Weebles Wooble /??/?/???

[Robdaparamedic]

I have a 2001 LeSabre, I recently was told by my wife that when she hits 40mph, the car starts to shake really bad. Once she passes 50, it stops. We had all tires aligned and then actually got all new tires and the car still shakes. I replaced the stabilizer pins and everything else looks good. I'm thinking bushing in the contol arms. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Rob
(lets not meet by accident)

[aleekat]

I would go back to whoever balanced the tires and re-verify.

[Robdaparamedic]

No, the tires were actually changed twice. I had snows on for the winter and now just got new radials put on. This guy has been doing tires for over 40 years and has the latest equipment. Thanks anyway.

[Tech II]

Was the "wobble" there with the snow tires on?

If you had an alignment done, everything is checked in the front end and the rear, BEFORE the alignment......

If you put new tires on, and then had the wobble, could be a bad belt in a tire, or the tire threw a weight, or tire not balanced....

Do you feel this in the steering wheel(front vibration) or in the seat of your pants(rear vibration)?.....

[enslow]

Originally Posted by Robdaparamedic

No, the tires were actually changed twice. I had snows on for the winter and now just got new radials put on. This guy has been doing tires for over 40 years and has the latest equipment. Thanks anyway.

People make mistakes. If he's a good trustworthy mechanic, I'm sure he'd be willing to double check the balancing for you.

TechII has some very good advice to follow, though.

[ricebike]

rotating the tire/wheel from front-to-back may also help to rule out the wheel/tire problem...

have the tire shop do that for free since the labor to rotate tires in a modified cross pattern should have been paid for with the tire purchase.

also, the lifetime wheel balance (for the life of the tires' treadwear warranty) should also have been part of the tire package... so it won't hurt for them to check it again...

waiting on the reply if the wobble existed before or after the tire changeover...

part of the "alignment" service is to do a visual check of the suspension/steering components before putting the vehicle "on the alignment rack" the mechanic who performed this should have let you know if there were any bent control arms / worn bushings before having the vehicle aligned...

[Robdaparamedic]

Ive actually switched from my snows to the new tires and the wobble is there with both sets of tires. It appears to be in the front end and with the recent inspection you would think they would have caught something as obvious as tie rod end. I rode in the back seat of the car last night and it deffinitely is coming from the front left tire. I didn't have time to look at anything else today but will get at it tomorrow night after work. I'm guessing a bushing in the control arm. I can see them missing that becasue I just had one go in my '02 and it took a bit to figure that one out. When you hit the brakes, the car would pull to one side. Thought it was the calipers but wasn't. Had lifetime warrenty on them so there was no cost just PITA. Thanks again for the feedback.

[enslow]

If the control arm is gone, while things are apart you may wish to inspect all ball joints/tie-rods, the strut assembly, and CV joints. Anything else he should look at? (Especially anything that would require another alignment?)

[ricebike]

I'm surprised that the alignment shop didn't detected that loose lower control arm

usually a good shop will recommend replacement of worn bushings, tie rods, ball joints, wheel bearings, etc. before performing the alignment job.

but, yes, this is also known as the "death wobble"

...due to worn components. Play in the components will allow small movement of the steering and axle increase until the vibration matches the road speed (usually near 40 to 55 mph), and then increase in amplitude with the energy of a quick bump.

[Robdaparamedic]

update on the wooble. I went and pulled all the tires ? It came down to the drivers side tire. With the car jacked up and putting load on the tire, you can see a wooble in the axle. As I stated, the car only woobles between 40 and 50mph. Question is: Is this the axle/CV joint, or the bearing ??? Is there a way to tell the difference ??thanks

[Robdaparamedic]

Anyone have any suggestions??

[maxwedge]

A frozen inner cv joint can cause this.

[Robdaparamedic]

To anyone that followed the thread here. IT WAS THE CV AXLE!!! Changed it out and the wobble was gone. It started in my 02 Buick and it was nice not to go through all the BS trying to figure it out.