88 lx-i pulling and shaking

[HondaMan]

The car is pulling hard to the left and shakes at pretty much any speed. I recently changed my front brake pads, my first time trying to figure it out pretty much on my own (I'm no mechanic by any means, more like computer programmer). This took me about a week's time to finally figure out, over which I had the driver's side jacked up for most of the time. I think I might have warped something or possibly not reassembled everything correctly... I really hope that's not the case, but I'm wondering what I should check out. I've already been told that I need ball joints, but before I changed my brake pads I wasn't shaking and if I pulled it was to the right. thanks in advance.

[bobafett]

sheesh... if you jack up the car, and spin the front wheels, do they catch on anything, or do they rotate free? that will give you some idea on if the brakes were put back on properly. if you think that might be the problem, you could pull the wheels and take the brake stuff back off, and carefully put them all back on.

other things could be tie rods might be messed up, or bushing messed up... but i dont know how bushings could cause pulling, but they could certainly cause unstable handling, and shaking.

also, can pull off you wheels, and spin the brake rotor, and visually get an idea if your rotors are really bad. :)

[AccordRacing21]

Hey,
I work at Les Schwab so I may have a few pointers to help solve your shaking problem. You may have a separated tire. What that is is when the belts separate and will eventually blow up. It'll shake really bad even at low speeds. To check this, inspect the tire for any bluges. If your tire is out of balance, it will generally begin at a certain speed but be smooth until then. Also, do you have custom wheels? If so, your wheel may not be centered on the studs. Put your foot under the tire and left up with your toe when you tighten your lug nuts up. Have someone hold the brake and tighten them down the rest of the way while the vehicle is jacked up. Proper torque for a Honda is 80 ft-lbs. If none of this works, stop by your local Les Schwab and ask them to take a look at it. Balancing for a passenger tire is $9.75 per tire, but if they don't have to balance anything they should inspect it at no cost. If you need any more tips or already have it solved let me know.
David

[lamontlamont]

that happened to me, i think when i put the wheels back on i didnt tighten the lugs nuts enough and the wheel was shaking. a simple way to see if its the wheel is to put the spare tire on and see if it still shakes, if it doesnt shake any more you need a new tire.

[HondaMan]

ok, so I haven't had a phone in a while (which means no internet)... it was in fact the driver's side tire. thanks for the help.