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Vibration issue, 08 impala SS
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
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From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
Vibration issue, 08 impala SS so i need a little help and suggestions on what to look for, I'm about to go on days off and going to be trying to figure out what the vibration in my car is.
It starts at around 80-95 km/h (thats where its at its worst) then it seems to level off (still there but not as bad). I can feel it in the seat, but not in the steering wheel so that makes me think its in the rear end.
It doesn't vibrate when breaking unless i'm doing 140+. I took it for a run tonight and at around 185/200km/h it starts to get what i would describe as a screech (sounds like a rotating screech, so not constant, but intermittent screech). I'm not 100% certain it wasn't the wind, but it seemed pretty constant to be wind...
My thoughts are it could be one of these things:
unbalanced tires (though that doesn't explain the noise)
wheel bearing (gave the rims a tug and they seem to have no play in them)
Any suggestions would be much appreciated... I really want to take care of this car and am still learning so any insight on what to check or what it could be would help. The car has 51,000 km on it.
thanks for your time!
It starts at around 80-95 km/h (thats where its at its worst) then it seems to level off (still there but not as bad). I can feel it in the seat, but not in the steering wheel so that makes me think its in the rear end.
It doesn't vibrate when breaking unless i'm doing 140+. I took it for a run tonight and at around 185/200km/h it starts to get what i would describe as a screech (sounds like a rotating screech, so not constant, but intermittent screech). I'm not 100% certain it wasn't the wind, but it seemed pretty constant to be wind...
My thoughts are it could be one of these things:
unbalanced tires (though that doesn't explain the noise)
wheel bearing (gave the rims a tug and they seem to have no play in them)
Any suggestions would be much appreciated... I really want to take care of this car and am still learning so any insight on what to check or what it could be would help. The car has 51,000 km on it.
thanks for your time!
On The Tree
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 126
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From: Hammond, IN
I had a horrible vibrating issue when i first got my car and i was so mad because my old car did the same thing and it was a POS. but i bought the stock crome SS rims and had a place put them on and they balanced them and its smoother then a babys behind. Now i have to replace my breaks because my steering wheel feels like your holding a jackhammer >
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
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From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
will check wheels for loose or missing weights, and check for any noise in the free spin. gonna jack it right up and go over the front and rear end... hopefully ill be able to find something... really hope its just an unbalanced tire..
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
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From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
So I took the rear tires off, there weren't any loose wheel weights but there were a few that looked like they had shifted... there wasn't any other noise that i could tell while spinning the tire (other than the caliper rubbing on the disk..) there was still a lot of meat on the brakes and they seemed to run true (no wobble).
I did notice some dust/dirt stuck to some of the weights so i washed them and took it for a test drive.. the vibration is still there but seemed to be a little less.
Gonna take off the front tires tomorrow and have a look & wash the inner rim.. if the vibration doesn't go away completely im going to go to the tire shop in a couple days and get all the tires balanced.
I did notice some dust/dirt stuck to some of the weights so i washed them and took it for a test drive.. the vibration is still there but seemed to be a little less.
Gonna take off the front tires tomorrow and have a look & wash the inner rim.. if the vibration doesn't go away completely im going to go to the tire shop in a couple days and get all the tires balanced.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
Likes: 0
From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
decided to take the front off tonight... LF tire is solid no play in it at all, RF tire no play left to right, but there is a very small amount up & down... may be doing ball joint and/or tie rod on that side..
also took off the locking nuts (they were heavier than the regular nuts) and no change really... going to see about balancing them tomorrow.. there seems to be an awful lot of weight on some of the wheels (and they're crooked as hell...)
also took off the locking nuts (they were heavier than the regular nuts) and no change really... going to see about balancing them tomorrow.. there seems to be an awful lot of weight on some of the wheels (and they're crooked as hell...)
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Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
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From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
Im looking into re doing ball joints and tie rods, I dont have a lot of experience with buying parts, so just wondering what price range i should be looking at? also are there any suggested brands i should look into?
(i need to do the left side, should i also do the right side?)
(i need to do the left side, should i also do the right side?)
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On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
Likes: 0
From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
Got the tires balanced, the tire guy said 2 were in perfect balance and 2 were really bad.. It cleared up the vibration (almost) still a little there, though I did notice last time there was some play on the front right wheel... Got new brakes so will be taking the front right apart when i put them on!
Staging Lane
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 62
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta, GA
Check my reply on the og post about getting your new car. Ive been on crusing on this website for 30 min and found 3 different user complain about the vibration. Its not a balance, prob not tie rods. Its something more in depth about these cars. I think it may have something to do with my rotors/brakes ( I am not talking about with vibration along with braking). Keep us posted!
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
Likes: 0
From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
Check my reply on the og post about getting your new car. Ive been on crusing on this website for 30 min and found 3 different user complain about the vibration. Its not a balance, prob not tie rods. Its something more in depth about these cars. I think it may have something to do with my rotors/brakes ( I am not talking about with vibration along with braking). Keep us posted!
Staging Lane
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 62
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta, GA
I agree with the brake issue, car was wicked till i took it up to 200km/h and tapped the brakes, ever since then there has been some sort of vibration... but i did order a set of rotors/pads from brakemotive, will be settin those up in a couple weeks (when the get here)
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
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From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
well.. its a total bummer, the car had a vibration at 80km/h but was fine past 85... now it has no vibration up to 100, but vibrates at 100.. I dunno what the heck i'm going to do... I may buy all season tires and steel rims (for the winter) and just run those for a bit to see if the vibration goes away.. I know it will be expensive but I'll have to get them eventually anyways. 
On The Tree
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 126
Likes: 0
From: Hammond, IN
well.. its a total bummer, the car had a vibration at 80km/h but was fine past 85... now it has no vibration up to 100, but vibrates at 100.. I dunno what the heck i'm going to do... I may buy all season tires and steel rims (for the winter) and just run those for a bit to see if the vibration goes away.. I know it will be expensive but I'll have to get them eventually anyways.
and im clueless, that is so freaking weird, you sure its not the road? is it that bad? i mean a little vibration may be normal..
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
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From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
and i was speaking to a mechanic at my work who used to balance high performance tires in a speed shop, he said the number 1 thing you need to do when balancing is to remove the old weights and start from scratch..
the cheap *** tire company KAL TIRE didn't do this, they just spun them up and said ok more weight here.. and one of the rims has over 4 oz on it.. way too much (rim's in perfect condition) meaning who ever originally balanced them was chasing the weight around the rim.
edit: i'm going back to crappy tire and demanding they balance it again properly for free, paid 120 for a balance and they just screwed up my highway driving enjoyment.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
Likes: 0
From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
well.. I looked at the wheels (should have done this before I drove it out away from kal tire) on a couple of the rims there are weights 1/4 the way around the rim and double stacked in the middle..
this means either the rims are bent or the balancer didn't know wtf they were doing..
i'm really at a loss with this vibration issue..
on top of all this I'm pretty sure my brakes warp when they are hot.. so hopefully with the new breakmotive set i'll be putting on next week some of the vibration should be gone.
As for the balance problem.. i'm going to start looking for the same rims or maybe buy a new set of 20'' x 8.5'' and just keep the rubber.
my dad suggested i take the wheel with the least ammount of weight off and swap it for my spare tire, then change out every other tire to make sure its not in the front end or a belt sepparating on the rubber... though with that amount of weight on the rim i cant see the cause being in the front end as the balance I had done by Kal was an off car one
this means either the rims are bent or the balancer didn't know wtf they were doing..
i'm really at a loss with this vibration issue..
on top of all this I'm pretty sure my brakes warp when they are hot.. so hopefully with the new breakmotive set i'll be putting on next week some of the vibration should be gone.
As for the balance problem.. i'm going to start looking for the same rims or maybe buy a new set of 20'' x 8.5'' and just keep the rubber.
my dad suggested i take the wheel with the least ammount of weight off and swap it for my spare tire, then change out every other tire to make sure its not in the front end or a belt sepparating on the rubber... though with that amount of weight on the rim i cant see the cause being in the front end as the balance I had done by Kal was an off car one
Last edited by lunchbox_89; Aug 4, 2011 at 08:52 PM.
On The Tree
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 126
Likes: 0
From: Hammond, IN
well.. I looked at the wheels (should have done this before I drove it out away from kal tire) on a couple of the rims there are weights 1/4 the way around the rim and double stacked in the middle..
this means either the rims are bent or the balancer didn't know wtf they were doing..
i'm really at a loss with this vibration issue..
on top of all this I'm pretty sure my brakes warp when they are hot.. so hopefully with the new breakmotive set i'll be putting on next week some of the vibration should be gone.
As for the balance problem.. i'm going to start looking for the same rims or maybe buy a new set of 20'' x 8.5'' and just keep the rubber.
my dad suggested i take the wheel with the least ammount of weight off and swap it for my spare tire, then change out every other tire to make sure its not in the front end or a belt sepparating on the rubber... though with that amount of weight on the rim i cant see the cause being in the front end as the balance I had done by Kal was an off car one
this means either the rims are bent or the balancer didn't know wtf they were doing..
i'm really at a loss with this vibration issue..
on top of all this I'm pretty sure my brakes warp when they are hot.. so hopefully with the new breakmotive set i'll be putting on next week some of the vibration should be gone.
As for the balance problem.. i'm going to start looking for the same rims or maybe buy a new set of 20'' x 8.5'' and just keep the rubber.
my dad suggested i take the wheel with the least ammount of weight off and swap it for my spare tire, then change out every other tire to make sure its not in the front end or a belt sepparating on the rubber... though with that amount of weight on the rim i cant see the cause being in the front end as the balance I had done by Kal was an off car one
Launching!
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 223
Likes: 0
From: Bury St Edmunds, England
Sounds like it maybe drive train related. I have this issue. I have had my tires balanced, road forced and done over an over again. Still SAME problem. I think my Torque Converter is going and causing the vibrations. IDK tho. I really dont care anymore and I am living with the problem.
Good luck tho..
Good luck tho..
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 122
Likes: 0
From: Origionally-Winnipeg Manitoba, Currently-Fort McMurray Alberta
Sounds like it maybe drive train related. I have this issue. I have had my tires balanced, road forced and done over an over again. Still SAME problem. I think my Torque Converter is going and causing the vibrations. IDK tho. I really dont care anymore and I am living with the problem.
Good luck tho..
Good luck tho..
I'd be so confused like you, idk what i would do. Try saying something to that tire place, or go to another shop and see what they can get. Or try new rims, but thats a lot of money but probably well worth it. Look on "SS Clean Up thread" the Deep dish rims (wider lip) will look awesome with our red cars just like his black one. Let us know what you decide to do about the balancing.
edit: If it turns out the balance doesn't do anything i'm going to get these:
Last edited by lunchbox_89; Aug 5, 2011 at 09:45 PM.