I did a lot of front end work recently, and cannot find figure out why I have vibration in the wheel/body after 65+ mph. Its worse at 75, then smooths a bit around 80 but still noticeable.
I've been replacing lots of parts and spending a lot more than I wanted to, but I feel too committed to give up. What am I missing?

To start, my 92 B2200 AT has 270k, all the front end components were shot, all ball joints, tie rod ends boots, rubber was trashed. However, I did not have any vibration at this point. My truck would veer to the right slightly, but it was still a comfortable, squeeky ride lol.

I bought all the parts from rockauto, so the parts are Delphi, Mevotech, etc. So far I have driven 2k miles. Here is the list of things I replaced with new:

-Inner and out tie rod ends with sleeves
-complete upper control arms with bushings and shaft. (initially I bought the shafts only but did not like the fitment on the old threads of the control arm, so I replaced it again with a complete unit).
-Upper and Lower ball joints
-Idler arm
-Pitman arm: the new one does not go up as high as the original, but still appears to be functioning normal.
-Tension rod bushings
-Sway bar bushings
-End link bushings
-Wheel bearings with races: Initially I didn't pre-load them as much, so I had to re-torque them. Now there is no play, no noise. vibration is still there.
-New Shocks: KYB excel-g. honestly I hate these, way too hard, I miss the cadillac-type feel of my old suspension. I may try a different shock here soon.
-New tires. I was convinced my wheels just needed re-balancing. the shop refused to balance as my tires looked too old. Upsold me. I bought all 4, balanced, allignment. Vibration is still there. At this point, I still felt the tires/wheels were the issue. I bought a harbor freight bubble balancer, and the the wheels/tires are dead center balanced.
-New driveshaft: the u-joints did not have any free play, but it did have some stiffness, so I just replaced it. Vibration is still there.

-I have new OEM motor and transmission mounts on the way, but I am not sure it will help.

It's now hard to remember what it felt like before, but I certainly would have remembered the vibration. It seems to be worse at 75mph. But something here is causing the vibration.

Any ideas here? What am I missing?

 

Did you have the vibration prior to the new tyres?

 

See https://www.mazdaforum.com/forum/maz...-update-49372/

 

Yes, the vibration was there before the new tires. It was the reason I even bought the new tires. Originally I went to the shop for an alignment to fix the camber.

 

Cusser, I wish it was just my tires, I've had them re-balanced 2x by the shop. I have not yet thrown out the possibility of a bent wheel. Although everything looks very straight, I did notice one wheel having a small impairment 1-2mm at most. Not sure this would be the reason for the vibration, because before all the front end work and with old tires, the vibration was not a problem.

I drove the truck today about 100 miles. I notice the vibration is really felt most in the steering wheel, it starts about 60mph and gets worse at 77mph. I can feel a pulsating feeling. Sort of smooths around 80.

I should also say, there is no obvious loose parts under the car. I think I have re-torqued everything 2x, everything feels solid. I have also had 2 alignments done, the last one was after re-replacing the uppper control arms.

I started to think maybe I have a warped rotor? but I think the pulsating would be felt when braking right?? But why would the pulsating only start at 60mph?

Another theory I have is how important is the Pitman arm fitment? I could not get the Mevotech or Delphi to fit as high up like OEM. I think because the painted surface on the whole thing.

My next step may be to re-do the wheel bearings, as I did not pre-load them correctly...I'm wondering if having them not torqued correctly did damage to the hub? I was also thinking, not having them correctly pre-loaded and torqued, may have thrown off my alignment, especially when I needed to have it shimmed. Sucks because alignment with shimming around here is $190 each time. Done it 2x already.

 

Put rear tires on front. and fronts on rears. Better, worse, or the same???

 

yes I have done that, vibration is still there in the front. I am suspecting the wheel bearings.
I just re-ordered some new wheel bearings, it's the only thing I know I did not install correctly the first time.

I did notice that the suspected bent wheel when moved to the back made me feel vibration in the seat, so I think I can confirm that wheel is bad. According to local wheel repair guys, the type of bend I have is not repairable. I'll have to keep a lookout for stock wheel.

If anyone close in the bay area CA has one to sell please let me know.

 

Firestone offers lifetime alignments for around $200 in NC (don’t know if the pricing is regional?). They will align it for free for the life of vehicle as long as you own it. The price is roughly half that if you are just doing a single alignment.

 

Thank you will look into this. Im done going to these smaller tire shops around here. Initially I went to one because they were the only shop open on a Sunday willing to do shim work.

 

UPDATE: FIXED!!

Well, I guess not all wheel balancers are the same. I went to Skips Tire and they offer a Road Force Balance Test, where they also apply 1200lbs of pressure against the wheel to detect "hard spots". Then match the tire to the wheel by rotating to a position that they balance together the best. All four corners required this. What are the odds? I have never in my life encountered such a thing with new tires. Ride quality is exponentially better. Also, it was only $25 per corner ($100 out the door), which is a deal especially considering they spent over 2 hours on the adjustments. The smaller shops around here charge $20 for a balance and it's not even the advanced Road Force Balance. Needless to say, Skip's will have all my future tire business.

I hope nobody has to go through all the crap I did, only to find out their new tires were just not mounted and balanced correctly.