[ga_seagull]

Ok, need a little help here. Car has 155k miles. Purchased used at 75k miles. I have aluminum wheels that do have a small flat spot on them that does cause a little vibration. Wheels have been balanced and all four wheels aligned. I rotated wheels last night, no improvement on vibration. The vibration gets worse around 50 + mph. When going down hill, the vibration almost goes away. It is worse up hill and on acceleration. I have read about CV joint, brake rotors, ball joints and struts. What I can not do is throw a lot of money at this car. I know during braking the vibration there is the brake rotors. This vibration, over 50 mph, makes me think the tire is actually jumping a little. I feel it in the steering wheel and everyone feels it in the car. It has gotten worse over the last month or so. I have had a few tires replaced due to belts breaking. I am beginning to think the suspension item "?" may have caused the tire belts and wearing issue. It is mostly on the right front. Many thanks to all who help.

 

[Monsoon]

This has the look and smell of a bad CV axle based on your description. The CV joint may have gone bad inside the boot and is most prone to go bad on the passenger side of the car. The passenger side axle is prone to more bumps and pot holes and is the longer of the two axles. If this vibration goes away during braking I can almost put money its a bad CV axle. Keep in mind even if the boot looks good the joint could be bad.

You may experience like I did loss of performance during acceleration.

Another thing to check is if you have put on aftermarket wheels. Make sure your wheels are hub centric and not lug nut centric. Discount tires sells hub centric rings for aftermarket wheels.

Other items to check that cause the wheel to vibrate at any speed are the inner and outer tie rods. Check these for wear and lubricate. The inner tie rods can be lubricated by hand if the boot is removed. You may want to check the boots as well, most are held in place by zip ties that have broke and protect the inner tie rod. I check mine when I change the oil.

 

[pearl_drummer]

It's probably cvs. my car was doing the same, i had both cvs replaced and it got a little better, and i just got new tires and the problem went completely away. if the car pops loudly when putting it into reverse from park that is another sign that the cv is worn out.

 

[danhasenauer]

It's probably cvs. my car was doing the same, i had both cvs replaced and it got a little better, and i just got new tires and the problem went completely away. if the car pops loudly when putting it into reverse from park that is another sign that the cv is worn out.

They also start to make a clicking/grinding noise on turns when going bad. Check your outer tie rod ends and ball joints first with the 12 & 6 and 3 & 9 tests.

 

[pearl_drummer]

They also start to make a clicking/grinding noise on turns when going bad. Check your outer tie rod ends and ball joints first with the 12 & 6 and 3 & 9 tests.

mine never did a clicking or grinding when turning; i have a feeling i got to getting them replaced before they did that. loss of power in general is also a broad symptom of cvs, but could mean alot else too.

 

[bull geek]

Check this video I made awhile back when I had a bad shudder/vibration under acceleration on hills:

Ended up being one my CV axles. I think there's a thread on here about it under Topic Finder.