lowered, new parts galore, and aligned..... but vibrates at 50-78mph (110-150km)!!!

[crxmarc]

Hello fellow StanceWork'ers,

I am in a bit of a pickle and damn near driven myself insane (and broke) trying to figure out whats wrong with my car. It vibrates from 110 - 150km/h (50-90mph) while cruising, but goes away when i use the brakes. its fine at 100km/h (60mph) and 160km/h (100mph) with or without the brakes applied. The vibration is through the steering wheel and pedals (not through the seat, so it's not in the rear).
the car drives like a champ otherwise, it's been aligned professionally twice now with stock toe and relatively low caster.

I have gone through and replaced damn near every part on this car to try and get rid of this nightmare of a problem. My ride height is manageable for shitty roads where i live and sits a fair bit higher then most of the other EG civics on here (see photo below)



i'm stumped, just this weekend i replaced the lower ball joints for the 3rd time (1st time they needed it, 2nd time i was skeptical of NAPA parts quality, this time was for OEM units) and it still vibrates like a banshee!



What i've replaced/ using on the car:

-Custom bilstein/swift coilovers
-skunk2 upper balljoints, camber kit
-OEM honda lower balljoints
-new tie rod ends
-caster correction kit
-new axles
-hub rings all around, rebalanced wheels and an alternate set of OEM wheels
-wheel bearings
-all bushings are in good shape


i'm almost out of ideas, patience and money .......... all i can think of doing next is installing my splash guard that goes between the front bumper and engine (maybe it's buffeting air from ride height and speed??) but other then that i'm just grasping at straws

The local car community/shops all say the same shit "raise it up", "your ride heights the problem" blah blah blah, so i turn to you guys, the guru's of low.......

any ideas Stance Works?

[Mike36]

You listed everything except the wheels. Any dents or bends on them? Have they been balanced? I think if it was something suspension related then you would probably feel it at all other speeds.

[aeok18109]

im leaning towards a fubar bent wheel. jack up the front end and grasp the front wheels at 9 and 3 oclock. shake left and right slightly you should feel if anything has play. left and right could be an inner or outer tie rod. up and down play is usually a bearing/hub. also free spin the wheel and check for a rolling bearing noise.

[TrailerTrash]

im leaning towards a fubar bent wheel. jack up the front end and grasp the front wheels at 9 and 3 oclock. shake left and right slightly you should feel if anything has play. left and right could be an inner or outer tie rod. up and down play is usually a bearing/hub. also free spin the wheel and check for a rolling bearing noise.

this is what i was going to say.

you could also try putting the front wheels on the back and/or swapping them from driver side to passenger side. i had the exact same vibration problem with my EG and all i did was swapped the front wheels around and no problems since

[Randomofodication]

Could be axle bind... Had that happen to my car as well. Possibly need to get shorter axles, or just lower/raise it till the axles don't bind.

[crxmarc]

Could be axle bind... Had that happen to my car as well. Possibly need to get shorter axles, or just lower/raise it till the axles don't bind.

that is very possible, i've done the type R 5 lug conversion (the wheel selection and the brakes really make it an amazing upgrade for the money) and maybe their axles are a tad bit longer i'm sure i'm not the first EG civic to ride at my ride height with a type R conversion..... for gawd's sakes its a damn honda!! lol

how would i know the axles are binding? what are the symptoms?
Randomofodication , what did you do the get rid of your axle bind? shorten the axles? and if so where? (i'm live in Calgary too haha)

You listed everything except the wheels. Any dents or bends on them? Have they been balanced? I think if it was something suspension related then you would probably feel it at all other speeds.

they were clean of any dents or bends and i've had them balanced twice on 2 different balancers

im leaning towards a fubar bent wheel. jack up the front end and grasp the front wheels at 9 and 3 oclock. shake left and right slightly you should feel if anything has play. left and right could be an inner or outer tie rod. up and down play is usually a bearing/hub. also free spin the wheel and check for a rolling bearing noise.

how much play is bad? i've tried this before and it has a smiggen of play once the column locks but ive never had someone hold it steady to see if that eliminates that small bit of play. bearings are brand new as are the ball joints and there is not any play when grabbing at 12 and 6

this is what i was going to say.

you could also try putting the front wheels on the back and/or swapping them from driver side to passenger side. i had the exact same vibration problem with my EG and all i did was swapped the front wheels around and no problems since

interesting, my tires are directionally orientated but i could try it out. i've tested out 2 other sets of wheels with the same vibration results.....


I'm open to any suggestions though! no one's had any guesses as to why the vibrations go away under braking though..... or did i miss something? although reading between the lines i could see that any one of those possible problems you guys have suggested could be relieved slightly when the brakes are applied......

Thanks for all the input and suggestions so far! you guys rock!

keep calm and roll on ......

[aeok18109]

The 9 and 3 shake should be done when the suspension is unloaded (car is on lift/jackstands). Let that shit hang free and shake away. Just a small but firm tug in either direction repeatedly should let you know pretty quick if something in the steering (tie rods/rack)is the cause. Grab ahold of the inner tie rod while having someone else shake it. If the play goes away you have found the cause to be the inner tie rod. If the play is still there then look at the outer where it meets the knuckle. check for play/movement there as well.

Check for PS fluid on the rack where the steering column meets it or on the boots. poke a tiny hole in the STEERING RACK boots and turn the wheel hard left and right. see if any fluid comes pouring out. the boots are there to keep out dirt and shit. the SEALS in the rack should be the only thing holding any fluid from escaping the rack.

as a mechanic i see it all the time and argue with the dumbass that think rack boots held on by zipties FILLED with PS fluid, constitute a rack in working order -____-. DIAF please LOL.

anyway good luck finding the issue man. i can only do so much without actually seeing the vehicle in person.

[aeok18109]

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[crxmarc]

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Thanks for that you spamming douche.

back on the op topic,

Thanks for all the suggestions! i used a lot of the advise given when troubleshooting the issue and finally got to the bottom of it.... sort of haha.

after running a runout dial indicator (or deflection indicator) i found that one of the hubs/ hub bearings was running 0.0050" run out. this seemed like a lot of variance but when i checked 2 crv's at pnp i found them to be roughly the same.

In the meantime i was able to scoop up a set of USDM type r hubs ,which take the 32mm axles , installed them and the vibration problem has ceased.

so the possible conclusions i could determine are:

hub (s) bent? maybe possible accident prior to my ownership

badly pressed wheel bearings are actually cock-eyed

shitty oem-quality (questionable) wheel bearings

or

JDM 36mm axles are slightly longer then USDM 32mm and were binding



either way i'm happy to now be able to use commonly available 32mm axles and even happier to drive my fricken car finally.

Thanks again for all the help S/W!

[Minuki]

Caliper sticking? I had a similar problem on my E36

[aeok18109]

glad you got it sorted man

[los02]

As someone said before get the wheel off of the ground and grab the wheel and shake it. But what I would say to check out as well is the inner bushing on the control arm. I've had 4 civics where that bushing was going bad and it caused symptoms such as this. And as it gets progressively worse it starts to allow the caster to change. When its completely shot it will clunk from hitting the sub frame when you accelerate and brake.