Out of balance???

'92 Honda Accord EX 4 cyl Automatic. 155k on the clock

When I get to approximately 35 mph up to around 70mph my RF wheel bounces like it is out of balance. I also get a grinding noise that would make one think of a bearing of some type.

I have had the wheels balanced about 10 times, all tires rotated twice, put on a new wheel and a new tire, replaced the RF axle. I've also jacked the car up and tried to "wobble" the wheel back and forth and up and down checking to see if it appeared loose or the bearing appeared bad. Because it is pressed on it is expensive to pull the wheel to check the bearing. This has been going on for about a year and is driving me nuts! :banghead: It does not appear to be getting any worse but something is wrong somewhere - WHERE? What can I do, oh what can I do? cried the fat old man.

PS. I also had this very same problem on an '85 which I sold because I couldn't find a solution.

Stan

dont be fooled bad tir rod ends can cause this problem too so check your tie rod ends they are the components that make the wheel turn left and right does it also wobble when you are braking too cause if so then that is your problem for sure i know because i have a 93 accord and i had that problem

I guess the alignment seems ok and the tire is not wearing unusually fast on that side. yes?

35 mph is too low for a balance issue to manifest itself, unless you've got like 5 pounds of weight on one side...so you can rule that out.

Are you sure it's the wheel, and not a driveline shudder or something? Do you feel it in the steering wheel as well as the body?

I'm actually sure it can't be the wheel. Not after as many times as it's been balanced, the tires rotated, new wheel, new tire and new axle. Tie rod ends are good as are the motor mounts which one person said could possibly cause the problem.

The steering wheel is about the first place I feel it, at about 35 mph. It looks like I'm going to have to have the hub pulled and visually check the bearings. I've checked everything else. Didn't want to spend that much money but I've got to have the car for my wife to drive this winter.

Does the noise you hear change at all when you lead the steering different directions?

Typical hub bearing will make some noise iin a straight line, get worse when lead one way, and go away when turned the other way...

They don't usually create any shake, which is troubling to me on your deal...

I guess the brakes work right, no pulsations? A really warped rotor can get a caliper vibrating side to side so rapidly you'll feel it as shake in the steering, beginning at low speed, but you'd have hella braking shudder, which I'd think you would have mentioned.

Jeff,
Thanks so much for your posts and concern.

I've purposely gone around curves both slow and fast both directions, left & right and there seems to be no difference.

I know one is to expect trouble with any mechanical device - actually anything that is man made, but I hate it when you know there is a problem but can't find it.

I might add, I've jacked up the RH side of the car put it in gear and get the shake just as if I were on the road (just like an out of balance tire). There is still noise but not as bad as when weight is on it, like on the road.

I guess I'll have them pull the hub and check the bearing and if that isn't the problem, I'll have to trade it in. I can't in good conscience sell it outright knowing there is a problem. I know it's possible for a front wheel bearing to go bad, but with all those I know who have Hondas I've never heard of it happening. One friend of mine has over 300k and has never had a wheel bearing problem.

Oh well, if it's going to happen to anyone, it'll happen to me - and I don't have the $$$

I've seen plenty of hub bearings go bad on Hondas, but never one that would make it shake even when they were ready to fall apart they were so worn...that's what's troubling to me....

What you are describing I'd almost expect to see a bent hub flange or a CV axle with a bent shaft....but you've replaced that axle...

Did you try running it in gear raised with the wheel off? Eliminating the mass of the wheel and tire from the equation would show you at least where the problem ISN'T....as in if it doesn't do it then, you'll know the problem is not in the axle or tranny, and you can focus on the hub and wheel...

Take a good look at the bushings where the strut rod (I think that's what it's called) goes from the crossmember to the lower control arm...I've seen Honda going down the road with the bar broken or the bushings completely shot, and the front wheel was rapidly occillating fore and aft in the wheelwell while moving....

I know what you mean though...since I have a lot of automotive experience and generally know what I'm looking at, my own cars will always think up things I've never seen before....and shudders and shakes in the front end are a real pet peeve to me, I like a smooth ride....

I used to have a couple of what are called NVH Manuals....they were put out by Ford and are for the tech that is trying to find difficult problems that have eluded normal diagnosis. NVH means noise, vibration and harshness...and there was really good flowchart-type procedures for figuring out what system was causing the problem and from there exactly what part...they have a lot of ideas you wouln't normally think of...like once I had a Dodge minivan in the shop that had a weird groaning noise in the front end above 30 mph that you could faintly feel through the body...she'd had it to several shops and nobody could find it...

I used the procedures outlined in my NVH bibles to conclude that it was the bearing in the radiator fan causing it...when the fan ran, the traction of the fan pulling made it run on a good part of it's bearing, but when windmilling in the forced air coming into it at speed, the fan's shaft pushed back onto a bad part of it's bearing and would start rumbling and groaning loudly....

Without NVH, I would have never found it. Maybe see if you can find one at a library or something.

They have some interesting tricks. Like with driveline shakes like you seem to have...they suggest putting hose clamps on the axle or driveshaft tube (where they act as weights) and clocking them at different points to see if it changes the vibe, then see if you can phase the clamps to cancel it...found a few bent driveshaft tubes on old RWD cars with that trick...never tried it on a FWD car yet...