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So here is the deal cut and dry.... 01 civic EX coupe

Steering wheel shake at 60+mph, mostly in turns, mostly while coasting, not on accel or braking

What I know:

• Wheels balanced
• New struts
• New control arm bushings
• outer tie rod ends good
• balljoints good
• 3yr old tires

I jack the front of the car up turn it on and place it into 2nd gear. Only the drivers side wheel turns (min slip dif. i guess uneven brake drag) but no worries. Anyhow I check out the movement of the tire and it "lumps" up and down with a wobbling motion, note that this movement is vertical and not side to side. I stop this wheel from moving to check the other, it seems to be OK. I take the wheels off and check the rotor movement. Same story = wheel is not bent. I try to see if I can notice any movement in drive shaft that would lead me to believe that it is bent however this fails to really show anything. The rotor seems to move in a wobble motion but the cv joint on the back side of the up also shows signs of transferring this wobble. The shinny polished part of the rotor is also uneven in distance between the more corroded area of the contact plate and the raised/studded section of the rotor, this is not dramatic though. There is no play in the wheel/bearing.

What I think the possibilities are:

• shaft on driveshaft/cv assy. bent
• hub/bearings
• rotor

I think it must be the driveshaft is bent because no noise is associated with this problem (rules out bearings and hub??) and the shimmy does not occur while breaking (rules out rotor??). What is strange though is the there seems to be even more unsteady movement out of the passenger side driveshaft where it meets the transmission yet that side does not wobble. What do you guys think? Is there a way I can figure this out without buying unnecessary parts?

 
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some times people dont properly balance the tires but i would guess that you need new wheel bearings.

 
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uh, get new tires. 3 years of use is alot. my previous ones got 2.5 years of use with no use for a 3 month span and minimal use while im at college for the past 2 years. when i used to drive alot, i got one year out of them. it really makes a difference

 
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Is it speed specific? From 60-65 lets say? if so.. tires may be out of balance (Also note, I've never had a car that does not have a 2-5mph range somewhere where the tires weren't out of balance. My last car was at 68-70.. if I went faster it was fine, slower fine..

Are there any other associated noises? usually you get some noise from a bad bearing.
IMOH I would highly doubt the driveshaft / components are bent, as you'd notice it throughout the range of motion.

 
Rep Power: 366

swap the fron tires to the rear. if really suspicious of tires, get a friend and put his tires. if problem continues, investigate other parts
Keep in mind that something entirely different could be the cause. once when some noise was coming form the fronts, i checked everything but did not check the bottom side of the LCA. well, look what it was...

 
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The shake is between 60 and 68. Every once in a long while I can here a light moan that sounds like I am under a small bridge with a car going by overhead. I doubt this is the bearings though because I would notice it all the time, I think it is just tire noise. Besides that, how often would bearings go bad on a car with 97k? I just want to makes sure though cause this summer I will be driving about 8,000 miles

 
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I've been having similar symptoms to you (vibration at certain speed with or without acceleration - but mine is a bit worse under load - and the slight noise going under bridges is there too), and i have done the same thing that you did:

" Anyhow I check out the movement of the tire and it "lumps" up and down with a wobbling motion, note that this movement is vertical and not side to side. "

Mine does the exact same thing, moves up and down, without the wheel on, turning the rotor produces the same result - and the Drive shaft looks like its motion is centered.

i have taken it to the dealer regarding this and they checked the suspension for any bent parts/worn bushings to no avail and they basically gave up on the issue.

which side does this happen on your car? Mine is the Short driveshaft side if it makes any difference.

As for the 8000 miles you need to travel, i have done a trip of about 1000 miles one way at speeds between 90 and 100mph with no issues. just this irritating vibration.

 
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Mine is on the longer driver's side. The shorter driveshaft produces a similar motion through the hub/rotor/wheel but it is much much less severe and almost unoticable. Have you checked your bearings or anything? One thing I am battling is that I used to own a 73 super beetle prior to this car so I may just be a front end perfectionist due to the shimmy disease associated with those first McPherson strut vehicles, maybe my amount of shake is normal for slightly worn tires and maybe the noise is just tire rub on the roads. One thing I did think of was how jacking the car up and watching the wheel movement may vary well not be the same wheel movement as if the car was sitting in its normal position with weight on the wheels.

 
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I haven't had a LOOK at them but i have done the whole "jack the wheel up and see if theres play" but there is no play whatsoever. i do have play in my steering wheel though, mostly when parked, not noticeable while driving.

Nah there's no way this just has to be accepted by the driver (I Hope??). there was no vibration when i bought the car, 1 year down the line it started to show up so something went wrong somewhere.

that is true. the CV is at a sharp angle when the shock is fully extended. Maybe we should try jacking the car up and the control arm as well to have the wheel/suspension at "ride height" and see what happens then??

 
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have you checked for a bent rim that can have alot to do with that

 
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I had a real nasty wobble in my steering wheel between 60 and 80 mph. I also had a squeel that came in and out. It turned out that my front right brake was almost gone. my rotor was all cut up too. I just had the rotors resurfaced and replaced the brakes and the wobble is completely gone now. hope this helps.

 
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Yeah when I got my wheels balanced they found one bent rim in the front, moved it to the back for now until I get my rear camber kit and new tires/alignment. Though my problem was gone but nope! just the shake at 25mph was. 60+ still there. One more thing... the shake seems to be better the more they are inflated.... *debates overinflating

 
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Same thing here. was the bent rim on the "Shaky" side?

i find that after filling my Gas tank, it seems to be a lot more stable. probably just the extra weight though.

as for overinflating helping, i think that points to an issue with the inside of the rim or the tire itself?

I think I'm going to go with what sdaidoji said and try a friends Rims on the front and see how that goes, they were all straightened recently so it should be quite a good indication.

 
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I had a focus that had bad rears after aroudn 60k (Not comparing the two, but it does happen).

 
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The rim that was bent was on the other side. Let us know how swapping the rims works out.

 
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Well I took off the steering knuckle and checked the bearing, runs smooth and no sign of a thrown ball, etc. So either the wheel wobble seen when the car is jacked up does not translate to when the car is on the ground moving (in which case it must be either the rims or the tires) or I have an out of round hub/rotor/bent shaft. UghhhH! I might just get new tires anyways to see if it rules it out even though I think I could get another year on them. Kuhmo's or w/e is on them suck *** anyways.

 
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did you try somebody's wheels/tires? that should help ruling them out or in. Before you pay for new ones, that is.

 
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I actually don't have any friends who drive a honda... which makes me wonder if when I visit the folks next weekend if my mom's accord wheels will fit my car... I think its a 2000. Either way I am almost due for new tires, they won't pass inspection in a year i doubt.

 
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Well, when i did not have another option, once i did use my mazda miata's wheel/tire in the civic - miata was disassembled for suspension install and the civic did not have tires, so... Was for a quick time, since the wheel offsets were different and it was not the perfect match for the civic, but if the bolt distance and number matches, they can be used. And for shimmy, the offset would not affect. use a ruler to see if any of your friend's will match and try to install it.

 
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You wont believe it. After all this trouble I go banding around my front right suspension components with the car up and the wheel off. I took off the sway bar link to check it and knocked around on the sway bar. Found a knock noise and am thinking yureeka! It was a control arm bushing which looked fine but when examined more closely you could tell suffered from compression and hardening. The gap between the bushing and the body produced a loud noise when the rock hard bushing top was forced against the body. No local stores had replacements so I ordered some moogs. In the mean time I decided to place layers of duct tape on the bushing to close the gap, reinstalled the bushing and control arm.

Went on a test drive and I couldn't believe it. Not only was the occasional knock gone but so was the steering wheel shake! This is nuts, never did I think I could fix a front end with duct tape. Hopefully the moog bushings fit well, debated getting energy sus.

 
Rep Power: 208

that's great! never underestimate the power of duct tape though.

 
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Wow... great find gotduhka! I hope I fall in the same category here. I have asked a couple suspension shops if they think the Control arm bushes are worn and they say they are fine, then again you say yours seemed fine too until you inspected them closely... Could you post pics of yours please?

As far as i know, mine have done 90k miles which i would imagine is quite a long life for a bushing.

 
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so true...

 
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Yeah I'll post pics when I replace them today or tomorrow. Like I said though they look fine, one has just shrunk and dried on the top where it joins the body. Also note that this was associated with the clunking noise.

 
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yo, you got the pics yet?

 
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Oh **** I was in such I rush I forgot the pics and am out of town now. The old bushings basically looked like the new ones though, but definitely didn't feel as fresh

 
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Glad to know you found your problem. mine was more expensive, with the complete arms and bushings (as you saw in the pictures...). But yes, they could be anything.
Do you think i could have gotten by with the duct tape? just joking!!!