Slight vibrations at highway speeds - 2013 Sonata

[Swift101]

Hello Everyone,

So the winter has been unforgiving this year in the North East and as a result the roads have been terrible. I manged to hit a rather large pothole that dented the inside of one my wheels. I initially thought one of the wheels were out of balance, when I took the car in for a balancing the tech at BJ's showed me the dent in the wheel. He balanced it along with my other 3 wheels but the shaking continued.

I had the dented wheel repaired over the weekend and the shaking on the steering wheel completely stopped. However I still feel slight vibrations at highway speeds in my seat. I recently installed a rear 20MM anti-sway bar, the car comes with a 17MM bar from the factory. Is it possible the bar is causing the slight shaking I'm feeling?

-Thanks

 

[horse123]

There's no reason a sway bar would cause vibration, you might have damaged some of your suspension but it's not likely. How much vibration is it? Depending on the tire, it can be silent on the road or feel like you're running on a gravel road all the time even if it's set up properly.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: Swift101
... when I took the car in for a balancing ... at BJ's


This is a good start, I would suspect the balancing.

 

[jacky]

walmart offers lifetime balancing, i promise you the roads where i live are in worse shape

 

[Swift101]

The vibration I'm feeling is a slight shimmy, I can only feel it in my seat (basically my butt shakes). Also my passenger side seat shakes side to side when it's empty.

 

[Rand]

my first 3 suspects,

Tires out of balance/round try roadforce balance.

Wheel out of round, roadforce balance will tell you this too.

tires have irregular wear or suspension damage.. check after roadforce balance.

So really the first place I would start is Roadforce balance.

 

[Danno]

First thought is if you hit a pothole hard enough to dent the rim, it also damaged the tire (probably the side wall) and that is the vibration you are feeling.

 

[Quest]

if you managed to hit a pothole deep/large/high speed enough to cause a dent to the rim, then I wouldn't be at all surprised that your wheel hub may have become out of true also.

Check your wheel hub fur true-ness and also replace the dented wheel.

Q.

 

[Swift101]

Just called a few shops, it seems everyone charges around $120 for a road force balance. I had the tires balanced at BJ's first.

The tech at BJ's indicated all the tires were in good shape and only one rim was bent. The other rims looked good to him, after having the dent repaired the steering wheel vibration I was feeling completely disappeared. At this point I'm only feeling vibrations in my seat.

I watched the tech balance all the wheels but it's possible a sticky weight fell off since last week.

 

[mrsilv04]

$120 for a road force balance is too much.

If you're feeling it in the seat, then suspect that it is an issue on the rear axle.

Rotate the tires, and see if the vibration moves to the steering wheel.

If that happens, you've then just isolated the problem to the two tires and wheels (which are now on the front).

 

[Swift101]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
$120 for a road force balance is too much.

If you're feeling it in the seat, then suspect that it is an issue on the rear axle.

Rotate the tires, and see if the vibration moves to the steering wheel.

If that happens, you've then just isolated the problem to the two tires and wheels (which are now on the front).


Good idea, I'll try that.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Was the bad rim put on the rear?

 

[Swift101]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Was the bad rim put on the rear?


It was put back on the front, which is why I'm ruling it out for now.

 

[JHZR2]

Did you replace the tire? If you hit something hard enough to damage a wheel, the tire could have some damaged belts or something.

 

[mclasser]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
$120 for a road force balance is too much.

If you're feeling it in the seat, then suspect that it is an issue on the rear axle.

Rotate the tires, and see if the vibration moves to the steering wheel.

If that happens, you've then just isolated the problem to the two tires and wheels (which are now on the front).

+1

 

[Swift101]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Did you replace the tire? If you hit something hard enough to damage a wheel, the tire could have some damaged belts or something.


I didn't replace the tire, both the tech at BJ's and wheel repair shop said it was fine. Is there anything I should look for?

 

[killswitch83]

I almost wonder, like another poster on here, if your hub assembly on that side is damaged? Cars do weird things when they hit large pot-holes. Also, let's not forget the EPS system either that controls the steering, could potentially be a factor, but not one I'd look at first. Also, did you go for a re-balance after the rim was repaired? Might have something to do with it if not....

 

[Swift101]

Hey everyone, solved the mystery. The guy who fixed my rim didn't balance the wheel right. It was off by 1.75 ounces on 1 side. The tech at BJ's rebalanced it yesterday and all is well.

 

[Swift101]

Just a quick update, I noticed my ride was still a little choppy after correcting the tire balance. It turns out the tire was under inflated by 6 PSI. I pumped it up to factory spec (35 PSI), now all is well.

I was surprised to see how much an under-inflated tire could effect ride comfort and handling. I suppose high performance tires and low profile wheels have something to do with it.