02 Taurus Front End Vibration

Hey guys,

When I drive my car above 50 mph the front end begins to vibrate, If feels like the lug nuts are not tight and the wheels are shaking. However I am positive that the lugnuts are more than tight enough. It almost feels like the rotors are shaking? You can even feel a vibration through the steering wheel. Not really sure what the problem is? Maybe wheel bearings? Its just really odd only seems to happen at higher speeds.

Thanks in advance for any help.

I would try having the tires rotated and balanced.

The front tires do have significantly less tred then the rears. However, I believe the vibration started when i paid pep boys to change the brakes/rotors. I had to have them changed twice cause they were put on wrong, twice. I gave up after the second time and fixed it myself. They didnt provide me with any help. Do you think its possible for rotors to cause the problem?

Well, if the lugnuts were not properly torqued, the rotors could be warped causing a vibration, but such a vibration should occur during braking, and not likely just driving down the road. Same for if some rust or debris got trapped between the rotor had and the hub. However, if either of these occured and you have a collapsed brake hose, you could experience what you describe. I'd expect that it would get more severe if you applied the brakes at the highway speeds though.

As abaird suggests though, maybe what happened is the shop knocked a wheel weight or two off during the brake job and you are experiencing a wheel balance issue. Try rotating the wheels front to rear and see if the vibration changes.

-Rod

As abaird suggests though, maybe what happened is the shop knocked a wheel weight or two off during the brake job and you are experiencing a wheel balance issue. Try rotating the wheels front to rear and see if the vibration changes.

-Rod

If you need to get new brakes (do the above mentioned first) either buy the parts yourself or have a differant brake shop do it. My wife had that same problem on her escort, we had the tires checked and it contuined. I bought the parts and did the brakejob myself and the problem went away.