Continuing Vibrations

[Kdub]

Both lower ball joints have been replaced.

The only plus is that the steering feels more direct at low speeds.

The passenger side feels like it's bouncing or skipping above 70. So the vibration basically got worse, but only on one side. Also, I still hear a clunk when I start from a full stop. It also feels like its pulling to the right a little.

Tie rods?
They are about 5 years old.

Alignment?
Had one done last year.

Bushings?
ES poly bushings, also done about 5 yrs ago. Could they have stretched or sagged and now have play in them?

Axles?
Had then done 2 years ago, fresh honda remans, including half shaft.

If anyone has any ideas as to what it could be, I would greatly appreciate them.

I was always told anytime you have the suspension apart, you have to have it aligned when your done or else your tires will be fuct.

What kind of shape are your tires in?... if your tires are wore out or wearing uneven and unbalanced they will make your car shake worse than a vibrating bed.

[92acclude]

I actually think one of the ball joints may not have gotten pressed in all the way. I'll check it again this weekend.

As for tires. Falken Azenis, with 5-6/32 of tread. Balanced as of last year.

An alignment may be in order soon though.

[92acclude]

Haven't done anything since.

Ball joints are in and good.

Time to do bearings and rotors and see if that works.

[GreenMadness]

I dont know how familer anyone is with the suspension rebuild that i did over the winter, but I TOO have the same problem, except it goes away with the clutch pressed.

SO i think its autozone axles, cause i have ate about 4 per side, when i asked around about the process used to rebuild them i was quite scared. they replace the boots and reubild both joints... on everyaxle... and call it good, no matter what is actaully wrong with it. another words, you are buying shit that could possibly already be broken or wore down... i am tired of this shit.

The axles aren't in spec and are fucking everything in our front ends, you cant get away with running these cars hard with fucked up axles on it.

I tried they lasted 3 track days and the vibration going through a turn at 100+ was unreal... infact i though i was gonna flip and die.

So like everyone else i am having terrible luck, and doing a full reubuild made it perfect for 6 months then back to shit. my guess is warped rotors kill weak axles then everything in your front end goes to hell.

i left 2 weak links in my front end....
-Advanced auto tierods (FAILED)
-Autozone axles (BOTH FAILED)

its about time someone made a strong axle for our cars....

[GreenMadness]

*********IMPORTANT**********
I just though of something when i was looking over this, as i have been partrolling the suspension threads with this problem as the topic i have noticed a disturbing amount of people have similar parts to me. Then i realized there was a very distinct part that i questioned on install.

Energy Suspension Radius Rod Bushings. They dramaticly change the caster of your wheels, and normally isn't adjusted when aligned, normally they just compensate with toe and camber.

Staticly the suspension may look fine when under the car, but dynamicly in use we have no way of knowing whats going on, the angle of the strut/axle/tierods is all dependent on the tire give, the camber, the suspension length, the caster and the bushing flex... all of which changes constantly during use.

I wonder if we have created interferance at some point in the travle range that is costing us the lifetime of the parts on our cars by stressing them at angles that Honda never intended.

*****Please message me or post up if you have common symptoms******
-include symptoms and weather you have ES bushing (mainly radius rod)

[92acclude]

Interesting.

I have ES bushings throughout my front end. I'm also using Honda reman axles.

I'm pretty sure that honda at least checks caster when doing an alignment.

[Cam]

I just installed ES bushings and replaced UCA, upper ball joint, front cross member, radius rods. This fixed all vibration in the steering wheel on the highway. I also had movement in one of the UCA's which was fixed. For the first time in a long time all alignment is within spec including caster.

I don't think the radius rod bushings would be the cause of all these problems by themselves. If torqued down properly I don't think the difference in measurements from a set of new rubber ones would be that much.

[GreenMadness]

its over 3/4''... which i got down to 1/2'' torqued down, they are alot stiffer, and most alignment places dont realize what adjsutable when you modify the car. i know it seems crazy but its a possibility, there are a lot of ES bushings in the front of cb7's

[Losiracer2]

I just got an alignment done at a Big-O tire shop and they gave me a printout. The specified range for caster in front is 2-4 degrees, mine was at 2.2 LF and 2.0 RF. But i do believe camber has A LOT to do with the vibs at highway speed. I was lowered with 1.8 deg. of neg. camber before, but i tried raising it to have only 1 deg. of neg camber and that seemed to help alot. the specs for camber btw are -1 to 1 degree. Toe is the setting that can REALLY wear out tires though. Mine was off by .45 in the RF after just raising the front by 3 turns on the coilovers, thus the reason for the alignment i just got. specs for toe are -.12 and .12 degrees for each side. Also try and get a 4 wheel alignment if possible as my toe was out a lot in the rear as well. Hope this helps.

[GreenMadness]

my car has nearly 0 camber in the front and -1.5 in the rear. so i know its not camber giving me vibrations.

the set up limits the traction of the front tires in turns, but the rear negative brings the rear traction up very close to the fronts. so although im not extracting all the traction abilitys due to rollover the car handles very nutral on the road course even without upgrading the rear sway.

also when i launch the car into a turn and pull out under power, the ass end flicks so to speak but as soon as it starts to spin the rear tire grabs traction holding the car through the turn. i may not have been as fast as possible, but i was faster than a bmw z4 convertable.

[92acclude]

More rear grip should just cause more understeer.

[GreenMadness]

More rear grip should just cause more understeer.

Exactly, dont know about you but after i got rid of all that stock stuff, stiffend it up and got some good tires (even before that) i had oversteer, which is the end of a front wheel drive car, so to get the car more toward a neutral state i added some understeering settings.


EDIT: Im talking road course driving *road racing*, which really has alot more to do with how you make a car handle. driving style can change how a car handles more than changes in suspension

which is why fast drivers are consitantly fast in varying cars and conditions... they just have enough experiance to know how to compensate for car abilities with driving abilities

I got the information for setting the car up from a technical manual on FWD motorsports which followed the development and turning point, being the Honda use of front "double wish-bone" mcpherson struts.

[92acclude]

Friends.

I have solved my vibration.

New wheel bearings.

That is all.

[pwrusr]

Good to hear you finally solved your problem