Rep Power: 228

I was hoping that Civic experts here might be able to provide me with some helpful advice. I have a 1997 Civic DX with ~100k miles. When traveling at freeway speeds (65-75 mph), I recently noticed that the steering wheel shakes or vibrates. This is not associated with braking or with any recent incident with a large pothole. Also, replacing the two front tires with new ones and balancing all four wheels has not solved the problem. I also tested whether the tie rods might be loose but they were not. Last year, I replaced both front drive axles. Based on this information, someone at O'Reilly speculated that my problem might be due to loose motor mounts or a bad front wheel bearing. However, my front wheels don't show any obvious play and seem to turn freely.

Does anyone have a helpful suggestion?

Thanks in advance,

RonJ

 
Rep Power: 297

well.. i also too had the same problem at one point.. balanced.. re balanced.. alignment.. and so forth and so forth... bought some new rims and tires and guess what.. it went away... brought my old rims to a shop that i actually know the guy and so forth.. he checked the balance again... come to find out the rim itself is out of balance so it would take alot of weights to get it back into spec...

 
Rep Power: 228

Thanks for the suggestion. When I purchased the two new front tires, I had both original front tires and wheels rotated to the rear. Afterwards, the steering wheel vibration continued as before. This observation led me to believe that tires and wheels were not the culprits. Nonetheless, based on your comments, I should perhaps consider having the wheel balances rechecked.

 
Rep Power: 297

if you know anyone with an extra set of rims that could let u borrow try them out and see if they still do it...

its either its need to be rebalanced or the rim has a slight bend in it so its warped and causing it to shake

 
Rep Power: 245

Check your front suspension. Your struts could be shot.

 
Rep Power: 228

sql_civic -- Thanks for the suggestion. I was wondering whether you could suggest a way that I can determine whether my struts need replacement.

 
Rep Power: 328

First: This is a double post. From now on please only post your thread in one area.
Here is the link to the other post: https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...way-speed.html

Second: To check the struts just push down on the car and get it bouncing. Once you have it bouncing pretty good, step back, if it continuous to bounce then your struts are shot if it stops pretty fast then you should be fine.

 
Rep Power: 228

Thanks for the advice. I apologize for the double post. I soon realized my original post was not placed in the most appropriate category but could not figure out a way to transfer it to the current more appropriate area.

 
Rep Power: 245

Also see if your struts are leaking or have other damage from road debris.

I usually change my struts every 100,000 miles. If you have a lot of miles on them, it might make sense to change them and get an alignment.

 
Rep Power: 228

The problem is now resolved. I took the Civic to my local trusted mechanic, who found that all four wheels were in fact out of balance, despite having NTB "balance" the wheels twice. The wheel balancing done by my mechanic completely eliminated the steering wheel vibration and returned freeway speed driving to normal. NTB refunded me their original charge for wheel balancing, and also replaced one of the two tires I purchased from them as my mechanic found that the tire had a "high spot." The lesson I learned from this situation is to never again trust my car to NTB.

 
Rep Power: 328

Glad to see the the NTB made it right. Good for you.

I like Discount tire and wheel.

 
Rep Power: 297

told u they needed to be rebalanced

 
Rep Power: 228

By the way, thank you all for helping to solve my Civic problem!

 
Rep Power: 0

One quick comment. You said that your mechanic found a high spot in one of the tires. When you get tires mounted and balanced it's a good idea to have someone do it that has equipment to measure road force (like a Hunter GSP9700 machine). In simple terms this measures how smoothly a tire rolls over the ground. Thought is, that you can balance a football on its long axis, but it will not roll worth crap. A machine like the hunter will check for this.

 
Rep Power: 228

I mistakenly believed that NTB would understand the concepts you mention.