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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
I was out on a car trip, and after getting brand spankin yokohama tires, and getting the whole balance/alignment job, my s-cort STILL shakes at high speeds.

The last pair of tires had a very strange wear pattern on the rear left wheel:
if you viewed the wheel from the side, instead of seeing a nice, circular tire, mine looked more like a 10-pointed star, only the points of that star weren´t straight points, more like rounded. In other words, the tread of the tire was really low in one place, then you´d travel along the circumference of the wheel another couple inches, and the tread was high again. It was like the tread was periodic wave extending itself along the circumference of the tire, if that makes any sense.

anyway, this problem totally baffled me, but the mechanic who changed my tires said that it was a problem with my not rotating the tires on time. He also said that it was because the back end of the car was so light that the back of the car would "bounce up and down" and cause that kind of tread wear. I don´t know if this is the case, or if he´s full of shit.

After driving several hundred miles, at speeds of 30-110mph
I noticed that this problem is at its worst at about 65mph. The problem seems to go away once you get over 85mph, although I think that´s because it starts shaking so fast that you just feel it as a whirr and it just kinda blends in.

As a result, I felt that the problem was in the suspension. I felt that what was happening was that the suspension had leaked oil and become underdampened, so when I hit a bump, that bump propagated and was perpetuated somehow by the fact that my suspension couldn´t stop it.

My sister was in the car with me, and she thinks the problem is that a light car like the escort will shake because it doesn´t have the weight to keep the tires glued to the road, but she doesn´t know anything about cars.

Please help me, i just want a smooth as buttah pimpin´ wagon...




[ This message was edited by: siragan on 23-12-2002 16:06 ]

[ This message was edited by: siragan on 23-12-2002 16:07 ]
 

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Yeah, both my scorts actually shake a little when you go like 75-80mph. Tire wear looks normal. I guess the wheels might need balancing maybe.
 

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my scort only shaked when i had no balance weight on my front right tire. but you probably got weights on yours, i knocked mine off by hitting a curb. stupid concrete.

oh yeah, i need a bumper for my 93 lx, i wrecked my car so i need a bumper and a left front fender, and a new headlight/turn signal set. crap sucks, does anyone know how much it would cost to straighten out my frame on the left front of my car, its just all bent in.
 

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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%>[TR][TD]Quote:

[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]
On 2002-12-23 17:59, 2redscorts wrote:
Tire wear looks normal. I guess the wheels might need balancing maybe.
[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]

[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]

They already are balanced, and this is definetly not normal tire wear...
 

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OR! you need to put that car on a wheel test, maybe that tires locking up while your driving and you´re not really noticing. probably a bad bearing or something. i may be sounding stupid, point me correct if i am.
 

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Discussion Starter · #8 ·
hrm...
that does sound a little more feasible. I really hope it´s not a bent frame.. I know I´ve never done anything to do that, although...

the guy who had the s-cort before me was a mechanic, but he, according to his wife, "took out his agression" on the s-cort...
I know it´s a terrible thing to take out your agression on an s-cort, especially when you´ve got a perfectly acceptable A4 to beat up, but my car looks like it has had the shit beaten out of it with a heavy, blunt object.

Anyway, I have noticed that when I roll up to an intersection in neutral and lightly apply the brakes, I can feel it in the back. It can feel it catch in one part, then roll freely in the other part. It´s feels like I´m braking and letting off. I´ve got a 95 LX, so I have drums in the back, but I´m not sure what is wrong with them if this is the case....
 

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Get your alignment checked, which you should do if you get new tires anyway. As for the brakes, does it shake the steering wheel when you brake? It sounds like a warped rotor. Could also be an out-of-round brake drum if you say its only the rear.
 

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Discussion Starter · #12 ·
I just got brand new tires, which were put on the rims, balanced, and aligned.

I´m still somewhat of a n00b to cars, so could someone explain what the rotors are?

The steering wheel doesn´t turb side to side at all when the car shakes. The car just shakes and vibrates. Mind you that the car shakes when I don´t have the brake applied, so even though my drum brake in the rear may be bad, I am assuming this will have no effect on the fact that my escort is shaking when I´m just driving normally, right?

I just really want to fix this asap. I´ll be packing another 900 miles or whatever in the upcoming week, and I don´t want to wear out my brand spankin new yokohama tires that I dropped a billion dollars for. Thanks for the help guys, already the help I´ve gotten from these boards has saved me a bunch of money and frustration, and I do intend to make a donation if I can get any extra $$$´s for Xmas. thanks.
 

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The rotors are the break rotors. If you don´t feel anything in the steering wheel it´s probably not that. When I say alignment, I mean suspension alignment. So you did get it aligned then? If the toe in/out is set wrong it will make it shake and wear the tires all weird. The only other thing I would say is that your struts are totally wasted and don´t do their job anymore which leads to a lot of shaking goin on.
 

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Okay working in the tire biz....I say get them rebalanced....If you´re feeling it at 65 that sounds like balance...I´m guessing you have one tire off by about .75 of an ounce or something (probably a front tire).

get them re-balanced. I agree with Sleeper...alignment check would be good..but alignment doesn´t usually cause a shake like balance issues...but if your not noticing a bump steer problem it might be a ball joint. If still nothing is found, make sure they take a good look at your wheel or maybe an out of round tire.

I´ve had customers come back complaining that they´re Yoko´s aren´t wearing right...mostly with the AVID´s. Check for leaky struts though...that´s what the prob always seemed to be with irregular wear with the AVID´s.
 

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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
Okay, I´ll go jack up my escort and take a look at the rear struts. How can I tell how the oil is doing in there? Also how can I check that the ball joint is in good condition?

I know that I have a brake rotor problem, and although I of course don´t have a problem with it when I´m driving (not braking), do you think that maybe that out-of-round brake rotor may have CAUSED this shaking problem?
 

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okay brakes can sometimes cause problems but to kill the myth....out of spec alignment IS NOT a cause for a tire to vibrate...unless something is worn or broken. Remember that´s not an alignment problem is a suspension problem.

To test a ball joint jack the tire up just off the ground and use a breaker bar and put upward pressure on the bottom of the tire. If the ball joint moves its bad. The balljoints and tie rod ends should have no play in them.

Just life the car higher to see the strut behind the tire...take your finger around it and feel for leakage.
 

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Discussion Starter · #17 ·
I agree, blade, alignment shouldn´t be the problem. The steering wheel doesn´t turn, and it tracks as straight as an arrow, even when it´s shaking really badly.

I´ll go to my friend´s haus and jack her up and check the struts and ball joints.
 

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maybe one of your rims is dented. did you run over any curbs recently? or you could have a bad tire on there, thats what happened to my moms car and it shakes pretty bad at 60-70 but then smooths out past that.

also, check the CV joints...i never checked mine and for like 3 years my car vibrated and i wondered why, and they finally figured it out at my mechanic and they replaced it. then i could top my car out and it would cruise like i was going 40.

i think the bent frame is a possibility, or bent axle maybe...it could be many things.
 

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Discussion Starter · #19 ·
well the rims are fine. I had those checked when I had my tires put on, but I´m not allowed to be in the garage when they do it, so I can´t tell if they actually looked things over or not, but I´m assuming they did because I asked specifically for them to look-see it over.

I looked through the records of service and I see that previously, the owner had something fixed on it, and the mechanic commented that the rear struts were weak, but not an imminent problem. This was over a year ago. Anyway, I guess that this is the problem, so I´m getting new rear struts.

I don´t want to fix the wrong thing though...
Can anyone recommend a good strut to use for the rear? I´d like to eventually put new struts on all fours and lower my whole ride a couple inches, but I don´t want some GT racing pricetag cause I really don´t do that kinda stuff in my crappy ol LX wagon.

I lifted my car up and checked the tierods and everything looked ok, albeit fairly rusty, which is pretty normal for northeast shitwinter driving.
 

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Honestly siragan...i went to www.nopionline.com and ordered some KYB Gas GR2 struts and eventually I want to get around to those Suspension Technique 1.5" lowering springs. but thats for the GT model. I´m not sure if you can put those on the LX wagons. the struts themselves cost 50 bucks a pop, plus mounts and boots. Shop around, get yourself the best deal you can. if I had an LX I´d probably be in the same boat as you and looking for answers as well. just look around that website and see if you can find anything.
 
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