Need help with the problematic vibration that I feel while depressing the brake pedal. This vibration appears when driving at highway speeds or downhill.
I replaced the brake pads and rotors ,balanced all 4 wheels checked the tire pressure and nothing.....
Everything is fine while driving at city speeds, I checked front suspension it seemed to be fine although I can hear some light cracking noise while turning or starting the vehicle to roll in. Visually ball joints look OK. What gives then?
Another thing is the horn , it wont sound while pressing , Checked fuses and they were OK. And when locking the vehicle with the remote I can hear the sound, is it the same that uses horn?
I would really appreciate your input / help with this.
Regards to you all:
Peter
D0T-C0m
08-24-2007, 02:34 PM
Let me share some experiences that I've had with my past vehicles and maybe give you some clues.
About 3 weeks ago before going on vacation I had both front rotors and 2 tires replaced on my van the day before leaving. I was there when he balanced it and everything seemed ok. The next day on our way I could feel a vibration around 50-60mph that I knew was going to drive me crazy because we had about 1000miles of traveling to do. I stopped in to a tire shop at the nearest town thinking I'm going to have all my tires rebalanced because I suspected that a balancing weight must have fell off. Well it wasn't the case, instead the tire tech found that the tire had bump in it. It was like the sidewall of the tire got wider in one spot causing the tire to hop. It was off by about 1/4" and very visible when the tire was spinning in the tire balancing machine. I had the tire changed and was like night and day. The symptoms I experienced were like yours. It would vibrate at highway speeds and if you applied the brakes at those speeds the vibration intensified. Anything above 50mph or below 40mph and the vibration was greatly attenuated. Even though I too had new brake rotors installed and the wheels were perfectly balanced the vibration was still there caused by the tire defect. It could also easily of been a bent rim.
Another thing I would look at specifically is your ball joints and tie rods for any looseness.
And one last thing to look for is bad A-Arm bushings on the front end. I had this problem with a toyota truck but it may or may not apply to you but its good to verify this as well. This can be difficult to check because the a-arm is under spring pressure and appears to be tight all the time. When the bushings are worn the whole wheel assembly gets sloppy and you'll experience vibrations because of it. When the bushings are worn you'll notice vibration when driving straight and also when applying the brake. You can confirm this by applying the brakes when going through a sharp turn, the vibrations will seem to be almost gone because the wheels are tight because of the stress of the turn on your wheels.
Let me know how you make out. I know that driving a vehicle that vibrates is very annoying and I hope you find out what is causing this.
XDGT03
08-24-2007, 03:35 PM
^^^all good advice. I would suspect a bad tierod although you had an alignment and the shop did not suggest it. Either that means that it was not bad or they put it on the rack and saw that it was aligned and didn't touch anything other than the invoice and your money. Same with the ball joints. It could also be some other things but you did not say you were hearing any knocking or clunking.
As for the horns, mine went bad and I had to replace them. I suggest getting the high and lows from harbor freight. They are $10 each and have a nice classic loud sound. Mine have been in for about 3 years and still work fantastic. Make sure to cover all the metal connections in lots of dieelectric grease or they will corrode quickly.
donald7150
08-24-2007, 09:46 PM
Pete. you did state that your horn still sounds with the keyless entry but not when you press the button on the steering wheel correct?
If your horns are working with the keyless entry then there is nothing wrong with the horns themselves. it would be a waste of time to replace them.
both the steering wheel and the keyless use the same relay. My guess is that you have a broken clockspring (bad clockspring can also cause "air bag" indicator light to come on while driving and also cause cruise control inoperation as well)
Or simply the horn button itself is broken
Im not sure if you can just replace the button or if you have to replace the entire air bag as the horn button sits right on top of the air bag
pete69
08-27-2007, 02:31 AM
Thank you for all the tips and advices.
Will go over it again... starting with alignment and tire rotation, as for the horn , the air bag light does not come on while driving been wondering if I could get safely to the horn's button and take a look at it?
