Hello,

I notice that there is distinct vibration in my '94 Accord LX Sedan at different speeds:

1) At 24-28mph, the car feels like it's bobbing up and down (kinda like having an egg for a wheel). The bobbing is rhythmic and proportional to speed. Can't pinpoint which tire it's coming from though.

2) At 75mph, the steering wheel shakes noticeably more than at lower speeds. A few things to note are that (a) my steering wheel is offset to the right probably due to bad alignment, and (b) I have a bad lower ball joint on the front passenger side. When I turn the steering wheel slightly to the left, the vibration reduces a little but doesn't go away.

I don't recall going over any huge potholes, but roads have been pretty bad in general this winter. There was also one occasion where there was a dip in the road just before an upward incline, and I went into it too fast so I smacked the front bumper on the road.

I'm guessing that the first issue is caused by an out-of-balance tire and the second issue is related to alignment?

When it gets warmer, I plan to adjust the tie rods, replace the front lower control arm, and rotate the tires. Any idea if this will remedy the issues and/or if there's some more work I should do?


Thanks in advance!!

 

You might also have a slipped belt in one or more of the tires; my Accord was very-very sensitive to a slipped belt and exhibited many of the same issues as yours.

 

Will a slipped belt cause both of the issues or just one of the two? Also, is there an easy way to check myself if my tires have slipped belts?


Thanks!

 

A slipped belt will not typically (or maybe not ever) cause what feels like an alignment issue, just vibrations/bouncing at certain speeds, and sometimes a pulsing in the steering wheel as you accelerate away from a stop (almost feels like an out of round tire or a bent rim).

The only way I've been able to isolate the issue was to A) rotate the tires to see if the issue moves, and then B) to swap the suspect tire out with the spare to see if the issue is remediated.

 

I had a slipped belt and tried in vain to watch for it. When I lifted the corner of the car & spun the wheel, it didn't have any out-of-round or sideways wobble to the sidewalls or tread of the tire.

By driving alongside & behind, I tried to watch for the tire squirming around in a funny way as it rolled. No luck that way either.

I found a couple shops with Hunter GSP9700 balancing machines ("road-force" balancing) but that was kinda pricey. The tires were nearing the end of their tread life anyway, so I just tolerated it for a few weeks & shopped for new tires. Then when I was ready to throw out the tires, I saw some steel cords poking out of the tread.

SUMMARY:
You'll have a very difficult time seeing anything visually, to really prove a slipped belt. Swapping tires around & swapping in the spare or something like that is how you can rule out suspension stuff. In my case it was snow tires so it was easy to install the summer tires & prove that it was a tire problem.