Vibration 50-65mph
 

Hey guys I am now troubleshooting a vibration that becomes very apparant at 50mph to 65mph. It smooths out some from 75mph and faster. Diffently worse under acceleration but is slightly noticeable when the throttle is lifted.
To date:
175,000 miles
Passenger side Axle was replaced last year
Tires were rotated and balanced last week
Brakes are about 90%
Rotors are clean and do not vibrate
No noise noticed from the cv joints in turning either direction
Supension seems to be tight when grabbing and shaking
I tried shaking the motor and transmission with little to no movement
To my knowledge the suspension and struts are all original

Any Ideas!

-Mike-

Try jacking up the front of the car. Check for any play in the tires. Pull it in and out, push and pull on the top and bottom, do the same on the sides. Rotate the tires and watch for any play. There could be a little slop on the ball joints, or steering linkage.

Pulling on the top or bottom of the tires I can get some movement. Not very much but enough to make it click. There is more play on the passenger side. The tie rods did not have any play but the passenger side has a split boot.
Probably should go ahead and change that one.

What ever looks bad should be replaced. If you have play on one tire, that could very well be the vibration.

When I pull on push the wheel that movement or play is most likely the ball joint? The struts are not a factor? Looks to me that the ball joints are riveted to the lower control arm. Do I need to replace this whole assembly?

When you move the tire, you will have to watch what is moving.

The control arm does not move. It is the hub. Maybe a 1/16th of an inch. Would a hub bearing make a vibration under load?

It can. Do you hear anything when driving?

No its very quite you can not hear any roaring.

A bad bearing you should hear. But if you see play you might want to consider changing the bearing and make sure it's torqued correctly.