Where do you suppose this fell off from?

[batstiva]

Okay, I think we have pretty much decided that is not from your car. Now I'm curious if you have crawled under the rear and and looked around to see what is loose?

[darkdan]

I've looked around, but can't find anything that looks broken or loose. I've jacked up the car and shook it.

I'm sure the rear struts are worn out too. And maybe always having 100 lbs of ladders just hid the problem all this time.

But I mean this is a VIOLENT shake. Like scary.

[perucho]

Wheels weights fell off maybe?

[j_idaho]

"And maybe always having 100 lbs of ladders just hid the problem all this time"
just to clarify what kind of a car is this ??

it sounds more like a tire coming apart from the heat , look for swelled part on one of the tires

[Britstiva]

Also, it may just be a broken steel belt inside of the tire. I had one to do this one me and you could barely notice it by looking at the tire. But when it was in motion you could see it clearly.

[walth]

that is most CERTAINLY not from anything on the rear beam or struts on a festiva. can't really say as far as the sway bar goes but that bolt looks like a 10 and seems too small for a sway bar bolt.

my neighbor had some of the wires coming out of the side of the tire months ago, asked me about it, told him I had no clue, then a week ago the tire shifted horribly right there and formed a massive bubble almost the whole way across. not driveable for sure but wasn't all that noticeable til he thought it was "flat".

check out your tires for sure. I always figured festy death wobbles were something structural/loose, etc but could be a possible tire failure

[LittleHoe]

check your rear wheels... make sure they are tight.. as in the hubs are tight... I have had them come loose before... Not the wheel on the hub but the hub to spindle nut...

[darkdan]

I jacked it up and shook the wheels. No large amount of play.

The wheels didn't spin freely. So I'm guessing the bearings aren't shot.

[walth]

okay, when you jack the car up put one hand up top and the other at the bottom, push in on the top, then keep that hand sort of firm, then push in on the bottom and see if it moves. if it moves you need to tighten the nut on the spindle otherwise you're going to screw up your spindle, not just your bearing, and may loose the whole wheel and drum assembly and really screw yourself.

and if the rear wheels aren't spinning freely you may need to release the parking brake or service your bearings. I serviced a rear beam once and the bearings were falling out faster than I could say, oh crap...and yeah, I swapped those out, obviously. also, look for pitting in the bearings as a sign to replace.

you could also check to make sure your lugs are tight. once I hadn't torqued mine tight enough and after a while I acquired a clicking noise al low speed and it started to get worse. When I went to remove the wheel it took no pressure to break free the lugs, I checked things out just in case but that was my problem.

your problem could be a number of things, process of elimination I guess. could me many other things than we've listed here, yeah? lol

[darkdan]

Lug nuts are tight. That was the first thing I checked. Pulled over and put the wrench on them.

I'll check the spindle nut.

[GenevaDirt]

replace the bearings....they are cheap enough and if the wheels do not spin freely....there is a good chance they are shot anyway....then you can adress a sticking emergency brake at that time.

[j_idaho]

dont start replacing things you will never find the end ,, someone posted to check the balances if it is shaking that bad is something more simple bad tire,balance weight, replace one tire at a time to make sure it isnt something wrong with a wheel you cant see .

[batstiva]

^^While I don't disagree with any of that, he said he put the car in the air, and the rear wheels are not spinning freely, which they should be. Therefore, IMHO, the bearings should be changed. They're not killer expensive, it's definitely not the worst job in the world to do, and (sorry to beat a dead horse here) it is no fun getting passed by your rear wheel/tire/hub/severed spindle. Take it from one who knows.

darkdan, if your wheels don't spin freely, you have bearing issues. I hope that was a typo in your post.

[walth]

BUT it could be ebrake. because when I got my car, I serviced the rear beam, and connected the ebrake. then found out the ebrake cable was rusted and making my back brakes drag tremendously, which I knew but didn't know why.

get someone to pull your ebrake and get under the middle of the car and if the boot doesn't stretch and retract, etc but the cable gets pulled towards the body of the car then that's an issue, and may be your issue for "non freely moving wheels"

servicing your bearings is easy though too. you can look through my thread in the "garage" section and see I've done it...2, 3, 4 times now? idk.

[darkdan]

I could have sworn wheels are supposed to have some drag to them when you spin them and not free spin like crazy.

I've done the rear bearings twice now. I think the last time was about 40k miles ago, I'd have to check my book to make sure.