2002 bad vibration at higher speeds

[j_rickard]

my 2002 taurus starts to vibrate at around 60 to 70 mph. The vibration intensifies when i give it gas, but is still there while coasting. Its not affected by braking. I did check tires for obvious bulges.

help me! please!

[rivguy]

do you have the continental touring contact tires?

[j_rickard]

Originally Posted by rivguy

do you have the continental touring contact tires?

YES! Why? What do you Know?!

[Willyum]

I have an '02 w/the O.E. Continental tires. This is only relating my experience. After over 2 years old I thought the tires could stand a rebalance. Worse, so I had them do it again, more worse. I went to another location of the same company and after a re-bal, they are smooth as glass. Only thing I can figure is that the first tire store machine is out of calibration.

[j_rickard]

I never new an unbalanced tire could cause such a bad vibration.

[Willyum]

An unbalanced tire/wheel can cause severe vibrations. A good shop will turn the wheel and give the tire a good look over for true and or damage. Get a good 4 wheel balance and check back!

[rivguy]

balance the tires and rotate them front to back - don't change sides - normaly the problem is caused by lack of rotation - especialy with these "junk" tires - they wear very funny and have many balance problems - after the rotate and balance you should rotate every other oil change to keep the tires smoothe

[Paul Masley]

Where I live, I have found that rotation of tires is more expensive than the way I do it. I have to run winter tires from the months of late November to March. Due to the mileage I travel, I have found that by not rotating the tires, I get more wear and mileage. I average about 60K a year.

After removing the winter tires in the spring, I move the rear tires to the front and replace the rear tires with new. This is giving me an average of about 60K per set (2) of tires. It is now getting close to putting the winter tires on. The tires on my car are the original set on the rear. The Fronts (second set) are now about worn to the point (50%) that I am ready to replace them. I will run them until November, and then in the spring, move the rears forward. If you live in a cold climate requiring winter tires and travel a ot of miles, try this. It is cheaper to buy two at a time, than four.

[chapow]

I am experiencing the same problems with my '02 Taurus SES. Purchased new tires & front pads but the vibration still exists. The strange thing is that it happens when I depress the accelerator while travelling at highway speeds.

My car has 89K miles & shouldn't have any drive train problems at this point?????

[tstrauma]

I purchased my 2002 Ford Taurus brand new in August of 2002. By December of 2002 with 10K miles on it, the car developed a vibration around 60+ mph. I took it in to the dealer. They said we rotated and balanced the tires and you're good to go. The vibration was still there, but not as bad. As time went on, the vibration grew and got much worse than the first visit to the dealer. To make a long story shorter, around 35K miles, the dealer replaced the Continental tires free of charge. That was fine for about 5K miles and the vibration is back. I now have 53K miles on the car and vibration. The dealer said they checked the drive train, wheels, brakes, etc. The last oil change service I mentioned that the vibration is back and they told me to trade the car in on a new one.
I always take my vehicles to the dealer for service. Can anyone suggest a solution(s) to my vibration problem?

Todd of Apple Valley, CA

[rivguy]

tire rotations are needed every 6k - replaced the tires with something other than continentals since all of their tires are junk - also rec. a front end align - these cars are known for outer tie rod wear and lower ball joints both can cause vibrations themselves and premature tire wear

[mwt]

My 2000 had to have the inner tie rods at 70K.

Also I now have BF goodrich traction T/A and I love them.

btw if a dealership is replacing tires for free there is definately a known problem with them.

Mike

[Paul Masley]

This is a contimuation of my earlier post. I had constantly sustained vibrations, even after replacing the tires. I made the mistake of replacing them with Conti's for the third time. The Conti's stayed on the car for two weeks. I had had enough. I found a set of Kelly Superchargers on sale. I went from the 94T rating to a 97T rating. Best choice I could make. The car is now vibration free. I did notice that the car appeared a little loose in the butt. Raising the tire pressure to 35 in the back and dropping the fronts to 31 cured it. It now has 82K miles and is awesome to drive on the curvy roads here in the Mountaineer State.