21 Most Common Reasons Your Car Is Vibrating

Lesson 3. By [Automovill.com] powered by {DigiMusk.com}

Photo by why kei on Unsplash

You would have planned your holidays as there are 16 long weekends in 2018. But you might be worrying about going on a road trip as you’re not sure if you can take out your car this time. You’ve been sensing car vibrations from quite some time but not paying much attention to it.

How about troubleshooting your car vibrations? You can save considerable amount of money & time in fixing the issues if you know the exact reason behind the vibrations. Most of the times you end up paying a lot because you are told some other possibilities and then as a premium you are asked to pay for the correct solution. There could be minor reasons or there could be major reasons and both of them need your thoughts. Needless to say that, fixing your car beforehand can add ages to your car. The noisy ride attributes to either of these 20 reasons. You can solve few of the issues at your end, but for most of them you should consult a car expert and get your car serviced with professional skill sets.

Vehicle Speed Sensitive Vibration

Such vibrations are felt only at specific speeds. Can appear either at a very high speed or can disappear post a specific speed. If you see any pattern related to vehicle speed, check your tires and wheels.

Tires

1. Under inflated tires: Check if the tire is under-inflated. If the tire pressure is too low, it can increase the friction on the road that might overheat or gradually blowout. Its a must that you should get air pressure routine checkup once a month
2. Out of balance tires: If you are riding at 60–70 mph and you find your steering wheel shaking or the front seat shaking, you need to balance the tire. Tire balancing makes sure that the weight is evenly distributed around the entire circumference of the unit.
3. Uneven tire wears: Over-inflation, under-inflation, or misalignment can cause uneven tire wears. For this you’ll either need to get a tire alignment from car experts, or get your car pumped up, or deflate your tires to the recommended PSI level.

Wheels

4. Out of balance wheels: If you find the steering wheel or the seat vibrating at certain highway speeds, this might be due to imbalanced wheels (when one section of the tire is heavier than the others). Wheel balancing allows the tires and wheels to spin without causing any vibrations. To get the wheel balanced, the expert will mount it on a balancing machine which spins the wheel to locate the heavier part. Once the heavy part is identified, a complementary lead weight is attached on the opposite side.

5. Misaligned wheels: If you car drifts away from a straight line, then the wheels might would have been misaligned. Wheel alignment adjusts the angles of the wheels so that they are perpendicular to the ground and parallel to each other to make sure that the car doesn’t drift away while riding straight.

6. Damaged wheel bearings: If you hear a roaring noise from the tire area, this could be as a result of damaged wheel bearing. Wheel bearings allow the tires and wheels to spin freely without building up too much heat. You can get the bearing repaired or replaced based on the damage severity.

7. Ball joints: Ball joints connect the control arm to the steering knuckle. It plays a pivot between the wheels and the suspension of your vehicle. The ball joints if get broken can cause vibration and can end up collapsing the wheel. When the ball joint exceeds the vehicle’s manufacturer’s maximum allowance for movement, it should be replaced.

8. Wheel run out: This results from improper mounting or use of imperfect wheels. Wheel run out could either be radial or lateral. Radial run out happens when the wheel spindle moves up and down and lateral run out happens when the tire and the wheel moves side to side. For this you need to use a tire run-out gauge or dial indicator to check radial and lateral run-out.

Engine Speed Sensitive Vibration

Such vibrations are related to engine rpm only.

9. Worn Out Spark plugs: Worn out spark plugs can cause car engines to misfire or not properly fire on each and every cylinder. You can install a new spark plug or can fix the compression.

10. Broken radiator fan: A radiator fan helps you in cooling your car and if the radiator fan is broken, you might find disturbed drive and vibrations coming out. The fans are controlled either with a thermostatic switch or by the engine computer, and they turn on when the temperature of the coolant goes above a set point. They turn back off when the temperature drops below that point. You can detach the fan and clean it up or use fuse multi-tester to see there the switch is fused.

11. Damaged Engine mount: Engine mounts are responsible for securing the engine of a vehicle to the chassis. They are made of metal (to withstand the force)and rubber (to dampen the vibration). If the rubber gets worn out, the engine mount doesn’t help in reducing the vibration. For this you might need the engine mount replacement.

12. Faulty timing belt: A timing belt is the ribbed belt that is placed in a specific configuration along one side of your engine to keep the crank and camshafts timed properly. If the timing belts get snapped with the time (which usually doesn’t happen), vibrations might occur. The only way to get rid out of this is to replace the timing belt.

13. Clogged fuel intake system: Sometimes a poorly fitted and clogged fuel intake system can cause vibration. It can also cause poor performance and increased fuel consumption.

Brake Sensitive Vibration

Such vibrations take place only when you apply the brakes. Reasons include:

14. Warped rotors: The rotors are part of the disc brakes that allow your vehicle to stop once the vehicle is in motion. If the rotors are warped, your vehicle may not be able to stop properly in an emergency situation. Formation of hard nodules in the iron cause warped brake discs. To fix this, you can either get the discs smoothed or can get them replaced in pairs.

15. Rusted brake caliper pin: On a disc-brake-equipped car, the caliper sits over the brake rotor (the circular metal disk inside your wheel) like a clamp. Inside the caliper is a brake pad, a small block of friction material backed with a metal plate. When you step on your brake pedal, pistons inside the caliper cause it to apply pressure to the brake pad which squeezes the rotor, causing the car to slow or stop. If the brake caliper pin is rusted, you need to extract and lubricate. If this doesn’t help, you might need to replace.

16. Damaged break pads: Brake pads are steel backing plates with friction material bound to the surface that faces the disc brake rotor. If the brake pad is contaminated with dirt or oil, this might cause the car to vibrate. In some cases, break pads can be resurfaced (machined) on a brake lathe to create a smooth, even finish. Resurfacing brake pad to make them smooth requires scraping off the top layer of the metal. If too much of the rotor thickness already has been used up, then the brake pad should be replaced.

Acceleration/ Deceleration sensitive

Have you noticed your car vibrating only when you drive off, overtake, or slow down? Such sudden acceleration/ deceleration noises

Axle

17. Bent axle: The car axles transmit power from the transmission or differential to the drive wheels. If the bend is severe (more than a quarter-inch or so), then you need to have your axle replaced immediately. A badly bent axle will quickly cause damage to CV joints, and it’s possible to damage your wheel hubs, bearings and other components. It can also damage the mounting flange where it attaches to the differential (in a rear-wheel drive vehicle), and possibly cause internal damage to the differential gearing.

18. Driveshaft: A drive shaft is a mechanical component for transmitting torque and rotation. Vibration due to driveshaft could be because of the irregular built of the shaft or the shaft being bent. Your car might have two driveshafts and you might need to replace only one. In that case you can get one of the driveshafts replaced but make sure that the universal joint is lubricated.

19. CV Joint (constant velocity joint): Constant-velocity joints allow a drive shaft to transmit power through a variable angle, at constant rotational speed, without an appreciable increase in friction. Inner CV joints connect the drive shafts to the transmission, while the outer CV joints connect the drive shafts to the wheels. Grease coming out of a small crack or tear is the early sign of the CV joint boot failing. If a damaged CV joint boot is caught early, simply replacing the boot and repacking the CV joint with a fresh grease is all that is usually needed.

20. U Joint (universal joint): The universal joints allow the drive shaft to move up and down, to allow for suspension travel. Symptoms of a bad universal joint include a repeating squeaking sound when accelerating from a stop, a heavy clunking noise when shifting from drive to reverse or vise versa, or a shuddering sensation when accelerating or driving. Replacement of U-joints often come with lubrication fittings, so if the U-joints are replaced on your vehicle, make sure they’re lubricated at every oil change.

21. LSD Oil Leak: Limited sleep differential allows its two output shafts to rotate at different speeds but limits the maximum difference between the two shafts. If a drive wheel begins to slip in a vehicle equipped with a limited-slip differential, the difference in applied torque causes the LSD unit to apply torque evenly to both drive wheels. Differential vibrations are almost always caused by lack of lubrication.

PS: Spending a hefty sum of money only to maintain your car will not make you a smart car owner. Be more wiser with your car! Next time if you or your friends encounters the same issues, you know you’ve got your car encyclopedia.