Civic - Honda :: 1997 - Steering Wheel To Vibrate At Certain Speeds When Braking
Oct 10, 2013
I own a 1997 Honda Civic EX. Automatic. 160,000 miles. I have had the front disk rotors and pads replaced five (5) times within the past two years due to "warped" rotor issue. I recently changed the two front calipers as well to rule out caliper issues. Yet I continually end up with a warped right front rotor weeks after putting on new rotors. Here is what happens. Car brakes fine for a week or two with the new rotors. Then shortly afterwards, the right front rotor (passenger side) quickly develops a rubbing -like noise (not a grinding noise) when braking at a low speed. It's not a constant rubbing noise but a rhythmic swoosh swoosh swoosh noise as the tire rotates and the brake is softly applied. You can feel it in the brake pedal. This noise eventually gets louder and louder the more I use the brakes (or, the hotter they get?). It can also cause the steering wheel to vibrate at certain speeds when braking.
I have had it into four different mechanics.
Mechanic 1: Your rotor is warped.
Mechanic 2: You are too hard on your brakes causing the rotor to warp.
Mechanic 3: Did you go through a puddle of water lately?
Mechanic 4: You need new brakes. Period.
This is getting ridiculous. In all my years of driving, I have never encountered this problem. I am not hard on my brakes. I do not believe the "water puddle" theory at all. I should mention, although these are not oem rotors. they are not some cheap Chinese ones either. Something must be causing this rotor to "warp" if it's really warping at all. I have had the tires rotated to rule out a bent rim. It happens no matter what tire is on the right front car. What could be causing this? A bad front end alignment... bad wheel bearing... (although no mechanic ever indicated that as a problem)... bent splash guard... bad master cylinder? Air in the brake lines... old brake fluid???
View 3 Replies
Advertisement
I bought a 2012 Toyota Prius 2 on Jan 28, 2013 (just a little over a month ago). The front tires and steering wheel vibrated at highway speeds (here in NY 65-70mph) and so I took it in, they said it needed wheel balancing and rotation. Fine.
Then I was told to wait it out because of the "snow" and "ice" could be the culprit, fine. Then a week or so later, same problem still, even when it got warmer. Took it back in. This time the wheels were "off balance" again. Hmmm, that's funny. So they did a dynamic or forced balance? I don't know exactly, but it was a step up from "normal" balancing (according to them).
The past couple weeks it hasn't been vibrating nearly as much, but it is coming back again intermittently. Today I was driving home from Watertown, NY to Syracuse. It's about an hour or so drive, and it is a state highway, so it isn't too torn up or potholed. Between 66-70mph the steering wheel vibrates quite bad and RANDOMLY at that. Some roads the car at 70mph feels super smooth others not! And the weirdest part is some of the roads it feels smooth on are bumpy or slightly torn up!
I've looked up all the causes of steering wheel and tire vibrations, and I see that there are about 5-10 potential causes. If I have to take this car in one more time I might just scream.
View 19 Replies
I have an 04Honda Civic manual transmission that suddenly started making an ugly groaning sound whenever i accelerate, apply the brakes, or turn. It sounds like a metal-on-metal noise like something is loose or cracked. It even happens if I turn the steering wheel when the car is stationary. I tried to listen to where it's coming from, but all I can tell is that it's somewhere in the front suspension.
Mechanic said he didn't see anything wrong on the front suspension, but recommended replacing rear control arms.
View 2 Replies
700 miles ago I got new brake pads on all 4 wheels and new rotors on the rear wheels. 700 miles later the steering wheel still shakes when braking at above 60mph speeds. Also there is still a squeak sound coming when braking. Do I need to give the new brakes and rotors more time to adjust or were they installed wrong?
View 7 Replies
2003 Honda Civic. Any speed between 30 and 50, car suddenly starts pronounced steering wheel shimmy, too intense to ignore. You can park, start up again and it's gone.
View 1 Replies
2000 Honda Civic DX, green, four doors, 91,000 miles. A few weeks ago I noticed that the steering wheel was loose when driving but only about 30% of the time--didn't seem to be related to whether the car was warmed up or time of day or speed, just that it happened when the car was moving. The steering wheel would have play when the wheels were pointed/driving straight and the looseness went away when turning. I brought it in to the mechanic and of course he couldn't get it to happen when he drove it. Replaced worn inner tie rods, did a power steering flush/replaced the power steering fluid and did a front end alignment. Drove fine for two weeks but then it started occurring again, this time even more loose/more play in the steering, still only when driving straight. Oh, just one time (so far) a few days ago it was loose when I was standing still at a stop light.
View 10 Replies
My 2005 Honda Civic just made it through a blizzard (outside the whole time). This morning I started driving it, and whenever I got above 45 mph the steering wheel started vibrating / whobbling very badly. My car seat was also vibrating. I poured hot water over the rims when I got home and that did not seem to work. Should I take it to a car wash? Is my car safe to drive?
View 1 Replies
Wife's 2004 Civic isn't pretty but usually runs like new. Over 200k and going strong.Yesterday she had trouble starting. Dash lights are bright. Battery is Interstate and under a year old. She wiggled the steering wheel and it started ok . Then it wouldn't later in the day. I tried moving the shifter (automatic). Tried moving the steering wheel. Nothing from the starter. Dash lights very bright. Let it sit overnight.Today the tow truck arrived. Started right up as if nothing was wrong. Ignition switch? Transmission sensor? Starter?
View 3 Replies
In recent months there is a new noise in my 97 Civic (75,000 miles). In any hard turn and particularly on U-turns there is a grumbling sound which seems to come from the front end. The noise doesn't happen on gentle turns. It grumbles a bit on 90 degree turns and wholeheartedly grumbles on U-turns. I checked the power steering resevoir and it is full so it is between the lines.
View 2 Replies
My wife drives a 2010 Honda Civic LX sedan with about 18k miles. She mentioned that its steering wheel started shaking a couple of weeks ago when driving at about 60 miles/hour at the same streth of the road during her daily commute. She did experience the problem during rest of her drive at lower speed. I drive the car about once a week at lower than 45 miles/hour and had no problem. I have checked the tires and noticed nothing obvious.
View 1 Replies
95 Honda Civic. Manual Trans and Steering. CV joints have 40K since rebuild, 50K on tires. Tire Press and Tq is good. Steering does not pull either way, suspension feels tight. Happens with/without brakes. I noticed that the steering wheel has developed an occasional left right shake that is proportional to the speed of the car. Seems to be most pronouced about 45 mph, however it continues until the car comes to a stop sometimes, well below the speed an unbalanced tire might be an issue. I noticed the problem when it started getting cold and can not figure out if it a road issue (in IL = bad roads), or a car issue.
View 2 Replies
I have a 2003 Honda Accord. I've had an issue with steering wheel vibration for the past 10 months. In that time, I've installed new hubcentric rings for my after market wheels, gotten my tires balanced, bought a whole new set of tires all together, and changed my cv axles twice. I still experience vibration in the steering wheel when I get up to 60 mph and all the way up to 80 mph. At times I have had vibration at low speeds, around 20 mph, but that was solved first when I installed the hubcentric rings, and again most recently with this second set of cv axles. Am I missing something or will I have to chase a solution to this problem until I am bankrupt?
View 2 Replies
I have a problem with vibration in steering wheel and at speeds of 50 to 60 mph. It also vibrates at idle. This problem did not start until we had new brakes and rotors turn. We also have had tires rotated and balance. They told us we needed new motor mounts. We had them replace and the shake got worse. They replaced the front axles and the transmission mount. I also bought two new tires.
This started out when we took our car to have the tires rotated and balance. The Mechanic told us we needed new brakes, so we took it to get this done. we are now having all kinds of problems as I stated above. Took it to the Honda place here and one person told us it was not worth fixing. I do not believe this. The car has a little over a 115,000 miles on it. I have been driving a Honda since 1992. This car we bought new and I know it has been service.. One person at the Honda place here said he could replace all the mounts and would not promise it would fix it. We have even had one of the new tires replace because they said it was bad.
View 19 Replies
I am feeling a vibrating in the steering wheel in my SUV, particularly at high speeds (the highway). I just had front brakes replaced a month or so ago. But the tires I have were new a year and a half ago, I think. Is the vibrating a tell tale sign that I need new tires? Or is it something else? Could I rotate them and get more miles out of them?
View 5 Replies
The power steering on my 2001 Honda Civic intermittently cuts out and the wheel becomes really hard to turn. The belt is tight and the fluid level is correct.
The weird thing about it, is it only happens in cold weather. Everything was fine all summer, but now that the weather has turned colder the problem has reappeared. Same thing happened last year. . .
View 5 Replies
Front wheel looks pushed back and not aligned correctly. I figured I hit a nasty pothole.
Mechanic #1 says the control arm needs to be replaced.
Mechanic #2 says the strut needs to be replaced. No comment on control arm.
Could it be both? Or neither?
View 6 Replies
I have a 1997 Honda Civic and just recently, when the car turns right, a grinding sound emanates from the wheel.It sounds like the break pads rubbing up against the disk but this only happens on turns or if I stop, and put the car in reverse briefly.Could this be an issue with the calipers or would this likely be a wore out wheel bearing?I have heard a faint whistle coming from the tire when driving down the freeway but that is also intermittent and I don't hear the occasional whirring sound typical of a worn out bearing.I'll pull the wheel off today and check it out but I thought I'd bring it up and see what the group thinks.
View 12 Replies
I was driving my wifes 2005 Lexus 330 on an Interstste between 65-70 mph. Suddenly the steering wheel started to vibrate as if I had a flat tire. I pulled over, checked-no flat. Cautiously started slowly then picked up speed til I was at 65 again. No problem. Drove all the way home (150 mi) next day, no problem. About 3 weeks later, the same thing happened to my wife on an interstate. Sje stopped, checked, no flat. Started up cautiously, then faster. A ll OK. Came home-no repeat of the problem. Took it to our dealer. Up it went on the lift. Diagnosis: 2 tires had steel belts that were out of shape and the car needed a slight alignment. $800+ bucks. A week later, on an interstate, she had a repeat of the problem. Lexus took the car and the service guys took turns drvng it home at interstate speeds. Couldn't get a repeat of the problem. I don't know if this would have any bearing on the situation, but the only thing we've done out of the ordinary is use regular gas about 3 of every 4 fill-ups ...
View 1 Replies
got an issue with my 01 excursion. When driving the steering wheel with vibrate or shimmy. As in if the rotor maybe warped or tire has a small bubble in it. Here is the kicker. It does not do it all the time. Some times I can drive it and it drives just as smooth as can be and I can go all the way to town and back. Then sometimes I can drive it to town and either turn a curve or hit a bump and then it will start doing it. Then I will come back home. Then the next time i jump in it and start driving down the road and it is just fine. I just had the brakes and rotors were just changed.
View 6 Replies
My '11 has almost 60,000 miles on it and I've turned the front rotors down once already for a vibration at 42,000 miles. Front pads looked good at that time, but I'm pretty sure the brakes are otherwise all original (2nd owner). Not feeling it in the pedal but starting to get a steering wheel vibration when I touch the brakes above 60mph and I figure they will be getting due sooner than later- though I still have not pulled the rears down to check them.
Whats the consensus on replacement brake parts? Is OEM the way to go? I figure any decent ceramic pad set should be fine but what about rotors, OEM, raybestos, wearever, etc? I know everybody wants USA made but realistically price is a major factor. I can get Raybestos advanced rotors and pro pads shipped from rockauto for slightly more than wearever pads and rotors from advanced- is it worth it? Or are the OEM rotors notably more durable?
Keep in mind this truck sees light to empty loading 99.5% of the time and the stock front rotors needed turned at 42,000 and are starting to show signs again at under 60,000.
View 3 Replies
Honda Accord 2005 ... Just bought a new used car. All seems ok, but I have two problems.
(1) when not moving, i have slop in the steering and I can hear metal on metal contact when I turn the steering wheel. I pulled the tire and with basically no force I can move the rotor back and forth by hand. what it is and how to fix it?
(2) when braking, it appears that the front left pad sticks. Pads are not excessively worn down. Can't figure out how to get to the caliper pins ( thought they might be sticking).
Could the two be related?
View 2 Replies
