vibration in front end at 70 mph

[pete315]

at highway speed, I get a vibration in front end. tires are balanced and car has new outer tie rods. I can feel in the steering wheel like something is loose. any ideas where I should start checking?

 

[AREA 91]

Make sure taht your CV shafts and wheels are torqued to spec. I had a CV shaft start to losen up, caused the exact symptom you discribed.

 

[SHO SPD]

Verify that your inners are good as well. Check make sure your tires arent out of round or have a broken belt. as well as the above

 

[SASHO91]

are your rotors warped at all??

EDIT: also, check your sway bar endlinks.

 

[pete315]

I had the rotors cut about 10,000 miles ago on last brake job. how can I tell if inner tie rods are bad? how do you change them? changing the outer tie rods was easy.

 

[ShelbyDoug]

If everything in the suspension is ok, then it's most likely a bad tire. If the tire is bad, even rebalancing it won't help. You will need to change it.

 

[pete315]

well, I found my problem. jacked up front end. no play in right tire. when I grabbed left tire at the 9 & 3 position, I had so much play. the outer tie rod that was changed last year was shot. I don't know if it was defective or just ran out of grease. the boot was not ripped. when I removed tie rod, the joint was just flapping around. well at least it's a cheap and easy fix. $25.00 for part, now it should drive like new again.

 

[pete315]

ok, I just put the new left outer tie rod in. I take it for a test drive, and now I have unbelievable torque steer. it pulls hard to right on acceleration. I never had that before. I just counted the # of turns when I removed tie rod. could a bad alignment give me this torque steer? I car pulls slightly to the right when driving but when I put my foot into it, she pulls a lot harder.

 

[SHO SPD]

The counting gets you close, but you definantly need and alignment after those kind of jobs. Go get that done and see what happens toe wont cause a pull. camber and caster do though.

 

[pete315]

I just got front end alignment. torque steer gone. drives like new. I guess you can't do a front end alignment with 1 eye close and your thumb as a measuring stick