Please help me!!!!!!!!

[Manny1117]

I have been having this vibration in the rear of my grand am. Feels like a continous thump that occurs at all speeds, and gets faster as my speed increases. It's driving me nuts.

I went to my mechanic and he said my sway bar bushings and the sway bar link need to be replaced. I'm trying to find out by asking you guys if this might be the case.

If it is, then i think i'm just going to get new sway bars too, but i have one question. what's the size of the stock sway bars? They seem to be the same size as the speedbuilt rear sway bar from www.pfyc.com which is supposed to be an upgrade. They claim it is 7/8th of an inch. If they are the same, then i'll just stick with stock

[sunrunner_pei]

Before completing work to the bushings, try rotating your rear wheels to the front and see if the vibrationfollows them. Could be an out of round or out of balance tire.

[rixGAphx]

Your bushings and links may indeed be trash.

But I've never known them to cause those symptoms.

I'd follow sun_pei's advice, and look at a couple more possibilities before committing to the sway bar as the source.
* * * *
The sway bars from pfyc may be the same diameter as stock. But they might be of a stiffer alloy or heat treatment.
Call or e-mail and ask.

Good luck.
-Rick.

[Manny1117]

I just got Goodyear assurance tripletred tires and have barely 3000 miles on it. I know one of my rear wheel is a little bent, but it's been like that since i got the car. I don't know if that will really do anything.
On the other hand, the car has 110000 miles on it, so i tend to want to believe that everything is wearing out.

[sunrunner_pei]

It's possible you lost a wheel weight, which would throw one wheel horribly out of balance. Take my advice... For 30 minutes work you can determine if it's the wheels/tires that's causing you grief. A whole lot better than replacing the bar and bushings only to find it didn't solve anything.

Do the simple and free things first. ;)

[tenspeed]

I'm going with everyone else on this. Sounds like a tire or wheel.

Check to see if you have a missing weight.

Another thing could be a ply separation in the tire. When you rotate the tire you can see the tread weaving or a bump/hump.

A third thing could be a wheel bearing on it's way out.

The vibration may have taken the sway bar bushing out. The bushings are easy to change and you can do that your self. The parts stores have replacements in the "Help" section.

[Manny1117]

I took the car to sears auto this afternoon and got a brake check and tire rotation. They said my brakes where fine and looked like they had just been changed. They couldn't however figure out why i was still getting the vibration.
I'm just wondering, would my car do that if the struts were fried? That's the only thing i can think of

[tenspeed]

Did you check for missing weights? Did you check for broken tread? Did you get the wheels balanced? Did the Sears mechanic take the car out to hear and feel the vibration?

We know you can't figure it out. Who said anything about checking the brakes? Bad brakes won't give you a vibration, a rotating mass will give you a vibration. Bad struts won't do it either.

That means check the tires and bearings.

Did the vibration move when you had the tires rotated? If it moved, it's a tire or wheel. If it still vibrates from the same corner, look at the bearings.

[Manny1117]

I had been complaining of vibrations in my car. I finally figured out what the problem is and i'm wondering if there's anything i can do about it.
There are flat spots on the tread of the tires. It's actually on both of the rear tires and i know it happened when i did burnouts with car.
I don't want to buy a new set of tires because i just got these ones (less than 3000 miles) and they are expensive (goodyear tripletred tires).
Is there anything i can do instead of getting new tires to correct this problem? Any suggestions? Please help

[Dave C]

maybe put them on the front and roast them :D it might even them out a little?


no, probably not a good idea to try... I don't endorse it, but it would be fun :P

[erimar77]

did you have your ebrake pulled when you were doing the burnouts? that'd be the only way it'd cause the flat spots. or do you pull your ebrake around corners?

[Manny1117]

I had my ebrake pulled up to the top when i did the burnouts

I think i'm just going to drive it like that for a while. If it bugs me too much more, i'll get one or two new ones. I guess i don't have a choice.