FourString Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 The car is a 1999 Civic. When I am accelerating I have a vibration in the front of the vehicle. When I let off of the throttle the vibration stops. When I free-rev the car there is no vibration. The vibration only occurs when the car is under a load. The vibration is fairly consistent throughout the power band but is most obvious after I have been on the freeway for a while and cruising around 60MPH. The intensity of the vibration is usually never the same. The vibration was actually so intense one day that I heard it "knocking" along with the frequency of the vibration in the front end of the car, and it started shaking as if the wheel was going to fall off. The vibration started off mild and has gotten worse over time as if something is wearing out. When this first started I knew I needed new tires anyway so I replaced them all with a full balance. The vibration continued so I replaced both front CV axles thinking that the inboard joints were shot. The units I bought as replacements were brand new (not reman) GSP axles from Advance Auto Parts. I replaced both front rotors at the same time as a precaution. The lug nuts are tight, the ball joints are fine, and the tie rods all feel tight. The wheel bearings do not have any play or noises. I have not had the car on a long drive yet, but so far the vibration is still there. It just does not feel as bad as it did previously. Though as I said before, the vibration is most intense after I have been driving for a while. The car only has 82K miles on it. This is driving me insane (and poor). Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulcan900 Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 Did the wheels stay in same place when they were replaced? Could be a bent wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourString Posted June 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 Did the wheels stay in same place when they were replaced? Could be a bent wheel. I forgot to mention that we rotated them to the rear to rule that out as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patterson Posted June 30, 2010 Report Share Posted June 30, 2010 Does it pull to the left or right? Shakingthe eight ball sources are saying look at the wheel bearings and axles. Whats the mileage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinisterSS Posted July 1, 2010 Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 known fact: aftermarket axles suck in honda/acura cars! your best bet is getting a honda re-man axle assembly they aren't that bad in price, is the car an automatic? could be a torque converter issue, also did you check the engine & transmission mounts? but my money is on the aftermarket axles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourString Posted July 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 Does it pull to the left or right? Shakingthe eight ball sources are saying look at the wheel bearings and axles. Whats the mileage? It does not pull to either side. Axles were just replaced and wheel bearings are checking out fine. known fact: aftermarket axles suck in honda/acura cars! your best bet is getting a honda re-man axle assembly they aren't that bad in price, is the car an automatic? could be a torque converter issue, also did you check the engine & transmission mounts? but my money is on the aftermarket axles The car has a manual transmission. I wondered about sticking non-Honda axles in it. It almost seems as if they could be a little longer and it would be better. I took it to a local front-end service shop today to have it looked at. After the guy drove it he thought it was a slight miss in the engine. I am not 100% convinced of that yet, but it is a possibility. We put the car up in the air to check everything out. I did notice that with the suspension unloaded and extended to max, the new axles that I just put in seemed to be "stretched out" at the inner boot. It is almost like the axles are an inch or so too short. As for the engine and transmission mounts, they checked out fine as well. However, the rear engine mount is not exactly easy to see or get to. After driving it a little bit today to go to the shop I noticed that the shaking at cruising speed seems to be gone (finished the axle swap last night). Now the vibration seems to be more when taking off, moderate throttle, lower speeds, and is most obvious in 2nd gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farkas Posted July 1, 2010 Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 Balljoints, tie-rods, or even control arm bushings.. check'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourString Posted July 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 Balljoints, tie-rods, or even control arm bushings.. check'em. I did that yesterday with the car on the lift. I am going to try a full ignition tune-up and see what that does. As much as I think the problem is in the front end, I cannot ignore the chance that it is a miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE-O Posted July 1, 2010 Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 My first thought was bearing but after reading your problem I aslo agree something is probably up with that axle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinisterSS Posted July 1, 2010 Report Share Posted July 1, 2010 we have customers bring their Acura's in because the aftermarket axles some other shop installed popped out or have a vibration, but we'll re-install it test drive the car and it'll pop right back out, then they decide to buy the Honda re-man(if available) or new unit, then the issue is gone. most of the aftermarket stuff is too short/long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourString Posted July 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2010 Okay, that is all I need to read. I have to drive the car this weekend, but early next week I am going to start the process of getting Honda axles for the car. I am dreading the argument I will have with my boss about returning the GSPs. I work for the Advance that I bought them from. Should be an interesting discussion because I know he will not believe me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otis Nice Posted July 2, 2010 Report Share Posted July 2, 2010 Okay, that is all I need to read. I have to drive the car this weekend, but early next week I am going to start the process of getting Honda axles for the car. I am dreading the argument I will have with my boss about returning the GSPs. I work for the Advance that I bought them from. Should be an interesting discussion because I know he will not believe me. Can't you return them to any Advanced? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourString Posted July 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2010 Can't you return them to any Advanced? Yeah I can but they have been installed. They will give me ten kinds of hell for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE-O Posted July 2, 2010 Report Share Posted July 2, 2010 Yeah I can but they have been installed. They will give me ten kinds of hell for that. Then either you/ your boss is a moron sorry to say... Part is defective anyway you cut it. Installed or not it is a bad part and you shuld get credit for it... we get a powersteering rack that was installed and when we went to do the alignment the rack was not right internally so you could not adjust the tie rod ends out to set the toe... sent it back got the same part number and all was good to go.. If you need me to tell your boss what is up I will you got to be like ehre is the situatiuon clearly it is a cheap part that is defective case closed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourString Posted July 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2010 Then either you/ your boss is a moron sorry to say... Part is defective anyway you cut it. Installed or not it is a bad part and you shuld get credit for it... we get a powersteering rack that was installed and when we went to do the alignment the rack was not right internally so you could not adjust the tie rod ends out to set the toe... sent it back got the same part number and all was good to go.. If you need me to tell your boss what is up I will you got to be like ehre is the situatiuon clearly it is a cheap part that is defective case closed I can handle him. The problem is that he will want to defective swap the axles for new GSP axles again instead of fully returning them. No worries though. I have ways of getting shit done if need be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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