my car is an 88 SE, 5 speed. 14" phone dial rims, and Seberling 195/60/14 on the front, and Viper HX 215-55-14 on the rear.

and when i got up to about 100, the car shook SO freakin bad, that it would barely crawl past 100 in top gear. the vibration felt like the rumble patches that they install at the toll booths and off ramps, when driven over at slow speeds. its very rough. and i hate it. i need to get rid of it. its embarassing.

does anyone know of this problem, and how i might fix it?

chris

 

Sounds like you either have flat spots on your tires or else you need a wheel alignment(balancing)......more than likely a wheel balancing will do the trick.

 

Yep sounds like you have multiple wheels way out of balance if it is only at speed, either that or a panel is coming loose underneith the car at speed.

 

well, thurs, ill get me a free inspection at Midas, and have them check out my ****. do they do balancing???

another guy told me it would be my driveshaft. and i might need to get a new one.

sometimes, the vibration, happens when its below 50*F, and it happens right from a stop. but its a really slow vibration, and then it speeds up as the speed increases.

still flat spots or unbalanced wheels causing that problem, or would that be the driveshaft now?

chris

 

From what you describe I doubt its the drive shaft. Drive shaft won't be temp dependent.

If you have access to a dyno, you could check however.

 

i drove the car again this evening. and theres practically no vibration or shaking during around-town driving. highway driving would show a minimal vibration. but, excessive speeds, over 75, are when the vibration gets worse and worse, and it feels like, its so bad, that it actually hampers my upper end accelleration.

chris

 

Have the control arms checked too. If they are really bad, your front wheels can turn back and forth really fast at times, esp at high speed.

-Eric

 

hey it most likely has to do with your wheel balance cuz i had the same exact problem about 3 months ago with my car.... i would be going around 100 when my car felt very shaky violently too. The only thing is i suffered the consequences and had a tire blow out and caused my car to almost crash into oncoming traffic... by the time i had stopped it looked like i only pulled over =\ dayum my speedy instincts lol. Well, after i got a new rear tire, my car was still shaky and i figured that it must have something to do with one of my front tires and noticed an uneven tread wear on one of my tires (check your tire treads).. go to any tire place that u can trust and it shouldnt be at all expensive to get the wheel balanced... if that doesnt solve your probs then check wit other ppl's advice

 

control arms eh? i never heard about that one. ill keep that in mind.

as a matter of fact, IIRC, my front tires are wearing All F'd up. the outer edges are scalloped. the treads arent Cupped, or wearing on the outer edges, but, if u cut the tread off the tire, it would look like a saw blade. like /|_/|_/|_/| its sort of exaggerated, but, thats the general pattern on the outside edges of my front tires. my back tires, are wearing oddly just cuz of the massive Negative camber. not to mention, they are only... a year old, w/ 5000 miles...IF that.

i was thinking of gettin some cheap 16x7 steelies, and putting some 205-40-16s on them. i wonder what thatd run me. it sure would run alot smoother, and handle better after i get these lame *** tires, and stupid lookin wheels off.

ill see about takin my car in for a c heck-up.

thanks
chris

 

if you're still having problems with your car vibrating whether its at high speeds or low speeds, you should try the following, go to both of your rear tires pull the top of the wheel hard, if it gives a little and makes a clunk sound it may be your bearings or shocks, if that does NOT happen put your car up on jackstands and check your transmission mount bolts... your crossmember bolt, differential mounts to see if they are rotten broken or whatever .. check your u joints if there is play in the u joint, get it replaced, check the driveshaft u joint bolts, I believe they are a 12mm there was the solution to my vibration which was a quick fix, and it took me all about 20 minutes for a secure re-tightning, hope this helps out

 

Most likely it's the driveshaft. Common problem.

 

Also check your tires for buldges. If yu find one, it would indicate a weakspot in the belting =blow out.

 

Sounds to me like you've got a combination of all the above: driveshaft, alignment, loose bushings,balancing, etc. Start with driveshaft and work your way out from there. Sounds like the cars not safe above 30. Serious.

 

inspect brake rotors, balance tires if they are not, alighnment and if your vibration is engine speed realted it might be your driveshaft rubber piece gasket thing, forgot what its called

 

The most common vibration problem is the driveshaft specially at certain speeds only (60 and up). The second would be the tranny. So have your car checked, my cousin had the same problem and had to have his driveshaft balanced. A friend of mine had a very similar vibration at 80 mph but his was the tranny. So until you get it checked stop hitting the 100 MPH marker... Be safe....

 

Could very well be wheel bearings. I had similar problems, not quite as bad when my bearings needed to be repacked.

 

Don't forget to check the tranny and engine mounts.