I have been on this forum for some time now and have done some extensive searches on front end vibration and I am still baffled regarding my issue with my car. My SSEi has 62,000 miles and I have replaced the tires, outer tie rods, rear brakes and rotors and front brakes and rotors. I have had the tires balanced three different times (road force included) and I still have a vibration in the vehicle from ALL seats in the car. It basically feels like I am driving on egg-shaped tires. I feel it at all speeds (suspect front end) and can still feel it when I throw the trans into neutral driving down the road. I suspect a bad cv axle, but am not sure. The boots on all cv axles are not torn and appear from visual inspection to be ok. How can I check for a bad cv axle? The reason I suspect a cv axle is because I really do not know of any other items that I can check or change that would cause this issue. Also, the hubs appear fine and I am not getting any excessive play from either tire on a left/right shake when the tires are up in the air. I have also changed the front trans mount thinking that maybe an engine vibration might be causing the issue. I guess the next step is to take it to a dealer to have them assess, but that is $100 and they might say "nothing is wrong", when I know there has to be something bent or out of place.

Did you check all 4 wheels for bearing play, or just the front?

Do you feel the vibration in the steering wheel, the seat of your pants, or both?

Have you checked your shocks? Failed shocks can give you slight road hop.

Is the vibration present at all speeds? Does it increase with speed?

1. yes, all 4 wheels were checked.
2. Both, seat of pants and steering wheel
3. struts in front appear to have no leaks of fluid when I pulled the boots up. Backs were just replaced last year with OEM units.
4. It is present at all speeds, but appears to get worse with speed and higher RPMs, but sometimes smooths out a bit when higher speed is flattened.

Check front end alignment and then the CV joints. The later I suspect as being the cause.

Kevin,
are there instructions on this site for how to remove and replace the cv axles? From my reading on the site, it does not appear that they are hard to replace (about $70 each), but would like to make sure that I am following all needed instructions.

Thanks for your help on this.......I guess it is worth replacing them for the cost. Almost that much to have a shop just assess what they think.

You can search the site under CV joint. There are some write up from others, but nothing in the Tech area.

The other thing you can try is to rotate the tires. If after you have rotated them, you still have the front end issue...then you have totally ruled out any tire/wheel issue. If it goes away...you still got a tire/wheel issue.

Tires can be ruled out because I forgot to mention that I used a different set of tires from my friends grand prix and the problem still existed after driving on his tires. Also, he informed me that my tires on his car did not present any problems. Believe me, I have been attempting to narrow down, just not familiar with cv axles.

Do I need to buy the entire cv axle or just half shafts?

Just the half shaft. Did you get the front end aligned?

I am a visitor because I used to be an active member with my '01 SSEi. Believe it or not one of the main reasons I ended up getting rid of it (I miss her; wow what looks!) is I never could get the tires/wheels to balance out correctly. I spent over $1,500 trying to get tires to balance. It drove me to do the deed. In my extensive research I discovered that this car is prone to chassis vibrations. The big culprit is the light-weight aluminum suspension. It is light on mass causing even the slightest out of round, or tire or wheel imperfection to show up as wheel out-of-balance. This is a fairly heavy car and so she should drive smoothly. I ended up with a Nissan Altima that is loaded with more options than the Bonne and she drives extremely smooth like my old '92 Bonne SSE. Good luck with her. You've got a basically good car with fantastic looks.

Everyone;
Wanted to follow-up to let you all know that I believe my vibration has been repaired. Make sure that you are going to a suspension or tire store that knows what they are doing. I went with my gut and had the tires road force balanced at a different shop and they were able to narrow it down to a defective aluminum rim. The rim had a flat spot in it on the back side that was causing the vibration. The road force balance was the only thing that would find it. I checked on-line and found a used rim on E-bay. Purchased it and got it replaced and since then, things have been smooth again. Do still have one issue though.......I have just torn my 2nd front trans mount. This is the 2nd one from Autozone that I have received and I am not sure if it is just a weak mount or if I have another mount that is going bad. I just put my hockey puck mount back in, but I am wondering if you all think that a back mount near the firewall could be bad as well, since the front trans mount has torn twice?? What do you all think?

I have learned that you want to make sure that you check and recheck your tires and rims and insure that you are going to a shop that you can trust and have confidence in......

TTERZ