Vibration in passenger front

[dpinion]

Greetings,
I have a situation that has started occuring over the past week. It seems that at different speeds (mostly ~60 MPH), that I get a vibration that seems to come from the passenger front wheel well area. This vibration is accompanied by a "metal on metal" clangy sound. It seems to be getting a little worse so I am going to check it out tonight and take it to the shop in the next couple of days if I can't find anything. The weird thing (to me) is that no noise is made when I go over speedbumps or potholes, but simply when I am cruising along down the highway. Let me know if you have any suggestions or need any more information from me.
Thanks!

[richtazz]

you didn't say what year your car is, but 2 problems with all Grand Ams are control arm bushings and front hub bearings. Both will make noises and vibrate only at certain speeds. Another thing it could be is an out of balance tire, and the clangy noise could be a loose center cap on the rim.

[dpinion]

Originally Posted by richtazz

you didn't say what year your car is, but 2 problems with all Grand Ams are control arm bushings and front hub bearings. Both will make noises and vibrate only at certain speeds. Another thing it could be is an out of balance tire, and the clangy noise could be a loose center cap on the rim.

Doh! Sorry about that. My car is a 97 model. I have checked the center cap (as well as the lugnuts) and all seem to be tight. Is there something I can do to help narrow down what it might be? Thanks!

[paulpumma]

I have a 95 and the power steering rack is located on the firewall.
the driverside rack clamp is the solid clamp and it tore away from the firewall allowing the rack to move back and forth in the movable clamp
(passenger side). what happens when this happens is it throws the wheels out at a strange angle and they will shake at certain speeds.
when I turned the wheel to the right the steering wheel would only return to the 45degree position. but the car would drive straight and shake violently. turn the car to the left and the steering wheel would return to the normal 0 degree position and not shake.
I believe that a 97 still may be using the firewall mounted rack.
my car does not get rid of floor water very well and the clamp is located
where the floor pan and firewall meet. if you car is mounted on the frame you should not experience this but I turned the wheel back and forth while running and in park and it made an ungodly crunching sound
and from there i saw the rack moves as much as the wheels moved.
it is worth the look it was not a fun fix for me. but was much easier
than I expected. there is a reenforcement panel around the sterring column that has to be fixed. I had a junk yard cut one out and trimmed it to fit to the existing panel and sheet metal screwed it to the old panel
and bolted it where the old panel was weak. hopefully your problem is just wheels or bearings. but GM does not offer any fixes for my problem.
you get it from a junk yard only.

[richtazz]

Since you said that it doesn't do it over bumps, I'd lean toward a bad hub bearing.