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OT: Car problem

bdgan

bdgan

Well-Known Member
May 29, 2008
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I drive about 10 miles, then my steering wheel starts to vibrate pretty bad. I park the car and go out a few hours later and I'm good for another 10 miles until the problem comes back. Car vibrates when the problem appears and car is moving. Braking is also very bumpy but no scraping sound.

Could be spark plugs but car seems fine when in neutral. Maybe calipers sticking but I don't hear a scraping sound and there is no visible gouging on the outside of the rotors. Don't know about inside. Tires look OK.

Any ideas? It's strange that the car always starts out OK for about 10 miles.
 
Indian rocks rich said:
Does it start to vibrate when you are applying the brake
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When it acts up I can definitely feel it when I brake, but sometimes it starts before I ever hit the brake. I know this sounds crazy but sometimes it seems to act up after driving over some rougher roads.
 
If it happens when you brake i would say rotor or rotors are warped they heat up when braking but if it happens when you aren’t applying the brake could be alignment problem steering problem Is the vibration coming from the front of the car for sure?
 
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A tire shed a weight and out of balance?
Shot ball joint can sometimes send vibes to the steering and chassis.

Rotors might be new, but might not be good, especially if they were reconditioned.
 
Sounds like you've got 2 different issues. Vibration when braking is warped rotors. It's fairly normal as brakes wear or if you get them really hot then hit some standing water.

How new are you're rotors?

More details on the vibration when you're not braking. Does it get worse/better if you go faster/slower? Does it feel like front or rear? More towards one side? If you take your hands off the wheel, does it drag to one side? Anything you can add?
 
bdgan said:
I drive about 10 miles, then my steering wheel starts to vibrate pretty bad. I park the car and go out a few hours later and I'm good for another 10 miles until the problem comes back. Car vibrates when the problem appears and car is moving. Braking is also very bumpy but no scraping sound.

Could be spark plugs but car seems fine when in neutral. Maybe calipers sticking but I don't hear a scraping sound and there is no visible gouging on the outside of the rotors. Don't know about inside. Tires look OK.

Any ideas? It's strange that the car always starts out OK for about 10 miles.
Click to expand...


Level of detail here is thin... a) need make/model and odometer reading... fess up... the only vehicles i know where braking and steering hydraulics are mingled are certain Fords (“ hydra-boost” system ... don’t ask me how I learned about that!). b) are you throwing any CEL / check-engine-light(s)?

i doubt there is any “time-release” malady whereby the issue arises after a number of miles ot time... does this issue reveal itself at a certain speed? Is there any indication of RPM variance on your tach?

I won’t even offer my suspicion that it’s a control arm/bushing issue until you disclose the make/model/odo o_O
 
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It’s too bad that the NPR car guys radio show isn’t on the air any longer... it was amazing how they could diagnose a car problem by asking when it happened and to recreate the sound.
 
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If you're not on board with rotors being the problem then I'm with cment and say a tire issue. Could be a lost weight causing the problem, could be a sidewall issue that only occurs when pressure increases from the tire heating up. I once had to go through 3 sets of tires from the local tire place as they were high performance tires and it took them multiple tries to get a set that worked together without vibration at certain speeds. I would start to feel vibrations at say 40mph, then smooth through 50 and then serious vibrations at 60+. On the 2nd set I had them road force balance as opposed to just the usual "mount and balance" and show me the results. 1 tire was vastly different than the rest which led to the 3rd set and they finally worked.
 
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massimoManca II said:
Level of detail here is thin... a) need make/model and odometer reading... fess up... the only vehicles i know where braking and steering hydraulics are mingled are certain Fords (“ hydra-boost” system ... don’t ask me how I learned about that!). b) are you throwing any CEL / check-engine-light(s)?

i doubt there is any “time-release” malady whereby the issue arises after a number of miles ot time... does this issue reveal itself at a certain speed? Is there any indication of RPM variance on your tach?

I won’t even offer my suspicion that it’s a control arm/bushing issue until you disclose the make/model/odo o_O
Click to expand...
I think it is a wheel bearing issue
 
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bdgan said:
I drive about 10 miles, then my steering wheel starts to vibrate pretty bad. I park the car and go out a few hours later and I'm good for another 10 miles until the problem comes back. Car vibrates when the problem appears and car is moving. Braking is also very bumpy but no scraping sound.

Could be spark plugs but car seems fine when in neutral. Maybe calipers sticking but I don't hear a scraping sound and there is no visible gouging on the outside of the rotors. Don't know about inside. Tires look OK.

Any ideas? It's strange that the car always starts out OK for about 10 miles.
Click to expand...
It sounds like an axle/hub problem to me.
 
massimoManca II said:
Level of detail here is thin... a) need make/model and odometer reading... fess up... the only vehicles i know where braking and steering hydraulics are mingled are certain Fords (“ hydra-boost” system ... don’t ask me how I learned about that!). b) are you throwing any CEL / check-engine-light(s)?

i doubt there is any “time-release” malady whereby the issue arises after a number of miles ot time... does this issue reveal itself at a certain speed? Is there any indication of RPM variance on your tach?

I won’t even offer my suspicion that it’s a control arm/bushing issue until you disclose the make/model/odo o_O
Click to expand...
The time release thing is a mystery to me too. Twice it started vibrating then stopped after 5-6 more miles. FWIW 2010 Caddy, 48,000 miles.
 
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Whatever it is, I would not drive it much, or at highway speeds, until it was repaired. If it was mine I'd take the brakes apart and check them out to cross that off the list and then take it to my mechanic. Tires, wheel bearing, ?? But get it fixed ASAP.
 
GregInPitt said:
Whatever it is, I would not drive it much, or at highway speeds, until it was repaired. If it was mine I'd take the brakes apart and check them out to cross that off the list and then take it to my mechanic. Tires, wheel bearing, ?? But get it fixed ASAP.
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Wednesday
 
Art said:
Pretty tough to improperly install rotors. Crappy rotors (manufacturing) are another matter.
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Maybe it was the calipers that were installed incorrectly... if I was a better mechanic I would have done it myself
 
Obviously the solution to the problem is to never drive 10 miles! :rolleyes:

Seriously, since I wouldn’t have any clue in the world what was wrong, I’d be in the service line at the local Caddy dealer tomorrow morning at 6:30AM.

Good luck in getting this resolved!
 
Based on what I've read...bearings. Probably the front passenger side.

Do you live in the country or what many would consider the country? Most roads, and particularly country roads, have more pot holes on the outside thus the front passenger wheel bearing takes the hit.
 
Perhaps it’s the Master Cylinder!

atomicrocketfuel.png
 
Is it speed related (i.e. it happens at 55 and over, or all speeds), does it feel like it's happening more in the front or back? Do you feel it only in the steering wheel or the entire car? do you feel it in all driving conditions, or only going straight or around corners? did you notice the vibration correlated to any work you had done to the car, or did it really just start out of the blue?


I had some shake at one point, and it was from an unbalanced wheel. If it started suddenly, check to make sure one of the weights didn't fly off (like has already been mentioned). they're either on the inside (hub side) of the wheel, or look like little "blimp's" attached to the outer rim of the wheel.
 
I believe it is your rolling sprector fidget stabilizer shaft rod. It'll probably cost $2500 to fix..that's for parts....labor is another $99.99 per/hr...we estimate it'll take between 1-8 hours...

Disclaimer....price can fluctuate between 0 and 100%....also....we will Eff up another unrelated part of your car purposefully to get you to come back to fix that unforeseen problem
 
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