Car has developed a vibration on steering wheel that's intermediate. Car is a1998 Honda CR-V. Had tires aligned and balanced

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Olgad

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Jan 20, 2021
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CR-V has developed a vibration in the steering wheel that happens at random times. It happens when you accelerate at low speeds like 10-20 miles per hour. Even in parking lots. It happens on mostly flat paved roads that look perfect. Does not vibrate when braking. Had tires aligned and balanced but didn't help. Took the car to the mechanic all he found was a loose left driver's side upper control arm. We ordered it and it should be here in a few days.
Anyone know if a loose upper control arm would do this?
 
In my experience, bad alignment does not cause shimmy in the steering wheel.

An unbalanced wheel typically causes shimmy around 100 kph/60 mph.

A problem at 10 to 20 mph sounds more like a bad tire, or possibly something in the driveline.

Does it only happen under acceleration, or does it do it at a steady speed?

Does it go away above 20 mph?

If you shift into N and coast, does it go away?
 
Many searches on the '04 we had all came back to CV joints or propeller shaft joint. FIL didn't listen to what we told him. His mechanic told him tires, struts, brakes so he did all those. Then he finally listened and had the driveshafts done. Factory only, not aftermarket/rebuilds.

All his "seemed" OK until actually removed. Under acceleration they don't operate smoothly from wear but no load is smooth.
 
Number_35 said:
In my experience, bad alignment does not cause shimmy in the steering wheel.

An unbalanced wheel typically causes shimmy around 100 kph/60 mph.

A problem at 10 to 20 mph sounds more like a bad tire, or possibly something in the driveline.

Does it only happen under acceleration, or does it do it at a steady speed?

Does it go away above 20 mph?

If you shift into N and coast, does it go away?
Click to expand...
It still vibrates even after 20 miles per hour..it's just not as noticable if you go faster..when you say something wrong in the driveline are you referring to ball joints and axles ?
 
JeffKeryk said:
Curious... What tires are you running and how many miles on them? Perhaps rotate front to back and see if there is a difference.
Click to expand...
I got the tires 4 months ago. They are dunlops. Everything was fine until 2 weeks ago when the vibration in the steering wheel started. When it vibrates you can even see the dashboard vibrate. Mechanic found a loose upper control arm on the driver's side. They will replace it with a new one tomorrow..I hope that solves it
 
Had the same issue with my mom's 2014 Civic .
It would start at 8 mph.
Ended up being a tire with a separated belt.
Tire would balance out , but you could physically see the tread run true , then where the belt was separated , take an immediate curve to the right.
It took 5 trips to Discount Tire and me physically taking off the tire and showing them for the issue to be resolved.
 
Bud_One said:
Had the same issue with my mom's 2014 Civic .
It would start at 8 mph.
Ended up being a tire with a separated belt.
Tire would balance out , but you could physically see the tread run true , then where the belt was separated , take an immediate curve to the right.
It took 5 trips to Discount Tire and me physically taking off the tire and showing them for the issue to be resolved.
Click to expand...
Road force balancing should detect? It did when I had a Cooper that couldn't be balanced and it wasn't that bad -- just a shimmy at ~65 that would never go away
 
D60 said:
Road force balancing should detect? It did when I had a Cooper that couldn't be balanced and it wasn't that bad -- just a shimmy at ~65 that would never go away
Click to expand...
One would of thought the roadforce would isolate it and show it , but I guess it didn't .
 
My 2005 Explorer has a mild steering wheel vibration from about 20 to 23 m.p.h. I replaced both upper control arms with new ball joints, lower ball joints and tie rod ends. I've had the tires balanced and wheel bearings are fine. It's still there. I'm guessing cv axle or a U joint. It didn't occur to me that a drive shaft could be out of balance til this thread. Whatever you find out please post it on this thread. Thanks
 
On the CRV it'd only be a rear d/s and I doubt that would cause a vibe in steering wheel. On Subarus when those staked u-joints fail you just get a clunk with throttle, or harmonics at speed.

The motor mounts on these first gen CRV's love to fail but that doesn't seem to cause much problem at all. It's amazing how much the engine can move around and cause near zero symptoms. Also I wouldn't expect a steering wheel vibration here either.
 
The problem was the rest driveshaft.. it was banging and vibrating all over the cabin...Today at the Honda place they took my rear drive shaft out and told me to drive it in front wheel drive. So far seems okay. I didn't even know you could do this on a 1998 Honda CR-V
 
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