New guy here- Hopefully someone can help! This is cool there is a lot of stuff here to read.
I now have a '89 Coupe w/65k miles since my uncle got it in new, the other day I noticed the left front wheel was warmer than the right, not much warmer but noticable. I've put about 15k om this car and am very used to it. I jacked up the car and spun the front wheels and the left one seemed to be dragging slightly. I cracked the bleeder open and then closed it and wheel turned easier. So I removed all the wheels noting/marking the location of nuts per lugs so they would go back in the same place and I bled the brakes and put the wheels back on and torqued them. The left wheel spun easiler after the bleeding, but still not as easy as the right, but does spin easily and only hear a slight pad drag in one small area, seems acceptable. Driving the car now the wheel is not as warm as it was, and is much like the other but---

The problem is now I have a vibration that causes the inside rearview mirror to shake, the mirror is not loose and also the dash is showing the vibration too, so it is real and recent, it starts at about 55 and increases with speed, I have never had vibrations in the car unless over 95 +. It is not as bad uphill at the same speeds but is worse going downhill at the same speeds. When I put the stick shift in neutral, it still vibrates the same. The steering wheel doesn't wiggle or anything and it doesn't get any worse when braking and no pulsing.
One thing i did differently was I did the final tightening of the wheels with my helper stepping on the brake, I never did that before, could that be the trouble?
Rears were tightened with e-brake on as i have done before and how it took the wheels off. Is that OK to do?

With that in mind I removed front wheels again and checked all the wheel mounting surfaces which were clean and flat and reinstalled the lugnuts and tightened them in sequence and then when snug I lowered the car to where the tire would stop so I could torque them and did so to the spec of 100ft#s, but the vibration is still present. Then did the same on the rear and the vibration is still present. It could be paranoia now since the vibration but it seems like the car does not change lanes as smoothly or track as well as before the vibration either.

I jacked up the front end and tried to move the front wheels by holding at 12 & 6 o'clock and trying to rock inward and outward but it does not move or wiggle so the bearing does not seem to be loose. Is there another or better way to check these?
How can I check the rear wheel bearings?


Please help.
DTH

 

That means you have a bad brake hose to that wheel. The hose is constructed in layers, and when they go bad the inside layer seperates and blocks return flow of fluid...causing pressure to be applied to the caliper/wheel cylinder and eventually burns up the brake pad/rotor/caliper.

Replace the front hoses now, do not hessitate to do so or you will burn up you caliper and rotor.

The vibration after bleeding means your rotor is already warped and now you feel the pulsation without being softened by air compression.

 

Yes the hose may be going but after the bleed it seems OK, I do plan to change them.
I checked the runout of the rotor, only inside though as wheel was on and it is only 6 thousands and within spec and no brake pulsation. Any other thoughts?
DTH

 

Actually, your brake pads should drag slightly on the rotor. This is in the design and it keeps the rotors clean and dry while driving. Like you said in your post, as long as the wheel turns freely, if you hear it dragging, that's fine.

As far as the vibration: It sounds like you lost a wheel weight when you took the wheels off. It's pretty easy to bump one of those weights to make them fall off. If it were anything related to the brakes (warped rotor, or rotor not seated properly on the hub), the brakes would pulsate when you used them. Since you said the steering wheel doesn't vibrate, it sounds like it's one of the rear wheels.

I'd get the wheels balanced and see if that does it. It's pretty cheap.

By the way, you shouldn't tighten the wheels with someone holding the brake. It *could* cause binding of the caliper/rotor if the rotor wasn't seated on the hub when the brakes were applied. (although that shouldn't really cause any problems).

 

Hmmm...didn't even think about that loss of wheel weight thing...good catch.
I was too tied up in remembering twice replacing a burnt up wheel cylinder before I learned about brake hose design. I even tried to help this guy out with an old T-Bird. He had complained that he keeps getting bad calipers that keep freezing and burning the pads...he simply could not comprehend a bad brake hose being the culprit. He even argued the point...until his supplier refused to trade the caliper back after the second or third one.
He ended up replacing many more calipers on the same wheel...what an idiot, all for a hose that only cost a few dollars.

 

Get the fron brake lines replaced, and the tires balanced. this should solve your problems.

 

Brake hoses will be replaced but are not the problem since there was no vibration when the brake was warm and before the wheels were removed. Also brake is not warmer anymore and is fine now. Wheels were already clean inside and no lumps of grease, tar or anything and I did not clean them.
The wheels were removed, set aside and then put back on and no weights were on the floor when I cleaned up.
Any other ideas?

 

I forgot to say, thanks guys!

Also is there a way to check the wheels bearings?,
what about the rear ones?
I have some mech background but never had independent rear suspension before.