New Owner/dumbfounded by vibration
 

Hey guys and gals, I purchased my first camaro, it’s a 2011 SS 6 speed. It’s had a lot of work done to it which I’ll list:

Supercharged
1 piece aluminum driveshaft
3.90 gears
SLP axels
Eibach lowering springs (not sure how much)

My problem is I have a high speed vibration. If it is vibrating at a lower speed then it’s difficult to feel. The vibration is most noticeable at about 80 MPH. I don’t feel it Im the transmission when I hold my hand on the shifter. It’s not a long vibration it’s rather short I’m frequency and once it comes in, it doesn’t go away. If I go fast enough then the traction control and ABS lights start to light up, when I slow down they go away. It definitely seems speed dependent. I know the previous owner just did pads and rotors?

I put the car on the rack and rebalanced all 4 tires and put a wrench on ever suspension bolt I could find, the differential cradle bolt was a little loose but not horrible and it didn’t help. I’m really don’t know where to start.

I’m thinking maybe a wheel hub? Possibly the driveshaft binding because of lowering the car and improper length? Or something in the rear differential?

-Mike

See if this helps.
https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504767

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=518905


Warning Lights
Can you scan for codes? I’m betting wheel speed sensor
Maybe loose connection, damaged sensor/ring from axles / brake work.
3.9 gear tune
tires with different rolling diameter
Wheel bearing - unload tire and check for excessive wobble

Vibration
Start with the checks described in the link provided.

I was thinking a bent rim, but rebalancing the wheels would have helped. Maybe all your torque slightly bent something in the power train?

Start with all the basics as said above, but if this was my car I would always be suspicious of that driveshaft. Not that there is anything wrong with an aluminum 1 piece, just that it's been touched.

Get that car back up in the air and check those wheel bearings. This way you can cross that one off the list.

My 2011 did exact same thing, aluminum driveshaft from DSS. Faster I went, worse it got. Had a steel driveshaft made locally and it went away. Try reclocking the driveshaft bolts that go to the spacer plate that hooks to differential. Should 4 bolts to a 3 bolt plate. By reclocking the plate, driveshaft, and differential is an attempt to line up and eliminate the vibration, according to DSS.

That’s exactly what I was thinking too.

Update: I clocked the driveshaft, no change. I mounted a GoPro and video’d all four wheels. The vibration is in the rear but I can’t see any abnormal vibration in the driveshaft when viewing the video. I noticed the car has BMR cradle bushings and tow/tie bars on it. Stock differential bushings. I have not had the chance to go recheck the balance on the tires and check to see it a wheel is bent, I’ll get to that this weekend.

With it being lowered, could the pinion angle be off?
Struts are pretty old, could that be a culprit?

I had a similar issue which came down to 2 things. The tire run out was excessive as the tires rotated on the wheels with the inner bead rotating more than the outer.

The other was the front bolts for the 1 piece driveshaft were not tight enough and it rotated enough to thread the holes for the bolts.

New tires and new driveshaft and vibration just about gone. Mine was speed dependant above 70 mph.

I am lowered and don't have an issue but I also installed eccentric diff bushings. I'll bet its either the DS or axles, I've heard they often cause problems. It was recommended to me to actually stay with stock driveshaft and axles to avoid said problems by Jannetty racing.

Fz4k98, what is tire runout? I’m not familiar.

It is a measurement to use to see if the tire is out of round. An out of round tire will start moving up and down and create vibration if excessive.

I had the inner side tire bead rotate more than the outer. This created the out of round. Its kind of like taking something round like a hose etc and twisting it. It creates peaks and valleys around it's circumference.

I had that same problem come to find out that the tires needed rotating & balanced

People install new driveshafts and ignore the requirement to replace all the single use bolts.

Replace the bolts and torque to spec. Come to think of it, replace the rubber guibos as well.

yes I too think its the drive shaft check pinion angle. Ive heard different things about the one piece drive shaft. understanding why is above my pay grade. I had a 4th gen that the drive shaft caused me fits.