Car vibration

[dorlow]

I have a 2004 Chevy Impala LS. It has about 100,000 miles on it. I'm having a small problem with the car. It seems when I'm going around 40-70, I get a vibration in the car, when the car is going a constant speed. If I change speeds, it seems to stop until I maintain a constant speed and then it comes back.

I figured it had to be my wheels out of balance. I've had them balanced twice in the last few weeks and the vibration is still there. To be honest, both times, I had it done by the same shop. If there's no possible other solution, I'll take it to another shop and have them balance the wheels.

[maxwedge]

A bad tire regardless of balance can cause this, if the vibration is in the st wheel, usually something in the front is the issue if in the seats or floor focus on the rear, bad cv joint is another issue.,

[dorlow]

The vibration is in the floor. I don't notice it in the steering wheel.

[dorlow]

Something I left out in the first post, I brought it in for the balancing and the vibration was still there so I brought it back to have them double check it. The guy that looked at it said the balancing was off. Two wheels were off by 5 and the other two were off by 15 or something like that. So, either the first guy screwed up, or both of them don't know what they're doing... so now I wonder if they're still balanced right. But, seeing it's been done twice in the last week, I don't know if I want to take it to another shop to have them verify it's right. And I'm still wondering if it's off because the second tech said the first tech screwed up (and they both work for the same company.)

So, what should I look at in the back?

[dorlow]

You know, something just clicked now that I read the last post. About a week ago, I found an oil leak in the back of my car. I was going to see if I could figure out where that oil leak was coming from. There was a small oil leak coming from the back end of my car. I just replaced my brake pads and rotors about a week ago, but I never disconnected my brake lines. Wonder if the oil leak is related to the vibration.

[maxwedge]

Only fluid in the back is brake fluid and oil in the struts/shocks.

[dorlow]

So, I took my car to another shop today. This is a shop that I highly trust as a very reputable shop in the area. They did say the oil was from the struts in the back. This is what they said my car has wrong and costs...

Replace front outer tie rod on rack and pinion............ $28.38
Replace lower control arms both.............................. $149.00
Replace Front Sway Bar Links.................................. $74.50
Replace Rear Sway Bar Links................................... $52.15
Replace Rear Struts............................................ ... $171.35
Wheel alignment check........................................... $60

Total = $545.38

Didn't have them do it today. Don't exactly have an extra $500 lying around, but I'll probably have the money in a few weeks. Does this all sound reasonable costs to everyone for the repairs?

[dorlow]

I don't know if anyone else knows a trick to getting this stuff covered under warranty. I had a 5 year/100,000 mile warranty on my car. I just rolled over 100,000 miles on it 2 days ago. Granted the 5 years was up I think about 2 months ago. I talked to a dealer asking them if there was a grace period for the warranty to where GM would cover 50% seeing the warranty just ran up, but they said no. I must have the worst luck. I had nothing go wrong with it within the whole warranty. Now it's up and matter of months, $600 in repairs now.

[maxwedge]

For parts and labor this is a steal!!!

[dorlow]

I know the price is good. Like I said, I can't even buy the parts for that price... but none the less, it's $600... and I don't just have $600 lying around.

[RT Jam]

On the vibration. An out of round, flat spotted, weak spot or hard spot on the sidewall can each cause a vibration and still be balanced.

[Ed_Strong]

Originally Posted by maxwedge

For parts and labor this is a steal!!!

I was thinking the same exact thing... I wish I had a shop friend like that around so I wouldn't have to work on my car to save money!