[wsad]

I once had a tire blow on the highway (about a year ago), and since then I've always had vibration problems at higher speeds. At the time I was driving on the highway and the car started vibrating, and it just got worse and worse. By the time I decided to pull over, the passenger side front tire blew. The tire was deformed I guess and it started rubbing/hitting the tie rod (track rod) joint over by the wheel until it blew.

Later on I eventually covered up that joint because its rubber boot was damaged. Since then whenever I get around 45 mph + the car starts trembling, or if hit a rough spot in the road. Since then I've gotten new tires and I've had them balanced twice. I've also noticed since before the "accident" that I sometimes get a knock when backing up and turning, or just turning at low speeds (steering related?). Also, I can move some of the steering bars under the car side to side a little bit (e.g.-not solid).

Does anyone have any advice? Do I need a new tie rod? Is there anything that can be adjusted, or is something else that could be causing the vibration? Alignment?

 

[GermanCarNut]

I am having the same problem, whenever I hit a bump something in the front end starts vibrating/thumping VERY BAD and the car acts like it wants to go Left and Right at the same time.
On smooth roads it is fine, but hit a bump and you'd think the wheels were falling off!

Did you ever figure out what this was?

Thanks!

-Brian

 

[wsad]

On my car it was the tie rods. The joints of the tie rods were worn out and loose. One way to check them is to get under the car and try moving around the tie rods / other steering bars under the car to see if any of them are loose.

The way I checked the tie rods was to grab both the left and right side of a front tire (car's front end jacked up in air), and alternately push/pull my left and right hands in and out(e.g.-left pushed in, right pulled out, then vice versa). If the tire/wheel moves with your hands it's probably the tie rods.