pop once when I take off, but it will not pop again unless I brake then lurch forward again. Get it? It really sounds like it is coming from the front of the car but I could be wrong (I wear hearing aids).

Like I said, rotors, pads, lower balljoints, axles, tie rod ends have all been replaced. In the rear, the only suspension piece that has been replaced is the drivers upper balljoint. The car has done it for as long as I can remember having it (I've had it about a year). So it did it before all these parts were replaced and still does it to this day.

[MrBen]

Another thing, if I feather out the clutch and gas pedal, and dont buck around, the popping does not happen.

[Blkblurr]

Sounds like a worn tranny. Considering all the work you have done on the car recently, I suspect the gears and bearings in the tranny are worn / loose causing the loading and unloading of the gears you hear creating the popping sound. Could also be in the differential gear set. I don't think it's anywhere else but there.

[MrBen]

Ohhh happy thoughts.

What a money pit.

[Blkblurr]

It is hard to diagnose a tranny problem with just a description of a noise you heard. You should have a mechanic you trust look at it. It could be a spring in your release bearing or it could be a broken spring coil on your struts. Just hard to tell without seeing it.

[MrBen]

I took it in today and he says it is something that is loose in the front end, and said to get out a wrench and start tightening things down.

Funny thing is, I just got my wheel replaced and that fixed most of the wobble, still have a minute amount but nothing like it was. And there is no more pop. Wtf?

I bet the pop will be back. I know it.

[Blkblurr]

Check to see if one of the lower coils on your front struts are broken. I'm curious to see if it is. It happened to mine over the holidays and caused some strange noises.

[Robs89LXi]

I think somone already mentioned them, but have you taken a good, close look at your motor mounts?

[Blkblurr]

That could make some noise if one is broken.

[Robs89LXi]

Always start with the simple things. Check the tightness of your strut mount bolts, lug nuts, and all other front end fasteners. Remember, when the car is sitting still, there is a certain amount of bind placed on these joints, so something that may seem tight might not actually be. As you drive and hit bumps etc., it can cause things to shift and give you "clunks". If thes all check out, and you are on flat, even road and it still does it during acceleration/deceleration, I would suspect it to most likely be your mounts or drive axels. Hard to tell from here, of course.
You say it's been doing it since you bought the car? Was the car involved in any front end collisions? Again, when parts are replaced, they sometimes need retorquing.
Good luck, and I hope you find it soon.

[MrBen]

Yes the car has done it since I got it, just not as badly. No collisions.

Even with this wheel replaced, I can still feel a bit of steering wheel wobbling. Even at low speeds, IE around 35 I can feel a slight wobble. I know I am being anal but I am big on preventative maintenence and also having everything working correctly.

So far no more popping.

I will probably look at this in depth over the weekend.

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

Here is a way to see where the poping is coming from. Put the car in first gear, open the hood and rock the car back and forth. If everything is tight, the engine should be the only part that is rocking back and forth slightly. If the engine moves a lot = engine mounts. Engine doesn't move but there is still poping = either suspension or tranny. Also, you could raise one of your front wheels with the car in gear and try to spin the wheel back and forth. This would show if you have transmission/clutch wear. If wheel has slack, there is a problem somewhere. Mine has some slack and from what I can tell it is probably clutch related. The slack decreases as you go through the gears. Somehow I can't imagine the differential having wear problems after 121,000 miles (a bit low for an Accord, mechanical transmissions are forever..almost) so gotta be the clutch. In your case, the front suspension may be involved, possibly worn bushings or other connecting parts.

Hope this helps.

[MrBen]

Well, I will check this this weekend.

Another observation, the wobble was considerably worse at low and high speeds with about 300lbs extra weight in the passenger seat.

Thank you all for your help and I hope I can get this resolved soon..

[hkplayer]

I hope you get your problem figured out ghetto, these older cars can really get to us and even tougher when we are on a budget.

What I wanted to ask everyone was: If I have 4 wheel discs, I shouldnt have rotors correct? (amateur question but I want to be sure) And also, if mine wobbles at high speeds and during braking, would balancing those tires be a good first step to figure out the wobbling wheel?

Thanks :)

[Blkblurr]

Rotors are the same as discs. If it's wobbling when you are breaking I would have your rotors turned. They are probably slightly warped. Balancing tires would help wobbling at high speeds unless your rotors are out enough to cause them to rub the brake pads without the brakes applied.

[hkplayer]

Awesome, thanks. I got confused with drums...lol. I am figuring that my rotor(s) are messed somewhere or my disc(s) are warped, if that makes sense.

[Michael Cote]

Check wheel nuts for tightness, especally if you can hear chatter. Could have broken belt on one or more tires. Switch front and back and road test before doing balancing. Might have thrown a wheel weight so out of balance. May have bent rim which would show up on balancer. Also if your slider on brake caliper is sticking it may be heating up and grabbing rotor on highway when it gets hot and it feels like out of balance and car would be holding back some. After road test, feel lug nuts for heat or actually touch rotor and caliper through the holes in rim. They should feel warm but not scorching hot. If sticking, grease slider with silicon brake grease, not never-seize. Accords are famous for feeling every little shimmy through that double wishbone suspension if at all out of wack. Good luck, Mike

[MrBen]

Well my mechanic says everything is fine. Says the feedback from the rack and pinion is somewhat normal. He also said the popping noises is from a dash support weld that has come loose and is popping around.

[Blkblurr]

Sounds good. At least you know it's not going to cause a serious problem. It's nice to hear feedback from people when they find the problem. Helps us get better at figuring this crap out.

:cheers:

[seancornelis]

Check wheel nuts for tightness, especally if you can hear chatter. Could have broken belt on one or more tires.

When I got my car, it pretty much drove smooth, but was a little squirrely at higher speeds, which I just chalked up to it being a tiny, old car and that's how they generally drive. Not a week after buying it, I started to notice a slight vibration at higher speeds. Then it got a little worse, and then a little more and so on and so forth. Up until about last week it would pull severly to the right and the shaking got so bad that my CD player would skip at any speed over 45mph. Visual inspection showed all of the suspension parts looked to be in good shape, and there was hardly any play or looseness to the tires when I jacked it up and did the wiggle test. I decided to get it aligned anyway, which helped but not much. Day after getting the alignment done my right front tire blew out, which was weird since the tires showed hardly any wear. When I took it to the tire place the guy said the belts in the tire had seperated, so I decided to replace both front tires. Sure enough, vibration is totally gone, car drives straight and smooth. Better than it ever did, actually. I was prepared to rip the entire front end apart, thank god for that tire blowing up!!

Never over estimate $25 tires!!

[mykwikcoupe]

wow so thats it. A freakin tire. You spent all that time and $$ to find out it was a cheap old tire. Lesson welll learned.

[MrBen]

Yeah... that sucks. But I don't think it is my tires. Arizonian on the front (over 60 dollars apiece) and Michelin on the back. I've rotated and it didn't help.

I still can't get over the fact that with 300 extra pounds on the passenger side of my car, the wobble is so much worse. But hey, the mechanics say nothing is wrong so what the hell.

[hkplayer]

This may sound odd but can someone briefly explain to me about where and what are these tire belts we are talking about? Much appreciated :)

[Blkblurr]

The steel belts that are inside the tire just under the tread to kelp keep nails and other sharp items from puncturing your tire. If they become separated, they can cause bulges in your sidewalls or cause your tread to shift causing wobble. It is very common in areas where pot holes are the native crop Ha Ha. Anyways GhettoAccord, wobble is caused by your wheels being pulled by the tread or bent wheel back and forth as that portion meets the road. Most other wheel or suspension problems cause vibration. There is a big difference as to what caused each one. I believe yours is truely wooble so it has to be the wheels/tires.

[MrBen]

I rotated the tires (fronts to back, backs to front) today (the fronts were a lot taller than the back ones, fyi) and had slightly less wobble and better feel for steering. This was when I knew it was all in the tires or wheels. I pop by Discount Tire and he says my two fronts (which were the backs) were bent and ordered me a couple new wheels.

I think all this damage is from the mileage, and the stupid friend I let drive my car. I will never ever let someone else drive my car.

I swear, if this doesn't solve it I am going to go bonkers!

[hkplayer]

I hope that is it, especially when you are sure its not the suspension components themselves. Keep us posted. With my wobble, I will wait until I put my summer tires back on and if it still wobbles, the journey continues...cross our fingers.

[MrBen]

Hmm well most of the wobble is gone now... its little enough to put my mind at ease and not even notice it. I think it's the tires. When these ones go wear out I will probably go somewhere else to get tires.

[MrBen]

Update, this weekend I was driving on the freeway (many different freeways) and the wobble was still there and I also felt pretty much the entire car sort of bounce... like the wheels were oval. That doesn't make sense because les schwabs and discount tire have both looked at them within the past week and the wheels arent bent and the tires are apparently fine.

Also I have noticed recently that when braking the steering wheel shimmies. Not vibrates, it shimmies.

[Blkblurr]

Check your brake rotors. They may be warped

[hkplayer]

what do you mean by shimmy?

[MrBen]

Kinda goes side to side really fast. I don't feel the car vibrating or anything like with warped rotors.

[Blkblurr]

Warped rotors will cause your steering wheel to shimmy when you brake if they are even slightly warped.

[MrBen]

I am a rookie when it comes to all this. I had time to kill today and I went out there and raised the front of the car up and removed wheels. I inspected the tires and they appear fine. I shook everything and nothing was loose. I tightened every bolt I could see, with the only ones being semi loose being the outer tie rods. I saw a tower of bushings and little arms by the tie rod and in a little bit, it seemed to have cracked bushings with a bolt going through all of them that rotated. I tried to move it around but it seemed snug. I sprayed it with lubricant. The brake pads (I think) were right up against the rotor on both sides.

I took it out for a test drive and the symptoms remain.

Next step for me is taking it into Honda and have them inspect the rotors for warpage

[hkplayer]

But wouldnt we know the rotors are warped by just braking? With mine, it shimmies upon braking.

You are able to tell if your rear ones are wraped by letting the car move and not pressing on the gas...then slowly pull up the e-brake...and I mean slowly. If your car comes to jolty halt, then they are warped. If you there is no pull at all when doing the e-brake test...then they are fine. If you shimmy while you brake (from mid to low speeds) then it should be your fronts since thats were most of the braking is done.

Do the e-brake test in a parking lot, and perferably with snow on the ground though - but just do it anyways with no snow. But of course, getting it checked by honda is good too (I wish we could all afford that though).

[thegreatdane]

Any noise from the wheels? Did you check the wheel bearings for play?

[MrBen]

I shook the wheels while they were still on and there wasnt any movement. I shook the rotor and there wasnt any movement there. Shook the upper balljoints and I didnt hear any rattle, just a tiny bit of flexing with the bushing but it was not loose.

I made certain the new wheels were on the front, and they are. I checked the tires for any noticeable issues and I didn't see any, although they probably have a couple thousand miles left on them and that's it.

[hkplayer]

stupid old cars...they never stop frustrating...im about to blow a gasket (mentally that is)

[Blkblurr]

But wouldnt we know the rotors are warped by just braking? With mine, it shimmies upon braking.

You are able to tell if your rear ones are wraped by letting the car move and not pressing on the gas...then slowly pull up the e-brake...and I mean slowly. If your car comes to jolty halt, then they are warped. If you there is no pull at all when doing the e-brake test...then they are fine. If you shimmy while you brake (from mid to low speeds) then it should be your fronts since thats were most of the braking is done.

Do the e-brake test in a parking lot, and perferably with snow on the ground though - but just do it anyways with no snow. But of course, getting it checked by honda is good too (I wish we could all afford that though).
You have rear disc brakes. Ghetto has drum brakes. The warped rotor had to be in the front

[Blkblurr]

If you want to check your rotors, raise the car, take off the wheel and put something small like a nail sticking out of a piece of wood so that it can be moved very close to your rotor. The setup should be stable so that it does not move easily. Once the nail is close or touching the rotor, spin the rotor and watch to see if the distance between the nail and the rotor changes. Try to find the high spot on the rotor and make the nail just touch the rotor at that point. Then rotate the rotor and see how much the rotor is warped.

[hkplayer]

good call blkblurr on the rear discs...sorry about that ghetto - blkburr is also the experienced one ;)

[MrBen]

ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!

Today I go in (to a different place) to get the rotors turned. They did it. They also drain and bleed the brake fluid. They also clean the rear drums. They inspected the pads and they have almost full pad amount left.

They inspected the suspension and steering etc and check for bad wheel bearings. They notice the rear upper balljoints were bad, and showed me (I watched them like a hawk during inspection) so I had those replaced. Man, steering is so much tighter and responsive. Also when I hit bumps the car feels much more firm.

They also aligned it. They also checked the tires.

The low speed wobble is gone, but the high speed (around 70mph) wobble is STILL THERE. The braking wobble is there also. The car does not vibrate, just the steering wheel wobbles, not vibrates. Also when I brake at high speed, the steering wheel wobbles sometimes.

Alright this car is pissing me off.

[Blkblurr]

The torque specs are 134 ft lbs. If you have just replaced the axles, it should not be the cv boots. Did you do the axles yourself? If so did you buy already assembled axles? The vibration can be coming from unbalanced tires, warped brake rotors or a slightly bent wheel. I have no idea what the popping sound is. Have you checked the rear control arm ball joints? That could cause the popping sound if they are worn to the point of coming apart. This happened to my 89. Very dangerous problem if they are badly worn.

Hope this helps

I suspected your rear ball joints were bad when yu first started this thread because it happened to me. I'm glad you found them before they broke like one of mine did. I assume you got both sides replaced. I am out of ideas as far as the wobble is concerned but since you live in Washington I can't take a look at it myself. Hope you find out what is causing your problems
:cheers:

[MrBen]

Well the popping sound still is there. I replaced the rear left balljoint a long time ago with a junkyard one, and it was fine, but I had them replace both anyway.

I'll go back today and see what I can do. It's got to be the tires..

[Vinny]

had anyone ever checked your radius rod arm bushings? Just a thought as fas as the slight wobble goes. Almost everything else has been replaced. You can get poly bushings for the radius rod arms from Moog part number is K9517. I got mine from a place called rockauto. They are in WI I think. Ran me 21.79 for the kit plus like 5 bucks shipping

[MrBen]

The new place I am going to does Moog which is what they did the rear in. I'll ask about it. My appt is tomorrow at 9 so I'll let you all know of the outcome.

[Vinny]

Hit me on AIm if ya get a chance Ben

[MrBen]

I went in for my appointment and had them recheck everything. He rebalanced the front tires, which helped. Then he got in the car with me and went on a test drive. He didn't charge me for the balancing. However, it still shakes on the freeway and when braking. He says it is the tires, definitely. He gave a quote for some new tires so I'll go back and get new tires later.

[Blkblurr]

I thought you already replaced your tires???

[MrBen]

I replaced two. The other two I was told were fine so I didn't. They still have plenty of tread on them.

[MrBen]

I went to Walt's Auto this morning. They said the front upper balljoints were bad and so are the strut rod bushings. He showed me the bad upper balljoints. What I don't get is how the 2 other shops I have taken it to didn't catch that.

Whatever.

I hate this car and mechanics.

[Blkblurr]

Ehat did you see when he showed you the supposed bad upper ball joint?

[MrBen]

He flexed the spindle arm. The joint didn't rattle, but it moved a little bit. Passenger side was worse.

He said when the car moves, the wheel wants to move, so the popping noise could be comming from the loose balljoint. He said the strut rod bushings also have a role in that and suggested replacing those as well. He did a load test also.

[Blkblurr]

How long have you owned this car. Sounds like it's been a money pit for you. That sucks. Are you going to have this shop replace the parts for you? It would be intersting to see pics of these parts after you have them replaced so we can see the condition of them. Might help diagnose problems later.