Do you have the same size tires all the way around too?

 

17's front, 18's rear F1 GSD3's. A lot quietier than the ole run fats-

 

yes

 

New front wheel bearings/hubs went in this weekend and I am happy too say that the vibration is gone and the car drives much better. The darting towards the ruts in the road is also much better. It drives as good as it ever has.

Eric<><

 

does the harmonic balancer come into play on these cars experiencing this problem? never had a problem like this but sure see a lot of posts about balancers. just a thought, probably less than $.02

good luck!

jim

 

With an RPM based vibration it could. But the vibration noted in this thread was pretty much speed related only.

 

OK- did forced road balance all four, drove and still had rythmic vibration starting around 60. In checking lug nuts found they were not really the right size. Bought the proper ones and not the vibration is reduced significantly. Still comes up around 80 plus but not as bad as it was. Appeared the wheels were not being pulled to center on hub adequately-but better now. Will check out the wheel bearing issue but doubt that is it as when the vibration is present, turning lane to lane does not change it as when I take it out of gear does not either.

 

Here's some of the scoop on what has been done and found. Finished a road forced balance yesterday and the 98 was better but still had the vibration starting arounf 55 mph in a rhythmic format and then becoming solid vibration around 80 mph.
Took to the dealer today, road tested and the mech felt it was the tires and wheels and recommended another outfit road force balance. This was another $60 on top of the $80.00 already spent. Balance zero's out on all four and we go for a road test and the vibration is worse. The Tech at the tire shop recommended I check back with our local dealer to see if there were any TSB - Nope None....He then commented that if Run Flats were on the car initially, you can not legally change to non-run flat as I have with the GSD3's
Back to the tire shop where I bought the tires and he was at his wit's end as to what is wrong. He will try and find another set of wheels as the wagon wheels I traded in were sold.
Drove by and spoke with a old Vette Salty and he commented he had heard that the suspension is so touchy on the older vets-97-01 that going to a run flat could have changed the dynamics of the wheel/suspension set up but felt my best bet would be to find another 97-2001 here in Havasu to swap wheels with. Thats a pretty slim possibility.
The shop that did the last road forced balance wants me to bring it back in the morning and they want to keep working on it to at least get it to where it was when I brought it in. This shop tech even suggested it might be frozen u-joint bearings that could be causing it-@ 20,000 miles? We will see and the saga continues-

 

Didn't read it fully...anyhow i had a similar problem, which also improved with new lug nuts...never pinpointed the problem, but im 95 percent sure my case was with the wheel or tire...finally got it with a new balance however that obviously doesn't seem to be working for you. Best of luck.....

 

Had a very similar issue w/ my '02 vert w/ chrome repros. It would start the rhythmic vibration around 75mph and get progressively worse from there. This was on the run flats. HOWEVER, I also would continually get a "service active handling" code on an intermittent basis (after exceeding 75mph) usually accompanied by one of the brakes randomly activating (typically felt like the right front). I had tires removed from the wheels, rotated, rebalanced and a 4 wheel alignment. Got A LOT better but never went completely away and gradually came back over about 6 mos. Then got Goodyear GSDS3's all around and BINGO, everything except the intermittent "service active handling" and random single brake activation are GONE. I did not change wheels, so I've got to think it was something with the old run flats.

Now if anyone has any ideas on the "service active handling" and single brake activatioin, please let me know. I'm going to try to clean all the grounds when I have time, but have no other ideas on what to try.

 

My buddy had it... he changed the Wheels... then the tires from run flats to Non-Runflats... had a 4 wheel alignment, and all the tires balanced... the guy that ended up repacing the wheel bearings... said it would not fix the problem...and that the tires would need to be balanced...(right..done twice)... after new wheel bearings... it was a new car... really... no more VIBRATION..... you have nothing else to try.... just do it...

 

athomesoda, can you describe your friends vibration in more detail? I'm having an issue after changing rims from the wagons to 5 spokes, as well as having new tires installed in front. I'm thinking of a road force test but it sounds like if I have bad wheel bearings out back it might not show up. I'd like to know the symptoms of your friends wheel bearings before I go replacing those, I heard they're a PITA. Right now I'm a bit frusterated because my car vibrates signifcantly after 70mph and continues to get worse the faster I go. It was perfect with the wagon wheels, but I also had different front tires at the time. I saw the mechanic 0 balance everything so it "should" be good....but an out of round tire and/or bent rim would cause these issues too.

 

Front or Rear?

 

How many miles are on your 99?,, Big Question, did it make any grinding noise or anything else to lead you to think it was the front wheel bearings?

 

Was there any noise or other indications like crunching while turning and such to lead him to believe it was the front wheel bearings? How many miles were on his car? Important infor as the mech's at the Chev garage say unless you have those indicators, its not wheel bearings.

 

Same question as to the others, was there any noise associated with leading you to suspect the front wheel bearings? I used to have bad darting with run flats and now its rare with the new GSD3's and there are 20,000 on the car.
I need to resolve this issue as its starting to really P)(*& me off with all these Havasu locals so called experts in their field.
"Expert"Defined " Unknown drip under pressure"

 

O-K , any techs out there have any idea as to what these numbers mean after a Road Forced Balance?
LF 5 lbs Road Force Assembly 10-Tire 6
LR 6lbs Road Force Assembly 6, Tire 7
RF 13 lbs Road Force Assembly 13, Tire 10
RR 19 lbs Road Force Assembly 19, Tire 16

Weight's zero out for balance but the vibration is still there-

 

All you really care about is the assembly road force measurement, according to Goodyear anything over 20 lbs is unacceptable.
I also have this problem and found 1 tire the RR had 27 lbs of road force and Goodyear replaced it with one that had 16 lbs.
Now it didn't cure the vibration completely but did make a marked improvement.
One other thing was some time back I had painted my rotor hats with high temp paint so while I had a wheel off I took a wire wheel to the front rotors and cleaned it down to bare metal.
It has helped enough that I will be cleaning the rears off this weekend when I flush the brake system.
BTW the vibration has some what diminished or I'm getting used to it just by driving it.
1 other thing is it seems to be less evident as the tire heats up and with different road surfaces.

 

It was most noticeable at 60 + MPH... it went ..vibrate...calm vibrate..calm.. vibrate... in 1 second intervals... it made the car no fun to drive on the freeway... you could fell it in the sterring wheel, and the seat of the pants. The back drivers side was bad, and the front drivers side was the worst.

I got involved when we swaped my wheels and tires on to his car, and the vibration was still there... put back on my car no vibration... Also... coasting, with the car out of drive, it was the same, so the engine had nothing to do with it... we even turned the engine off, and it was still there.

The car had 98,000... and the dealer said there was no reason to change the passenger side as the bearings last a long time... The mechanic said that the bearing had been "Pinched" and said it could be from bumping a curb...

My bet is you can find some maybe forum member to swap wheels and tires with you to rule it out... but.. have someone who knows HOW to check wheel bearings... check it.

After the 2 new bearings... it was vibration free...

 

It sounds like most of you are talking about vibration in the rear wheels. I felt it this weekend on 2000 a4 coupe with 101K but seemed to be from front right. I would not have noticed except my wife was driving at the time. Anything over 80 and you could feel it. Did not seem to get any worse or any better with higher speeds.