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  • Help with vibration in front end

    OK guys - I need some insight. This will be kinda long so bear with me.

    Back in March, I put Dean's aftermarket wheels (13's with a Festiva bolt pattern) on Kermit (the green '92 GL) with new Kumhos (sp?) in preparation for the trip to Florida. That trip didn't happen, but since then I have driven the car to SC, 3 times to Lincolnton and out to fest-a-fair in Hertford in addition to driving it to work. Put about 3,000 miles on the tires and rims, mostly highway.

    Around the time of the trip to Hertford, I was starting to feel a vibration between 60--65 that went away when I got over 65. I had kartracer drive it while I was there. He suggested starting out by getting the tires rebalanced to see if it went away. On the way back that day, it seemed to be getting worse.

    Anyhow, I have had the tires rebalanced twice. Alignment was also checked. The first time, we took it out on the highway and the vibrations were worse. The second time, it was better, but still there. The tire store (I've dealt with these guys for a long time) has now replaced the tires and they say the vibration is worse with the new tires than it was before.

    The front wheels bearing were replaced on the car in the last year and also the tie rod ends and maybe the LCAs(not sure on that). I've been told that if it was the axles that you would not feel it on deceleration, which we do so I don't think it is the axles.

    I have the stock GL rims that came off the car at the house but two are on another car right now. I am thinking of pulling them off and putting my old rims and tires back on the car to see if the problem goes away.

    My tire guys are good with my Saturn and my truck but they aren't Festiva experts. What are we missing here? What else can I try? If we don't get this resolved, maybe someone at Madness will have an idea, but I would like to have it sorted out before then.

    Thanks, Barb
    1992 Green GL - "It's not easy being green" - Kermit - RIP killed by a tree
    1992 Aqua Funtop - Belle
    Wife of V8Festiva.

    Madness Committee Member
    website www.festivamadness.com

  • #2
    If its at all possible I'd try to put some known good wheels and tires on there and see if that makes it go away. If it doesn't then you know its not wheels or tires that are causing it. If swapping wheels does fix it then you could ask your tire place if they can "road force" test the tires and also check the lateral runout of each wheel to see if any of them are warped or out of round (whether they are capable of doing those things or not will depend on what type of balancer they have). But with the bearings and tires and all being new, I'd lean toward suspecting one (or more) of the wheels. I had the same type of problem on my MX6 once and it was a slightly warped wheel... it was like that when I bought it. I have no idea how it could have happened, you couldn't even tell it by lookling at it but once I had it jacked up and laid down under the car spinning it I could see it was out of round.
    No festiva for me ATM...

    Comment


    • #3
      take the 2 rims and tires you do have and put them on the front....see if the problem goes away. If so I would suspect that the rims are not seating properly when being put on.
      "FLTG4LIFE" @FINALLEVEL , "PBH"
      89L Silver EFI auto
      91GL Green Auto DD
      There ain't no rest for the wicked
      until we close our eyes for good.
      I will sleep when I die!
      I'm a little hunk of tin, nobody knows what shape I'm in. I've got four wheels and a running board, I'm not a Chevy, I'M A FORD!

      Comment


      • #4
        ^^ I didn't think of that, though hopefully if the tire shop is any good they would have noticed that at some point during at least one of the balancing/tire swapping sessions yikes!
        No festiva for me ATM...

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by htchbck View Post
          ^^ I didn't think of that, though hopefully if the tire shop is any good they would have noticed that at some point during at least one of the balancing/tire swapping sessions yikes!
          I was just thinking since the rims in question are after market and the other 2 are original Festy rims
          "FLTG4LIFE" @FINALLEVEL , "PBH"
          89L Silver EFI auto
          91GL Green Auto DD
          There ain't no rest for the wicked
          until we close our eyes for good.
          I will sleep when I die!
          I'm a little hunk of tin, nobody knows what shape I'm in. I've got four wheels and a running board, I'm not a Chevy, I'M A FORD!

          Comment


          • #6
            yeah, I definitely agree it can happen, in fact I tried mounting my Escort wheels (54mm centerbore) on my CRX (56.1mm centerbore) and I noticed that they were tightening down funny, but I guess if I'd been slamming it with an impact wrench in a tire shop I might not have noticed though.
            No festiva for me ATM...

            Comment


            • #7
              OK. I'll pull out the two in the garage and see if that has any impact. If it does, then I can figure out replacement for the other two so I can switch them back to Kermit. We'll see what happens.
              1992 Green GL - "It's not easy being green" - Kermit - RIP killed by a tree
              1992 Aqua Funtop - Belle
              Wife of V8Festiva.

              Madness Committee Member
              website www.festivamadness.com

              Comment


              • #8
                Put those two festiva wheels on is something you can do that won't cost you anything either, if nothing else it can't hurt to eliminate that.

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