I don't know what is causing this, but the front end of my car shakes and vibrates like crazy above 65mph, but here's the thing, it only does it about half the time, so I can't figure out why it's doing it. At first I thought it was a wheel out of balance, or due to one of my rims being bent, but wouldn't that occur all the time?? I just don't get it how one time it will drive smooth, and the next time the steering wheel looks like it's going to shake off! It doesn't seem like it's due to road imperfections, because I've driven the same roads with other cars and it's always smooth. The struts don't "seem" bad either because the car recovers quickly when hitting a hole and everything seems tight up front, and I know nothing is broken regarding the suspension. What else could be causing this??

 

I would try swapping tires front to rear. It will quickly tell you if the wheels/tires up front might be causing it. Beyond that, I would look at control arm bushings, tie rod ends and ball joints on both sides. - AB

 

I agree with B1mmer, swap the tires first and see as that is the easiest thing to do and will tell you a lot. Additionally the struts could be giong bad slowly. We had a car once that did something similar but like yours it only shook sometimes, and was smooth as silk the majority of the time. It turned out thecar had a bad ball joint.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

How do you check ball joints? I know the rubber boot is somewhat deteriorated, but I am not sure if the actual joint is bad.

 

One way to check ball joints is to jack up the front end so the wheels are off the grond. Then grab the tire/wheel at the 12 and 6 O'clock position and shake using a push/pull movement. If you have noticable play or looseness, the joint is probably bad.

Glenn

 

Does it vibrate while your stepping on the gas? Mine did that, in the end it was shaking very very nasty, turned out to be a bad CV (really bad)

 

Any update??

 

I still haven't figured it out. It doesn't seem to help switching the tires, but I am going to go get a couple Perellis to put up front and see if that helps. I haven't had a chance to check the ball joint yet.

 

How do you test the CVs? I noticed that it quiets up when I leave off the gas, so maybe that is the problem.