Highway vibration.

[Shawn855]

I'm getting a weird tiny bit of vibration felt in the steering that has been ongoing since winter. I changed my balljoints, tierods, stabilizer links, stabilizer bar bushings, struts, and balanced the tires. Im suspecting a couple things:

-wheel bearing starting to go even though it's not making any noticeable noise

 

-rotors and brakes were changed last summer but we're cheap brands so maybe the rotor is warped already? Thought I'm not getting any vibrations when braking.

 

-wheel alignment? I did a manual alignment myself for the toe and got the exact measurement of 65 1/2 inches between both front tires. No pulling, and my steering wheel is center. 

 

Edit: also maybe engine mounts since I get a slight vibration when starting the vehicle cold for about 10 seconds. 

 

Any other ideas?

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Shawn855

[John/Horace]

Wheel bearings don’t normally create vibration unless crazy worn out.

Upper ball joints maybe.

Try swapping tires front to back and drive hiway speed.

 

https://www.moparmagazine.com/2016/08/their-ride-quality-depends-on-it/

Edited July 21, 2020 by John/Horace

[Shawn855]

Will do. I'll also get a professional alignment done this week as well just in case. 

 

Ps: we don't have front upper balljoints on the dodge journey, only the one at the lower control arm.

[mpalleschi]

I have the same issue, and came here to see if someone had an answer. Mine comes in bad around 68-72 mph, and almost goes away at 80-85 mph.  Now I can get mine to change depending on load or decel.  I am going to try a new drivers side axle shaft, and see if that cures the issue. 

[snaproll7]

I have a hyway Vibration also, and am currently on my third set of tires  I only have a bit over 30K on the car a GT AWD 

[2late4u]

might be the rims, my new 2014 had a vibration as well i kept moving the wheels around till i finally narrowed it down to 2 of them and then took into the dealership and told them either the tires are bad or maybe a rim,,,it was actual a rim that wasnt right they replaced one of the rims they thought was bad and no more problems,,,,also just to be sure they didnt try to play a fast one i marked both of the rims in a certain way and place so they couldn't say ya we found a bad one and we re[placed it lie.....

[Shawn855]

I'll chyme back in to try and help out. My issue ended up being my wheels being torqued too tight. My torque wrench was off by 20 ft-lbs so instead of torquing to 100, it was actually torquing to 120. Once I acquired a new torque wrench, and followed the correct procedure of torquing (and retorquing after 80kms) with the weight of the vehicle off the wheels, my vibration went down 90% and rarely happens at all. 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Shawn855

[John/Horace]

The weight on the wheels has very minimal effect, most mechanics torque this way.

 

Good accurate wrench...yeah helps a lot. Stopping after one click and doing two stage torque on important stuff also helps.

Torque wrench should be stored at zero setting as well, spring can get weak over time they say.

Edited August 24, 2021 by John/Horace

[Shawn855]

 Regardless of your opinion on the effect of overtorquing the wheels, this is what solved the mystery vibration for me. 

[NavalLacrosse]

Glad you solved the issue. 

ON an unrelated tangent, My dad had this issue with his AWD Highlander, and it turned out to be rust proofing overspray on the main driveshaft for the rear diff.

[John/Horace]

On 2021-08-24 at 5:40 PM, Shawn855 said:

 Regardless of your opinion on the effect of overtorquing the wheels, this is what solved the mystery vibration for me. 

 

Actually it has nothing to do with my opinion. It’s in every owners manual I’ve ever seen under changing a tire section.

If you have ever read one.  Instructions say to both loosen and tighten nuts with weight on the wheel. Lightly tighten in the air and then final torque with weight on wheel. Journey manual says if you doubt correct tightness have them checked with torque wrench by service station.  Retorque after 40 Kim’s to make sure nuts  seated against wheel. Never a mention of no weight on wheel when setting torque, have never seen that stated anywhere ever. I have at least a half dozen factory manual from Jeep, Toyota , VW etc , doesn’t show up any where as a recommended practise .  For a few reasons I believe related to transmission internal parking paul pin stress...it’s avoided. 

[Shawn855]

Call it personal preference on my part to torque my wheels with weight off the tires. I would rightly assume that with the weight on the wheels, you'll probably hit an accurate 100 ft-lbs on the top nut(s), but when torquing the bottom nut(s) the weight on the tire won't get you an accurate torque. Think about it, you're applying pressure to the nuts with the tire weighted down on the ground. But hey it's all personal preference. There's tons of debates on this subject and each person will choose their own respective way. 

 

As for the manual stating the tire should be on the ground , I'm thinking they mean lower the tire just enough so it gets traction on the ground so you can torque the nuts without the tire spinning. Which is what I do. I lower the tires to the ground just enough to prevent them from spinning , while still having 90% of the weight off them, so that each lug nut gets an even amount of torque applied to it. 

 

Again that's my preference, I'm not here to debate which way is best. I simply know what works best for me after trial and error. 

 

 

[Shawn855]

And I agree Loco, I have a perfect example of that: 

 

On my Chevy Cruze I was getting some mild vibration on the highway when leaving my house in the morning that lasted for about 10 minutes until the engine was warmed up. It ended up being my air filter restricting air to the engine, causing the engine to work a little harder, sending mild vibrations while it warmed at highway speeds. When I changed the air filter, the vibration disappeared and never returned. This stuff is enough to drive us crazy. 

[John/Horace]

Trying to guess how much weight is needed to prevent tire from spinning while torquing, sounds great.

Forward movement from tire then helps roll car off jack because weight was’t enough. Car manual method is avoiding unsafe practice.

 

Torque tolerance has a plus minus of 3-4 pounds I think. Enough to not affect vibration and require unusual effort for torquing lug nuts. Believe what you want. Showing a written procedure in a maintenance manual of your method, that would be worth something. 
 

Using a torque wrench for lug nuts,  we agree on the most important part. ?

 

 

[Shawn855]

There is no guesswork to see how much weight is needed to prevent tire from spinning and 100 ft-lbs is certainly not enough torque to cause the vehicle to move off of the jack. If the car moves forward off the jack, you need a better jack or more level terrain. 

 

And I can assure you the torque tolerance is higher than 3-4 ft-lbs or else people wouldn't be debating it so often. I know of quite a few shops that torque them in the air for this very reason, Costco being one of them.  

 

I personally choose my method because it makes sense to me. Less weight on wheel = less resistance against torque applied = more accurate torque being applied to each lug nut. Follow the service manual or owners manual like it's gospel for all I care. I know what works for me and what doesn't. I will also note that I've done both methods before, and that since following the "minimal weight on wheel" method, I've never had a lug nut back off, when it came to retorquing. 

And yes we do agree on some things