honda civic vibration at highway speed?
The car was bought used with about 94000 miles on it. year 2000. When I accelerate to about 55mph, my civic vibrates like crazy. This vibration goes away if I go over about 65mph. I've talked to several people about it they say different things like i need it realigned, or my suspension needs a look, the bearings may be it, i need new tires, the driveshaft needs replacement, or the tires are flat. Which of those seem to fit better? Anything else I should check out? I live in Minnesota and during the summer this never happened (although i had a minor vibration when idle) but we recently got snow so this problem showed up. Thanks.
Tags: Bearings, Highway Speed
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June 20th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Could be alignment or any of the options you listed
but the most common reason your car vibrates and then as you go faster does not vibrate as much is tires. it is either a tire out of alignment or you have a steel band broke in your tire.
the best thing to do is to take it to get your tires rotated. they will tell you if you have any tire troubles that would cause it and its pretty cheap to just have them rotated. tell them your problem and ask them if they have any additional ideas. they will probably check your tire ware and anything that has to do with steering and breaking.
hope this helps
June 21st, 2009 at 10:52 pm
most likely it is a wheel that is out of balance. Either a weight came off the wheel or something caked on adding weight to the wheel. Go through lots of mud lately?
June 26th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Listen,Vibration is Symptomatic of a serious problem hiding behind you’re brake rotors.Before I address that,look at tire pressure,then balance and tire wear.How many miles are on the struts?Are the tie rod ends loose?Rule all that out and you are left with either a sticking caliper(Brakes) or the Hub bearings (spindle assy) have become rusty crumbs.94,000 miles for a Honda 4 Cyl.is nothing,it’s just getting warmed up.Go to a reliable shop(Honda Service Dept is even better)have youre Brake rotors pulled and check the Hub Bearings and the axle shafts.If all is well,then invest in SensaTrac struts and two new tires.Add a Brake job and you will love you’re little Honda.Good luck,Drive Safe.
June 27th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Not to add more possibilities, but it could be a bent wheel too. The tires are the first thing to check though, because as suggested by someone else, it’s the quickest, easiest and cheapest thing to eliminate as a problem. The problem with a vibration is that it leads to other problems. All that extra shaking isn’t good for the car, so get it checked as soon as you can. Easier said than done this time of year, I know.
June 27th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
you have snow packed in your rims, i live in wisconsin, and i see it all the time take it to a car wash and have them spray out your rims, or take it to your honda dealer, they will be happy to do this for you as well. now if you are having this vibration problem in the summer, sounds to me like your tires are out of balance and that maybe partial cause to it as well, when your at your dealership have them balance the tires as well, might cost you, but honda has a tighter tolorance for balance than most other car companies, making it easy for aftermarket shops to balance to a lesser spec and send you on your way with a wheel vibration
hope this helps, and good luck
June 28th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I would put my vote on ensuring that all your tires are properly balanced.
Most tires are not manufactured equally as far as the distribution of weight around the tires. Some sides around the tire are slightly heavier (more or dense rubber) than other sides. Although this does not have a noticeable affect when driving at low speeds, you can tell the difference when your car vibrates while moving at high speeds.
If you ever look closely at some properly balanced wheels, you will often notice 1 inch metal clips attched along the edge of the rim. These function as counter weights to help balance a tire. Special machines are used to spin tires at high speeds and identify where and how much counter weights are needed to properly balance a tire.
It should be relatively inexpensive to drop by your local tire shop to have them properly balance each wheel.