I got 2 problems:

1. my 98 T5 Turbo wants to vibrate a bit above 60mph. what's up with that?

2. I'm also getting "jolted" whenever I hit a bump or pothole . I bounced the car up and down but the shocks don't seem to be bad. the car does not "bounce" after I push down on it. I don't "think" I need any shocks, but not sure. I changed the shocks at maybe 90,000 it now has 120,000 mile on it. so it appears obvious I might need them. but....

Any help is appreciated. thanks.

 

My mechanic checked under the car and he told me every thing was really tight. nothing loose. but I still get the vibration. could one of my wheels be warped?

 

Could be a bent wheel. What kind of struts did you use?

 

I don't know. I never changed them since I've had the car. Only the rear shocks. but the struts don't feeel bad. how are they suppose to feel when the y go bad?

 

Struts/shocks control the springs. Without a strut/shock or with a blown strut/shockyour spring will be free to bounce around and do as it likes, which is very common on cars that are lowered with stock struts/shocks where the spring rates are far too high for the strut to control (gives that crappy bouncy ride feeling.)

If your mechanic says that everything is tight, I would check the wheels. You could have had a wheel weight come off, hit a large pot hole and bent a wheel, etc.

 

Aren't wheel balance problems under 60 mph though? Does the vibration go away at higher speed or does it get worse? Could be bad tires too. I have had cases where the tires looked great but were crap and the wheels were fine.

 

On my Civic I had a balancing problem that didn't start till 45mph and didn't really clear up at all till 90mph. At 70-80mph it was shaking sobad, I thought my windshield was going to crack. You are also right about tires. A snapped belt inside the tire could cause a very bad balancing problem.

 

It could also be bent rims, so please have a look into that too

 

mine doens't bounce at all. it's very tight. and I have to admit I did hit a curb one night and popped the tire, but it was a freakishhit on the tire and not the rim that popped the tire. it wasn't a direct hit. I 'll have the wheels checked for warpage

but what aobut the "jolting" I get when I hit a bump or pothole. it makes me think the sturts/shocks are actually bad. weird ride.

when I'm out on the highway at 70-80mph it's smooth but with sutble vibration. no pulling to either side.

when I'm city driving, I can fell every bump or pothole. it's uncomfortable at times.

 

I have goodyear triple treads on there. alignment is good. I just can't figure this out. maybe I'll start with the strut change and see if that fixes it. they could be bad but just show it.

 

What about a worn inner CV joint on your right hand driveshaft? I had exactly the same problem, a new driveshaft cured it..

 

Just in case anyone else finds this via search, I had a very similar problem. Severe vibration at 65 mph. I replaced the front right engine mount (near the axle) and it went completely away.