4 Common Types of Car Vibrations. What They Mean and How to Fix Them

hello and welcome to the car Kina Channel and welcome to the video of car vibrations in today's video I want to share with you some tips and information to diagnosing car vibrations and distinguishing between them this video is heavily based on people coming in the shop and asking me about vibrations or their descriptions sometimes makes the diagnosis incorrect on their side and I wanted to share with you a lot of tips to help you when you do have a vibration with your car you'll be able to distinguish what what and potentially be on the road to a correct diagnosis right after this the first type of vibration is one that is felt at higher speeds but first before we dig into it I want to tell you this is something you must be able to distinguish do you feel the vibration in the steering wheel only or do you feel it in the body and the difference between the two is very important cuz if you feel the vibration in the steering wheel odds are the vibration is in the front of the car something in the front causing the vibration to transfer through the rack through the steering shaft into the steering and you can feel it if you feel the vibration in the body of the car or most importantly the seat you do feel your seat shaking that is in the rear sometimes you will have vibrations in the front that you don't feel in the steering wheel but you do feel in the seat but most of them almost 90% of the time it is going to be the rear so let's start with the first one the easy stuff the classic you don't have vibrations at low speeds you drive a certain speed high speeds let's say 65 70 M an hour all of a sudden the steering wheel starts shaking you go over that speed it stops shaking you go under that speed it shakes it only shakes at a specific speed nine times out of 10 that is wheel balance or Tire issue bent wheel or out ofr hubs out ofr hubs is a little bit of an involved thing unless you've been in accident something extreme happened they don't just bend on their own but wheels bent on potholes tires shift bells and what now we'll talk about those in a little bit but the main thing is tire balance it will only vibrate at a certain speed range before it it won't after it it won't and the reason for that is wheel balance will start causing a harmonic VI vibration through the body and only a certain speeds will be pronounced enough where you feel in the steering wheel so that is very important but the second one is you have vibrations at any high speed and when you drive slow you feel kind of lumpy you feel like literally the car is doing this rocking back and forth at low speeds and then it starts vibrating a lot That's a classic sign of a bent wheel if it's minor if it's major you might be looking at broken belts in the tire or flat spots flat spots usually the car will need to be parked for extensive period of time two months plus been parked never moved you will have a flat spot that'll vibrate when you drive but broken belts very easy to tell because it'll have a lump every time that broken belt part contacts the ground it'll lift that P that part of the car bring it down and it'll vibrate a lot at high speeds and if you felt this vibration in the steering that's the fronts more than likely it's the front if you felt it in the seat it is the rear so the same thing with wheel balance because you could have front wheels that are out of balance or one wheel that is out of balance and that's why you're having the vibration but here's something important if you have a vibration only in the steering wheel or only in the body of the car not in the steering wheel usually if it's a wheel tire issue if you rotate the tires you should feel a difference maybe it's not resolved but for example if you had one wheel in the back that is out of balance when you move it in the front now you don't feel the vibration in the body of the car or the seat you feel it in the steering wheel you just confirmed that indeed we have an issue with this and you can actually rotate one side and see if it changes if it does you found out which Tire exactly that needs attention that's how you pin it down to exactly what's going on but when you rotate the tires and nothing changes you might need to investigate further because it might not have to do with the tires however sometimes it does because if all four wheels are out of balance you rotate them it's not going to change much cuz we're still have the same thing the second type of vibration is when breaking this one is a little simple but there are a few things I want to share use brake especially at higher speeds or when the brakes are really hot and the steering wheel starts pulsating or shaking that is front brakes and specifically the rotors are warped folks in a in a few seconds how here's how car brakes work you have a big disc which is the rotor and you have two pads that are squeezed on this disc to stop the car but when the surface of this rotor is not perfectly R like flat it'll have waves in it every time that the pads contacts it and you get a high wave it's going to pull up pull down pull up pull down and that translates into vibration at higher speeds but here are a few things about brake vibration you feel it in the steering wheel it is front you feel it in the seat only not in the steering wheel it is the rears but there are a few cases where things will feel strange you'll drive the car you hit the brakes the steering wheel doesn't shake the seat doesn't shake but the pedal itself starts pulsating when that happens that's usually one side of the rotor is Warped it's not enough to cause a huge vibration but it'll start pushing the piston in and out and you'll feel that pulsing feeling in the pedal only that is one of the odd things but every time you have vibration when you're breaking nine out of 10 times it is actually warp rotors but there are cases is where it's not and this is what you got to watch for but I'm hoping you picked up the other symptoms if you have for example a loose tiod A Worn control arm pushing you may get some vibrations when breaking but you're putting extreme force on these components and they'll kind of start moving and shaking the wheel and that's why but these are extreme cases where you're going to feel the car not driving right making noise over bumps kind of wandering and weaving at a highway but that is the main thing first thing you check is brakes now if you get to a case where you replace the rotors and vibration comes back very rapidly within a week you may have bent hubs so the Hub is where the rotor sits on if that's bent it's also going to cause a vibration but again Hubs Don't bend on their own either severe accident that bent The Hub bad repair practices like overtightening the lug nuts will bend the hubs otherwise that is not the first thing you you you look at you can measure the run out on the head in the hub but if you're diying this or you're just kind of curious what's going on that would be not the first thing I would look at I would look at rotors first and the third type of vibration is one that is very tricky and one that most people get incorrect it only vibrates and the whole body of the car vibrates when you accelerate this one is a classic the only thing that would cause this kind of vibration is a drive line or the joints that transfer power the only time they'll vibrate is when you load them a classic example of that is CV axles if you have play in that CV axle when you put force on it you're trying to twist it it's going to start vibrating and you'll feel that it almost feels like a flutter I hope this makes sense cuz it's hard to iterate that feeling in a video but it's a flutter you feel like kind of the more you accelerate the more the body of the car starts shaking as soon as you let go of the gas it completely goes away that is is a dry as a CV axle a loose CV axle will do that not loose as in bolting wise loose but Loose as an internal joint has play or has up and down movement the other one is if you have an all-wheel drive car or rear wheel drive car loose U joints will do that as well it'll do exactly the same feeling although CV axles will do it a little bit more pronounced but Loose U joints on a drive shaft will do that as well but here's another thing that is important on top Toyotas and Lexus now this is what our Channel mainly focuses on on the passenger side in some cars you will have the axle and then a bearing to support it then it goes into the transmission if that bearing is loose or it has play it will do exactly the same thing the easiest way is just to grab the axle move it up and down make sure it has zero movement on the bearing if it has any even the tiniest movement time to replace it then the second way you check CV axles grab the axle itself move it up up and down there should not be excessive movement now sometimes you grab the axle where it goes into the transmission there will be a little bit of movement but if it's excessive there is a problem and the common thing that I see is wrong axles when you go by aftermarket axles that's why I usually dislike aftermarket axles Because unless you get them from a good source sometimes they're wrong size altogether and it's axle SE leaks and you wonder why is it leaking well because it's not the right axle for the car that's why and the last type of vibration is one that will be difficult to diagnose but hear me out here wheel bearing vibrations most people assume wheel bearings will make noise roaring noise as you get higher and higher in speed but sometimes wheel bearings will especially if you have like a Lexus that is quiet and insulated you'll actually feel the vibration and the wheel bearing makes a distinct vibration that is once you feel it once and you verify it as a wheel bearing you will not forget it you'll feel the floor of the car hum or vibrate and and it's very unexplainable how that is usually accompanied by sound but sometimes you can't hear the sound you just feel that roughness now this is the tricky part with bearings we did a video on how to diagnose bearings easiest way is lift the car up put your hand on the strut spring and then turn the wheel you'll hear it but other things that cause this type of kind of harmonic vibration in the body or in the floor of the car is worn bearings in the transmission in the transfer case in the differential so this is extremely important that when you have that kind of vibration you actually get it either you know what you are doing and you can diagnose it properly or take it to a professional to do that because wheel bearings can be extremely tricky to diagnose sometimes here's the problem with wheel bearings and why they can be tricky to diagnose we're going to use the one of these FJ Cruisers in the background as an example cuz that's a very common offender you hear a noise from the back this is the common thing people complain I hear a roaring noise from the back I think my rear end is going even though they're common to go on these but you drive the car you swerve side to side the noise goes away and then comes back every time you put the weight of the car on one side the sound comes back whatever side you put the weight of the car on that's the side that's making noise cuz you loaded that bearing it started making noise if you have that when you turn it changes sound that's more than likely a wheel bearing not something with a drive line but the biggest problem which one front or back don't use your ears driving the car cuz that is how you make the mistakes use your feeling so you feel that hum and you feel that vibration in the floor do you feel it in the steering wheel that's the biggest thing if you feel it in the steering wheel it's more than likely front if you don't you might be the back but not always this is the tricky part wheel bearing diagnosis is tricky but if you feel that harmonic vibration in the body of the car like the floor of the car be chasing after a wheel bearing but the biggest thing about wheel bearings you got to make sure you don't have tires that have rough edges that are mimicking a wheel bearing and the easiest way to do that in a lift at least you lift all four wheels off the ground securely and then drive the car in the lift now if it's an all-wheel drive car it'll be very easy if it's front wheel rear wheel it might be a little difficult but spin the wheels in the air if you hear do not hear the sound you may be looking at bad tires causing noise the easiest way for tires to check them you pass your hand over the tire back and forth if you feel rough edges that's called cupping of tires or you feel like dips and valleys and and kind of dip and up dip and up that's usually how you make you know for sure this tire is making noise and this may be your issue not really a wheel bearing folks when it comes to vibration diagnosis even though you're not diying this it really helps if you have a general idea of how to describe the symptoms because I see folks describe them in many ways where it it's it throws off the diagnosis in a different direction and it takes a much longer time for it to actually come back and by the way this happens at your cost because if your mechanic is not going to really spend the time they might be firing up that Parts Cannon and now you're paying all kinds of bills for things that are not fixing your cars you need to have a basic understanding of where the vibration is from is it front is it back does it happen at specific speed you got to mention that and watch that and then the last thing is do you feel it in the floor is it a roaring noise that goes up with accompanied with a roaring noise or are you feeling it when you accelerate this information is vital and I hope this video gives you a little bit more of an understanding what these different symptoms correlate to in the car folks I hope this video was helpful informative I hope you learn something new if you like it consider giving it a thumbs up if you're not a subscriber consider subscribing to the channel check out some of my other videos until the next video folks may the Lord bless you and keep you and you have yourself a wonderful day

Channel: The Car Care Nut

Views: 139,795

Keywords: car vibration, steering wheel vibration, car repair, car vibrates, wheel balance, steering wheel shakes, rotor warped, brake shaking, vibration on acceleration, bent wheel, bent axle, car care, take care of your car, car tips, car advice, the car care nut, car care nut, tccn autmotive, car mechanic, mechanic, car diy, diy car repair, scotty kilmer, car wizard, south main auto, why is my car vibrating

Id: AROlIrLJSUA

Length: 14min 26sec (866 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 14 2024