Matticus
Well-Known Member
2012 XLT EL
Yeah, it's me again!
So, I've been chasing a highway vibration on this vehicle for the last 6 months. I can feel it start ~60 and it gets worse the faster I go. I'll feel it through the whole car, the steering wheel, sometimes both at the same time, sometimes only one or the other. Sometimes it's pretty constant like there is a wheel balancing problem. Other times, I'll drive for 20 minutes and it's silky smooth. I've thrown all sorts of parts at it. Pretty much every control arm in the rear is new. One inner tie rod was "hinting" at being worn, so I replaced it. Had the tires balanced. Absolutely everything feels rock solid in regards to ball joints, control arms, tie rods, bearings, etc. Had it in to 3 different shops (one said I might want to replace that inner tie rod that I replaced) and, so far, they all hint that it might be the tires.
The shop that just had it at said two things:
#1. The struts are getting soft/worn, but they don't think this is causing the vibration
#1. They recommended I pay them to pull the front drive shaft "to see if the bearing is seizing up" I couldn't quite understand which bearing they were referring to except that there may be a bearing inside the transfer case that the shaft rides on or something. This sounded odd to me. If the car is in 2WD, would whether or not the bearing is having issues even be relevant? Plus, wouldn't I notice something significant (like extra noise) when running it in AWD/4WD?
I'm about to go drop $900 on a set of tires to see if that solves the problem, but I thought I'd check if that front drive line issue sounds legit or if anyone else has any ideas.
Yeah, it's me again!
So, I've been chasing a highway vibration on this vehicle for the last 6 months. I can feel it start ~60 and it gets worse the faster I go. I'll feel it through the whole car, the steering wheel, sometimes both at the same time, sometimes only one or the other. Sometimes it's pretty constant like there is a wheel balancing problem. Other times, I'll drive for 20 minutes and it's silky smooth. I've thrown all sorts of parts at it. Pretty much every control arm in the rear is new. One inner tie rod was "hinting" at being worn, so I replaced it. Had the tires balanced. Absolutely everything feels rock solid in regards to ball joints, control arms, tie rods, bearings, etc. Had it in to 3 different shops (one said I might want to replace that inner tie rod that I replaced) and, so far, they all hint that it might be the tires.
The shop that just had it at said two things:
#1. The struts are getting soft/worn, but they don't think this is causing the vibration
#1. They recommended I pay them to pull the front drive shaft "to see if the bearing is seizing up" I couldn't quite understand which bearing they were referring to except that there may be a bearing inside the transfer case that the shaft rides on or something. This sounded odd to me. If the car is in 2WD, would whether or not the bearing is having issues even be relevant? Plus, wouldn't I notice something significant (like extra noise) when running it in AWD/4WD?
I'm about to go drop $900 on a set of tires to see if that solves the problem, but I thought I'd check if that front drive line issue sounds legit or if anyone else has any ideas.
