steering wheel vibration at 60-70mph! *SOLVED!*

[awdmofo]

2013 V6 6spd car with 87k miles, stock suspension, and Platinum Widow 18x8 wheels with some hankook tires. with 80% tread on them. I've had the wheels balanced 2 times and i'm being told they balanced perfectly with no issues. But at about 57ish up to 70mph I start to get a heavy vibration from the steering wheel. And of course when i brake at that speed I feel even more vibration.

Bought the car with these wheels and some tires that were almost bald. put on new tires and could tell the brakes needed to be replaced in the front due to a little vibration at any speed and I was told by the original owner she never replaced them and i bought it at 60k miles. After I replaced the front pads with EBC red stuff (i've used EBC before never had any issues) and had the front rotors turned. After i drove the car a little i noticed the high speed vibration. drove like that for 10k miles because i had another vehicle and i was lazy . decided I thought the rotors were warped and i bought new EBC slotted rotors with a new set of red stuff pads. put it all together and the vibration is still there. Today i swapped the front tires with the rear (no name korean brand front tires with the hankooks in the rear) and vibration is still there. The tire guy swears its the rotors and pads, and i need to go back to stock. OR that i need a hub ring as there is plenty of movement from the rim when the car is lifted and the lugs are not torqued down... Anyone else run into this problem with aftermarket pads or rotors???

[KJZ28]

Originally Posted by awdmofo

2013 V6 6spd car with 87k miles, stock suspension, and Platinum Widow 18x8 wheels with some hankook tires. with 80% tread on them. I've had the wheels balanced 2 times and i'm being told they balanced perfectly with no issues. But at about 57ish up to 70mph I start to get a heavy vibration from the steering wheel. And of course when i brake at that speed I feel even more vibration.

Bought the car with these wheels and some tires that were almost bald. put on new tires and could tell the brakes needed to be replaced in the front due to a little vibration at any speed and I was told by the original owner she never replaced them and i bought it at 60k miles. After I replaced the front pads with EBC red stuff (i've used EBC before never had any issues) and had the front rotors turned. After i drove the car a little i noticed the high speed vibration. drove like that for 10k miles because i had another vehicle and i was lazy . decided I thought the rotors were warped and i bought new EBC slotted rotors with a new set of red stuff pads. put it all together and the vibration is still there. Today i swapped the front tires with the rear (no name korean brand front tires with the hankooks in the rear) and vibration is still there. The tire guy swears its the rotors and pads, and i need to go back to stock. OR that i need a hub ring as there is plenty of movement from the rim when the car is lifted and the lugs are not torqued down... Anyone else run into this problem with aftermarket pads or rotors???

I literally just went through this...I had BOTH a blown out front strut AND bad Strut mount. When my mechanic put the Camaro on the alignment and lifted it, the passenger wheel dropped waaaay too fast. I got new front struts and mounts and the brake vibration is gone. The steering wheel vibration almost went away. it is so so slight now. But, I just got new tires put on today, the old ones wore out weird, mechanic said most likely due to blown mount and strut. Ill drive it tomorrow and let you know if vibration is completely gone. Message me if I forget to let you know.

[G8One2]

Rims could be bent, but not visibly. Ive also see tires that are only usable if they are road force balanced, some tires just don't want to balance out on a particular wheel, and just never balance out perfectly.

[awdmofo]

Originally Posted by KJZ28

I literally just went through this...I had BOTH a blown out front strut AND bad Strut mount. When my mechanic put the Camaro on the alignment and lifted it, the passenger wheel dropped waaaay too fast. I got new front struts and mounts and the brake vibration is gone. The steering wheel vibration almost went away. it is so so slight now. But, I just got new tires put on today, the old ones wore out weird, mechanic said most likely due to blown mount and strut. Ill drive it tomorrow and let you know if vibration is completely gone. Message me if I forget to let you know.

nice, well i did notice that when the car is on and i turn the steering wheel i can see the strut top mount moves around a lot! but the shocks don't appear to be blown, and the suspension is 100% stock. Worth looking into though. The wheels i have apparently might require a hub "ring" which i've never dealt with before. I guess i might have knocked them off or threw them away the first time i did a brake job . when the wheel is mounted and no lugs nuts are on there is enough space between the hub ring area and the bore whole in the wheel so you can move it around freely. My tire guy "custom" fit some with plastic ones he had lying around for the front wheels. like 90% of the high speed vibration is gone, but i get some shaking in the brake pedal still at highspeeds only. Will get the correct size hub rings next week and let everyone know if it fixes it.

Originally Posted by G8One2

Rims could be bent, but not visibly. Ive also see tires that are only usable if they are road force balanced, some tires just don't want to balance out on a particular wheel, and just never balance out perfectly.

vibration wasn't happening when i first got the car and i havent hit anything so i would assume its unlikely. The guy i use has been working on tires for 25+ years, never did me wrong. Showed me on some odd machine i've never seen that the tires are not out of round and balanced perfectly. I think it was the hub ring. I'll get all 4 replaced and chime back in.

[SS Performance]

the top of the strut shouldn't move!

If it does you should get it repaired right away!

[Rock-It Man]

Well obviously the hub rings need to be replaced.

60 to 70 mph is the resonant frequency of the sprung mass of the wheel. If the wheels are unbalanced or de-centered, they will start bouncing up and down at that speed.

Also if the struts are loose or broken, you won't get sufficient damping to limit the bouncing. If this gets bad enough, it will result in loss of steering control! So get a competent mechanic to evaluate everything.

[awdmofo]

Originally Posted by SS Performance

the top of the strut shouldn't move!

If it does you should get it repaired right away!

Yea thats what I thought when I had the car parked and turned the wheel to full clock one way and I could see the strut mount tops from the engine bay had moved in a funny position. i'll take a pic of the car today and post it up so you can see what i mean.

Originally Posted by Rock-It Man

Well obviously the hub rings need to be replaced.

60 to 70 mph is the resonant frequency of the sprung mass of the wheel. If the wheels are unbalanced or de-centered, they will start bouncing up and down at that speed.

Also if the struts are loose or broken, you won't get sufficient damping to limit the bouncing. If this gets bad enough, it will result in loss of steering control! So get a competent mechanic to evaluate everything.

Yea the ghetto rings he used helped a little with the vibration but its still there. I lucked out and found some stock 18" black steelies from another 2012-2013 camaro V6 for DIRT cheap. gonna pick them up as spares for when I wanna race this guy on a track. Figured 2 birds with 1 stone. Get some different tires on there and eliminate the tires/wheels as the issue, OR i luck out and figure out that you were right and that was the problem all along.

I'm not a mechanic on "paper" but i've been working on cars for 19 years now. Building a 1990 celica AWD turbo in my garage currently. I tore the engine down to the block so i think I can replace shocks, strut tops or whatever the issue is. This is just my first american car i've ever owned .

[KJZ28]

Originally Posted by SS Performance

the top of the strut shouldn't move!

If it does you should get it repaired right away!

Not true, It depends what kind of movement, these cars come from the factory with a gap, you can see it turn as the wheel turns. They should rotate.







Update on my car with the new tires, mounted balanced, and all the new parts, that vibration is almost imperceptible. I have to think about it to feel. it.

[awdmofo]

Originally Posted by KJZ28

Not true, It depends what kind of movement, these cars come from the factory with a gap, you can see it turn as the wheel turns. They should rotate.

Update on my car with the new tires, mounted balanced, and all the new parts, that vibration is almost imperceptible. I have to think about it to feel. it.

My old supervisor was a GM tech for 10 years, he saw this a while back and i sorta of remember him saying that even though it looked broken it was actually normal a full turn .

Thats good news . I think Rock-it Man might be correct about the hub ring because I totally could have thrown them aside while doing brakes and not even realized what it was. On that note i'm willing to bet $50 on it lol, I just bought some used stock 18inch black steelies that look to be in good shape. I'm thinking if I put the good hankook tires I have in the front onto them and take it for a spin I should be good. BUT, the car is almost at 88K miles so the shocks could be bad as well as the shock top mount.

[KJZ28]

Originally Posted by awdmofo

My old supervisor was a GM tech for 10 years, he saw this a while back and i sorta of remember him saying that even though it looked broken it was actually normal a full turn .

Thats good news . I think Rock-it Man might be correct about the hub ring because I totally could have thrown them aside while doing brakes and not even realized what it was. On that note i'm willing to bet $50 on it lol, I just bought some used stock 18inch black steelies that look to be in good shape. I'm thinking if I put the good hankook tires I have in the front onto them and take it for a spin I should be good. BUT, the car is almost at 88K miles so the shocks could be bad as well as the shock top mount.

Sounds good, I would love to hear about if the hub ring and wheels fix it.

[awdmofo]

Originally Posted by KJZ28

Sounds good, I would love to hear about if the hub ring and wheels fix it.

Well, not good news. Put on some 18 inch steelies the factory ones for the LS model with the plastic silver ring on it. took it for a run and still shakes after 60mph. SO, the hub ring missing was not the issue, i don't believe the tires are an issue but its the only thing I haven't replaced yet .

Maybe my tire guy (yes tire guy) was right? could EBC slotted rotors and or the red EBC pads be causing vibration at 60-70mpg?? Going crazy trying to figure it out.

As promised here are some pics of the tops of the struts at full clock, you can see the top raises just a little depending on which side you turn the wheel...

This is the top of the passenger side shock when the wheel was turned all the way to the right (as if you were in the car)


Same side with the wheel turned all the way to the left...


This is the top of the driver side shock when the wheel was turned all the way to the left (as if you were in the car)

[KJZ28]

Sorry to hear the vibration wasn't fixed. THe strut top looks normal. Could be a problem internally in the mount or strut. Do you feel a clunk in the steering wheel when it is fully clocked and you go over a bump? My steering felt vague and clunked in slow speed bumps. Its fantastic now, so maybe its the strut and/or mount.

[awdmofo]

Originally Posted by KJZ28

Sorry to hear the vibration wasn't fixed. THe strut top looks normal. Could be a problem internally in the mount or strut. Do you feel a clunk in the steering wheel when it is fully clocked and you go over a bump? My steering felt vague and clunked in slow speed bumps. Its fantastic now, so maybe its the strut and/or mount.

Hmm, wonder how much of a pain the mount is to get out, seems like a few bolts up top and 2 large ones on the lower strut that mounts to the hub. I dont feel any clunks in the steering wheel over bumps, which makes me worried the struts and mounts are ok. I can't believe my tire guy might be right, could just be the aftermarket rotors and pads. I spent a pretty penny on the ones I have, just don't wanna swap back to factory and find that its not the brakes you know? How many miles did you have when yours went bad? I'm sitting at 87658 right now.

[gtstorey]

I don't think it's the pads, they don't rotate or come into play except when applying the brake. It could be the rotors are out of balance or not flat on the hub. If it was me I would jack up the car (very securely) pull the wheels off and mount the front wheels on the back and spin them to the speed that you are having the problem and see if the vibration follows the wheels. This is assuming the traction control will allow this, I haven't had to do this for 30 years. Tire shops used to have a machine that could spin the non-drive wheels to speed mounted on the car to try and isolate problems, but I don't know if they are still around, again I haven't seen one in about 30 years.