Whole car vibrating (not when I turn left) -SOLVED!!

Anonymous · October 30, 2006, 22:03

Help MR2ROC!
HAd the '2 for nearly a year now. Up until now no problems what so ever.

BUT!

For the last few weeks I've noticed a lot of rattles developing all over the car. At first I put this down to the car getting older, especially as I am now doing a 90 mile round trip three times a week.
Over the last week though the rattles have become unbearable - at around 70mph I get a loud buzz over my right ear, accelerate up to 85mph and I get a deafening rattle from the parcel shelf/engine bay which feels like the whole car is shaking apart. I have also noticed a lot of vibration through my bottom! Almost like a mobile phone on vibrate is going off and road noise seems to have increased
This has got me thinking - maybe the rattles are a symptom of a problem with the suspension/transmission and not just the car getting older.

Now the interesting bit : when going around a left hand corner on a motorway all the rattles, the road noise, the vibration disappear completely

Does anyone know or have any idea what might cause this. My only thought weas that maybe I have a tyre out of balance.

HELP!

markiii · October 30, 2006, 22:08

check your engine mounts, pay particular attention to teh left and right mounts

Anonymous · October 30, 2006, 22:20

Wow thanks for quick reply Mark!

Never considered engine mounts - can I ask why they would cause these sort of symptoms (as it were)?

Am I looking for degradation of the mounts - I assume they are rubber bushed mountings.

markiii · October 30, 2006, 23:40

mainly because my vibratiosn increased 10 fold when adding teh stiffer mounts, and teh fact that it cancels out when going around a bend could mean your either stretching ior compressign teh mount to teh point it stops rattling

Anonymous · October 31, 2006, 06:48

willco.
also noticed my front nearside wheel has no balancing weights so I'm going to get that checked as well.

If anyone has anyother ideas let me know

VVT-i · October 31, 2006, 08:04

Check your mounts, drive shafts, track rod ends etc... but as for the wheel balance.. if it's your backside in the seat thats vibrating then it's more likely to be a rear tyre, and they way you are describing the severity of it, i would say that if it is anything to do with a wheel/tyre, then it's more probable that you have a tyre that has gone out of shape... check the tread od the tyre by running the palm of your hand over the surface all the way around, it should be smooth, but be carefull to watch out for any wires etc sticking out of it.. it can be quite sore if it gets you... i got a lot of t-shirts to prove this s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

Anonymous · November 1, 2006, 18:08

Right,
Thanks for the advice.
Decided that first things first I will get the wheel balances checked as this would be the cheapest option to eliminate first.

Took it to a local quickfit - "Wow mate they were all way off balance and whoever did it before counterbalanced it (put weights opposite each other on the wheel - apparently this shouldn't be done???)"

My excitement at having possibly cured the problem was muted by the fact that quickfit managed to
A) Refit nearside rear 16inch rim to my front offside hub
B) Didn't believe me at the till that the wheels were different sizes ("Are you sure - have you got aftermarket alloys or summit?")

Honestly what a tool!

Well did it work? Unfortunately although for the first 30seconds things seemed fine the rattle and vibration soon came back and are still gone when I bank into a left hand bend.

Got it home and quickly jacked up all four corners - all the bearings felt sturdy and I couldn't find anything that looked obviously amiss, bent or split (although my knowledge of what things should look like isn't 100%).

Looks like it could be a trip to Mr T and a sting to the wallet for this one. s:(

s:(

markiii · November 1, 2006, 18:15

I doubt it is this but check all of your heatshield for one thats is loose or has a weld cracked.

Anonymous · November 1, 2006, 18:26

I did gut the precats last week so will check that as well.
As you said though would be strange if this was making the whole car vibrate.

mg · November 1, 2006, 21:10

Can you actually feel the vibration or are you just keying off the rattle? Both my '02's rattled more when it got cold - I guess the plastics were getting stiffer and causing more noise...

Anonymous · November 1, 2006, 21:35

No I really can feel the vibration and when I straighten up after banking around a left hand motorway corner you can really notice the increased road noise coming back on.

It's even worse tonight - I'm afraid of driving her in case there is ongoing damage being done, but I've got to get to work. s:(

s:( s:(

s:(

Anonymous · November 1, 2006, 22:03

Reading around the forums and internet - am now thinking this could be a driveshaft problem

- anyone know if this would go with my "all fine when turning left" phenomenon if it were just one driveshaft out of shape.

Sounds expensive

VVT-i · November 1, 2006, 22:38

It could well be a driveshaft.. but, back to the wheel balancing thing for a minute.. sh*t-fit balanced your wheels, then proceeded to put your rear wheel onto your front axle without even realizing they were different sizes right?.. if that is the case, and if they also balanced the front wheels first, then they haven't re-set up the wheel balancer for the rear wheels... different diameter and a different J-size (width of the rim).. these settings must get put into the wheel balancer properly or there is a chance that the wheels won't be balanced at all, even although they have come up zero on the machine.

If the full car is vibrating at a certain speed, if it is wheel, tyre or balance related it most commonly comes from the rear of the car (the fronts mostly cause the steering wheel to vibrate) if i was in your position i would either be going back to sh*t-fit and get them to re-check the balance on ALL 4 wheels after pointing out their mistake on their 1st attempt... or, my prefered option.. go to another garage and get someone who knows what they are doing to do it properly.

Anonymous · November 1, 2006, 22:45

VVT-i - thanks for the info I would never have known that tyre size would impact on how you balance them.

There were twoguys one buzzed the wheels off and stacked them up - the other guy ran them through the machine - they just assumed they were all 15inch.

I'm going to get just the rears rechecked tomorrow at another garage. after that if it's still fecked I'm biting the bullet and heading for the delearship .

Anonymous · November 11, 2006, 17:16

Bit of an update here.
Got the wheels rebalanced by a very competent garage I used to use (a good 1/2 hour drive - but I know they'll get it right)

Anyway the quickfit balance was way out.. unfortunately the vibration continues and has now become a definite grinding noise, which gets louder the faster you go, now deafening above 80mph. definately coming from the rear nearside area.

Jacked the car up myself again - nothing obvious and no play in the wheel but when I spin it by hand I can hear and feel a definite grinding.

- My guess would be a wheel bearing, would explain why the noise goes when turning left as well.

I've had to cancel my RR session at millways and will be booking it into the garage for monday.

If it is a rear bearing is this a job any old garage could do or am I going to have to pay MR T through the nose?

VVT-i · November 11, 2006, 19:19

Any competant mechanic should be able to do the wheel bearing without any problems whatsoever.. and after you stating that its grinding when you spin it by hand, i also feel that it will the bearing to. A bearing will cause vibration and if its worn enough it gets louder the faster you go... a word of warning though, if it has deteriorated quite badly, it could also have worn out the housing it sits in.. this would mean a full new hub.. but i would say that 90% of the time you would get away with replacing the bearing, as we all look after our cars, i doubt that you would have let it get to the stage where the hub needs replacing. (If finances permit.. do both sides... if one has gone, the other may not be far behind)

Anonymous · November 12, 2006, 11:34

cheers,
really appreciate the advice.

I'm of the belief that this side has failed prematurely as a result of a nasty high speed curbing that wheel sustained only two weeks into ownership on a wet icy night!

Searching here and on spyderchat I've found atleast two other owners who have experienced rear wheel bearing failure in low mileage cars, so it may not be that rare an event.

Anonymous · November 16, 2006, 18:21

Just got the car back from the garage.

It was a nearside rear wheel bearing - quite badly deteriorated apparently (although the hub was fine)
Cost £170 (2.5 hours labour £40 bearing) compared to Mr T's quote of £280.

Anyway - I am very very happy! I have my car back so quiet and no rattles at all!

Thanks for everyones help. s:D

s:D