Can't eliminate steering wheel vibrations, help!

[entity]

Anyone else have this problem? My steering wheel shakes at 60mph to around 65mph and then again to a lesser degree at around 80 to 85mph. I just bought this car about 12k miles ago and I noticed the problem to begin with, but vibrations were much less and only slightly noticable. The passenger front tire was wearing faster than the drivers side and was pretty much bald. I assumed the vibrations were due to the tires having different treading left.

Put new Falken Ziex's on the front about 9k miles ago and the vibrations increased substantially. Had the tires taken off and remounted/rebalanced, didn't fix problem. The person at the car place said the rotors were severely warped and might be dragging on the pads, but since one of the tires were initially bald I figured the steering alignment was off and the new tires with better traction were dragging worse.

Vibrations continued to worsen. I put in new Brembo rotors & EBC Greenstuff pads & had them do a 4 wheel steering alignment about a few days ago.

The steering wheel continues to vibrates around the same speeds, though less than b4 alignment & less than when I first bought it.

Bottom line is I still notice the slight vibrations and it's annoying. Ride quality also seems compromised. I just bought this car and I want it to drive/ride good. I know the camber isn't adjustable w/o the kit, but could it somehow be screwed up? Any idea's on what the problem is or is this normal for a s14?

Also the new brakes make a squeeling sound sometimes when I stop, and I will usually smell something like burnt metal. I figured this is normal because the pads & rotors need to seat properly. It's been about 250 miles since the new brakes. Am I correct in assuming this or should I take it back b4 my brakes are damaged and I need new rotors yet again?

[KLR Kev]

Rotors may be warped or wheels bearings may be bad.

[Jon Powell]

Check your ball joints, tierods and all bushings, almopst NEVER will an alignment problem make your car shake. When your tires were balanced, were they spin balanced or road force balanced? There is a new way to balance tires called a road force balancing that wil get rid of 99.9% of wheel shake, it costs more but it is well worth it. You might also have a bent wheel.

[mrflip69]

I had sort of the same problem. Car would shake rattle and roll around 65-70mph but above or below that speed, it would seem fine. Turns out my front bushings were shot so I just got those replaced with another pair of OEMs from Nissan.

[SR20DETpower]

your engine or tranny mounts are probably going bad, that can cause vibrations.....

also your driveshaft can be out of balance or a ujoint can be messed up, I would ahve the mounts and driveshaft checked out. Since it happens only at certain speeds it is probably your driveshaft. Mounts going bad are usually very noticeable and will vibrate more at idle then just at a certain speed. Mounts could also be worn out on the differential. it has 4 bolts on the back of it that have rubber bushings around them, if they are worn out it can also cause some vibrations.

Since it seems like the alignment, tires, and brakes weren't really the cause of it I would check out those areas.

[Frostbyte]

I am thinking it is an issue with the front tie rods. Try replacing them with ones that have Poly bushings in them. Or replace them with stock ones.

[entity]

Originally Posted by Frostbyte

I am thinking it is an issue with the front tie rods. Try replacing them with ones that have Poly bushings in them. Or replace them with stock ones.

Sorry for my lack of knowledge, but I'm assuming that the bushings are connected to the tie rods, so replacing the tie rods would replace the bushings...am I correct? How are the Poly bushings better than stock?

[Tx240grl]

Hi. New to the forum, old to the 240. I have a 98 240se slomagic (and yes, i love it) and have had the same problem for the last month. We've upgrade the brakes and brake lines, tension rods, NGKs & wires, and just put new tires on... It was driving me crazy. Had taken it to our mechanic, and he said to check the tires first. Guess what NTB said it was~ bent fu:<ing rims! We put the really bad one on the back, and it's not so bad, but it's still noticeable. Trying to get new rims here pretty soon. Maybe that'll help. Hope so. Good luck

[gunluvS14]

first of all, I would really get some good reputation alignment shop to check it again, have them to have a alignment print out of everything. It should show your car spec vs. the factory tolerance(camber, caster, toe). Good average shop will do it around $80USD.

Second, for all 240sx, Front Camber are not adjustable at the front(stock form), but rear can be adj. by turning that essentric bolt at the rear upper control arm.

Anyway, back to topic. If the alignment is correct, tires are balance. You last bet is the Tension control rod... remember Tension control rod aka T/C rod is difference from Tie rod, most people get it confuse. Tie rod is the unit that do the steering, Tension control rod connect your front lower control arm to the front lower cross member.

Have the T/C rod bushing inspect, if its in bad shape, replace it.

but from what u descired, most likely you only have uneven wear tires.

good luck. I hope I didn't confuse anyone

[spitz7985]

i doubt its the tie rods. if you got an alignment, they had to adjust the tie rods and they would've told you if there were bad. also, if the steering wheel is shaking, i doubt its the tranny/engine mounts or bad driveshaft balence.

my guess would be a bent rim.

[gunluvS14]

well, do u think if the wheel is bent, the tires shop will let it fly? he/she said the wheels and tires are re-balanced.