Stange shaking in my wheel

[Blkblurr]

Recently I've noticed that my steering wheel will shake back and forth while I'm driving. It's not too bad but it comes and goes. (that's the strange part) When I feel this shaking it gets bad when I apply the brakes. The harder I press on the brakes the worse it gets. Once I let up on the brakes and apply them again, it's gone. I pulled off both front wheels and the ball joints and tie rod ends were tight and it good shape. The wheels and tires are good as well. the car has 231,000 miles on it and is an 89 SEi. The most recent work on the car is new rotors and pads all the way around. This was done about two weeks ago and done by me. Anyone have this same problem?

[w261w261]

When did the shaking start? Recently? It could be alignment, or if the shaking gets bad when the brakes are applied, the rotors could be warped. Did you use a torque wrench to tighten the wheel nuts? These cars have wussy rotors, and if the lug nugs are overtightened it can warp the rotors. 80 ft lbs (or 110 newton-meters) is the torque.

[w261w261]

Also the strut rod bushings are probably gone on your car. The strut rods are pointing towards the front of the car and serve to brace the suspension in that direction. When the bushings are gone, it can allow excessive fore and aft movement of the suspension.

It could be an out-of-balance wheel or an out-of-round tire or a tire worn asymmetrically. I'd bet on an out-of-balance wheel combined with warped rotors, expecially if this started after you did your own brake job. Did you turn the new rotors at all. What kind of rotors did you get? Honda OEM, major aftermarket (like Brembo) or no-name?

Hal

[Blkblurr]

I bought bendix OEM and did not turn them. I would tend to rule out he tire being out of round because it comes and goes. I will check the bushing. I'm sure they're dried out at this age like all the other rubber. I have not had the alignment checked recently and i did hit a chuck hole just before I noticed this happening.

[MrBen]

Strange as it may seem, I had something like this very similar happen to me and it went away as soon as the shocks were replaced. Of course the effect was narrowed down through the process of elimination, so balljoints, alignment, strut rod bushings, tie rods, tires, wheels, wheel bearings, brakes calipers rotors etc all could have played a small role in it.

Also, I would not rule out your tire. If it comes and goes it very well could be the problem. Tires heat up. Does it do it when only cold or only warm?

Hope that at least gave you an idea or two.

[Blkblurr]

It does it completely randomly. Sometimes when I leave home in the morning it does it and sometimes it starts when I'm close to work. 15 minuntes later. The shocks were replaced last year and have about 3000 miles on them. When I say it comes and goes I mean it happens within 30 seconds of me noticing the oscillation.

[bkcorso]

being random does sound like a front end issue, when I've had warped rotors they always vibrated when I hit the brakes. When you hit the brakes the second time and it was gone, it could be the force of the weight transfer knocking whatever is bad/loose back into place. Defiantly check into it.

[Blkblurr]

Well I found out what was causing this problem. I have a wheel bearing going bad. I can hear it growling now. I will end up replacing both in the front end. I will also be able to inspect the ball joints and the tie rod ends at the same time.

[Dmitry]

I guess you found not a cause but an effect of that shake.
Shake just killed your bearing.

[mr eff]

if the shake only comes during braking, it really does sound like a warped rotor. letting off the brakes would fix the symptoms for me too when i had the problem. check your brake pads too ... if they've worn low, their heating can cause the rotor to warp.

does the car pull erratically or just shudder?

[88Accord-DX]

if the shake only comes during braking, it really does sound like a warped rotor. letting off the brakes would fix the symptoms for me too when i had the problem. check your brake pads too ... if they've worn low, their heating can cause the rotor to warp.

does the car pull erratically or just shudder?

Well I found out what was causing this problem. I have a wheel bearing going bad. I can hear it growling now. I will end up replacing both in the front end. I will also be able to inspect the ball joints and the tie rod ends at the same time.

[Blkblurr]

Heres the final update. After spending much time replacing the bearings in the front wheels and doing an inspection of them after taking the old ones out, I can see no wear on them at all. Aside from a little rust where the snap ring holds the bearing in, they look like new. What I did find however was a very tight cv joint. I had just replaced both half shafts about a year ago and don't have more than 5000 miles on them. I called Advance Auto and they will replace it free of charge. I pulled the boot back on the tight cv joint and it was full of greese. Must have been a machining problem when they rebuilt it.

Dmitry

I guess you found not a cause but an effect of that shake.
Shake just killed your bearing.
These bearings are heavy enough that it would take a tremendous amount of vibration to kill them. I did not have that much vibration nor did I let it go on for very long.

[88accordalltheway]

I have the same problem right now, only i also get to hear a bunch of clunking when i make hard left turns. I also have two different fron tires on there(which is really bad). Ive come to the conclusion that my rotors are warped, my cv joint(s) has gone to hell, and i need the same tires in the front. Unfortunatly i dont have the time or money to tackle these probs now, ill have to do it sometime in the summer.

Good luck figuring it out man!

[possum]

I just had my axle replaced with a rebuilt unit about 2 months ago and am getting some strange noises on sharp turns too. I brought it back to the shop that did the work and they said they didnt hear anything. Oddly, the noise is sometimes louder and at other times, I dont hear it much. The axle is probably junk.

[Blkblurr]

The new half shaft fixed the problem. The shake is gone and the growl that sounded like the bearings going bad. I took the old bearings apart and they look like new. I can see no wear at all on the bearing races. Not bad for 232,000 miles!