As many of you have seen, or maybe not, I have been having a pain in the ass time trying to get my car to stop this annoying vibration that comes through the steering wheel at speeds above 50mph. I have spent WAY too much time and money on it, and its all because of procrastination. This is why you shouldnt put off a small problem "for just one more week", and get it fixed as soon as you can.
I autocrossed my car, treated it how you would someone's rental car. I drove it as hard as I could, since thats how you had to stay competitive. Of course, parts broke, and stuff couldnt hold up. Mainly I was going through Autozone remanufactured axles like there was no tomorrow. I figured the h22 plus me beating on it, through the corners and whatnot was the killer, as I'll later figure out, the Autozone parts cores are essentially just taken in, cleaned, and stuck back on the shelf.
I finally got sick of screwing up the car after one event when I was setting up my victory for the year against a modded STI and a badass Evo MR that was almost tied with me, it would have come down to the last race of the season(december), which I missed. After the november event I had a pretty annoying vibration from the motor. It was from jumping the balancer belt by a tooth. I figured out that the h22 didnt really like being used as an engine brake (shoving it into 2nd at the end of a straight into a sharp turn and popping the clutch to get the car to slid out). So I retired for the season.
Every time it would vibrate on acceleration, I would need to swap out one more axle. So time went by, and it was coming up to the NC meet. I swapped a new axle on one side, and was convinced that since I kept having vibration it may have been my intermediate shaft since it seemed to have some play. Got up, and swapped it out for another that Jody had. Felt a bit better for a little while, but after we got on the highway, I knew that wasnt my problem.
Fast forward... got home without vibrating the car to death, it did it ALL the way home. Imagine your steering wheel turning about 1 inch back and forth for 12'ish hours. NO GOOD.
So now its time to start replacing more shit. I have now replaced passenger axle, lower ball joint, tie rod end, and wheel bearing. Wheel bearing was the only thing that was actually bad that I could actually verify. Just replaced the drivers side lower ball joint since it had play, and the tie rod end just so I know its not it. Of course, it still vibrates.
All in all, I have replaced what I said above plus new tires(needed them anyways), a new steering rack, tires re-balanced, tires rotated, and tried wheels from another car to rule out bent wheels. And the vibration is still here.
So I am back to square one, and have the original problem still annoying me.
BUT, the whole point of the story is, had I spent time and figured the problem out prior to driving 1300 miles to the NC meet, I would have saved myself from having to purchase two lower ball joints, a wheel bearing, and an intermediate shaft. Its only about 260 in parts, but another 200 for tools (press and bearing separator), and way way way too much time in agony.
So if you ever have a problem with the car, no matter how small, take care of it ASAP, instead of waiting a week or two and having it create one hell of a time for you. I am so sick of the car due to this, and would love to get rid of it, but know that if I ever do figure out the problem, I will at least have everything suspension/steering wise brand new. Lets just hope that happens before I get way to sick of it.
And Autozone axles... they are OK, but not good by any means. The last time when I took one back for a return since it had play in it, the new one off the shelf had more play than my old one I was returning. This not only happened once, but twice in a row. So I finally just got my money back.
I went with a discount auto reman axle, and it was nice and tight for the passenger side. May be doing the same for the drivers if I cant figure out why else this stupid thing still vibrates. I would try a Napa one, but cant stand how they only work bankers hours... what help is that? Imagine if Home depot or Lowes were only open from 8-5... that would suck for people that actually have to work.
Cliffs NOTES:
*Had a vibration, decided to wait until after I drove 1300 miles to the NC meet. Upon getting back, I replaced lower ball joints, tie rod ends, steering rack, passenger wheel bearing, intermediate shaft, axle, rebalanced tires, and rotated them, and problem isnt going away. All of the above were fine before I left, so they were damaged from the vibration.
So if you have a problem, no matter the magnitude, fix it ASAP to save yourself time and frustration down the road.
edit: holy shieat that is long...
I autocrossed my car, treated it how you would someone's rental car. I drove it as hard as I could, since thats how you had to stay competitive. Of course, parts broke, and stuff couldnt hold up. Mainly I was going through Autozone remanufactured axles like there was no tomorrow. I figured the h22 plus me beating on it, through the corners and whatnot was the killer, as I'll later figure out, the Autozone parts cores are essentially just taken in, cleaned, and stuck back on the shelf.
I finally got sick of screwing up the car after one event when I was setting up my victory for the year against a modded STI and a badass Evo MR that was almost tied with me, it would have come down to the last race of the season(december), which I missed. After the november event I had a pretty annoying vibration from the motor. It was from jumping the balancer belt by a tooth. I figured out that the h22 didnt really like being used as an engine brake (shoving it into 2nd at the end of a straight into a sharp turn and popping the clutch to get the car to slid out). So I retired for the season.
Every time it would vibrate on acceleration, I would need to swap out one more axle. So time went by, and it was coming up to the NC meet. I swapped a new axle on one side, and was convinced that since I kept having vibration it may have been my intermediate shaft since it seemed to have some play. Got up, and swapped it out for another that Jody had. Felt a bit better for a little while, but after we got on the highway, I knew that wasnt my problem.
Fast forward... got home without vibrating the car to death, it did it ALL the way home. Imagine your steering wheel turning about 1 inch back and forth for 12'ish hours. NO GOOD.
So now its time to start replacing more shit. I have now replaced passenger axle, lower ball joint, tie rod end, and wheel bearing. Wheel bearing was the only thing that was actually bad that I could actually verify. Just replaced the drivers side lower ball joint since it had play, and the tie rod end just so I know its not it. Of course, it still vibrates.
All in all, I have replaced what I said above plus new tires(needed them anyways), a new steering rack, tires re-balanced, tires rotated, and tried wheels from another car to rule out bent wheels. And the vibration is still here.
So I am back to square one, and have the original problem still annoying me.
BUT, the whole point of the story is, had I spent time and figured the problem out prior to driving 1300 miles to the NC meet, I would have saved myself from having to purchase two lower ball joints, a wheel bearing, and an intermediate shaft. Its only about 260 in parts, but another 200 for tools (press and bearing separator), and way way way too much time in agony.
So if you ever have a problem with the car, no matter how small, take care of it ASAP, instead of waiting a week or two and having it create one hell of a time for you. I am so sick of the car due to this, and would love to get rid of it, but know that if I ever do figure out the problem, I will at least have everything suspension/steering wise brand new. Lets just hope that happens before I get way to sick of it.
And Autozone axles... they are OK, but not good by any means. The last time when I took one back for a return since it had play in it, the new one off the shelf had more play than my old one I was returning. This not only happened once, but twice in a row. So I finally just got my money back.
I went with a discount auto reman axle, and it was nice and tight for the passenger side. May be doing the same for the drivers if I cant figure out why else this stupid thing still vibrates. I would try a Napa one, but cant stand how they only work bankers hours... what help is that? Imagine if Home depot or Lowes were only open from 8-5... that would suck for people that actually have to work.
Cliffs NOTES:
*Had a vibration, decided to wait until after I drove 1300 miles to the NC meet. Upon getting back, I replaced lower ball joints, tie rod ends, steering rack, passenger wheel bearing, intermediate shaft, axle, rebalanced tires, and rotated them, and problem isnt going away. All of the above were fine before I left, so they were damaged from the vibration.
So if you have a problem, no matter the magnitude, fix it ASAP to save yourself time and frustration down the road.
edit: holy shieat that is long...
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