shaking while driving and braking

[sylbry]

I just bought a 2001 Aurora 3.5. The car shakes/vibrates on and off while driving and braking. Sometimes worse than others, sometimes not very noticeable. I have replaced all four sets of brake pads and the front rotors.

The car turns to the right slightly easier than turning to the left.

Being that the car is new to me I am wondering what the next logical step would be to remedy the problem. Two tires seem are worn and should be replaced. I did rotate them last weekend to see if that makes a difference but the problem is still there.

Should I next:

replace 2 tires
replace 4 tires
try an alignment first
rebalance the tires first
check the tie rods (How do you know if a tie rod is bad anyways?)
should I be looking at the wheel bearings or cv joint?
could there be a problem in the steering?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I just want that vibration to go away.

[GTP Dad]

Welcome to AF!!

Start with an inspection of the components. Usually the tires are the culprit although it could be a CV joint or an issue with the tie rods. Like I said start with an inspection of the components and then have the tires rebalanced. During the rebalancing they should be able to tell if the tires are bad or not. You could just have a flat spot. Next go with the alignment. Cheap and probably needs one anyway. If you replaced the brakes and rotors then the problem is somewhere else since you would only feel a vibration during braking. Check or have the CV joints checked but you would have a vibration during acceleration or when you approach 55 or 60 mph and usually not at any other time. Good Luck!