hey all. i have made a thread or two on this before, but wanted to post a fresh one now that i have narrowed it down a bit further.

at pretty much any speed, my wheel shakes as if i have warped rotors and am on the brakes. over the past month or so, i have replaced the tie rod ends, took the rotors in to be checked for runout (very slightly warped but not anything like what im experiencing at the wheel) replaced the passenger side axle, which was what i was thinking the problem was (TWICE) and yesterday i put on my mustang wheels/tires. this rules out a bent rim, broken belt or unbalanced wheel, as the problem has actually gotten worse.

my theory is that the mustang wheels having more backspacing is somehow putting more leverage on whatever is loose.

now for the "possible" symptom (apart from the shaking, of course) if i have just started the car and its still at 1100 rpm while warming up, there is a loud pop that comes from the passenger side of the car. i thought this was the axle having too much play, but as you can see, i replaced it twice and there has been no change.

my thoughts are either inner tie rods, a very loose strut (it seemed good and tight while i was working on the axle) or possibly the ball joint/ control arm.

i still have my ball joint/ control arm assembly from the old car on the passenger side from when i falsely diagnosed the k member bushings as the ball joint, so i was thinking of throwing that on to the new car and seeing if it helps. but i want to get ur guys' opinions before i just throw parts at it. i could just replace the whole front suspension if i wanted to off the old car, but i want to figure it out incase it happens again and i dont have a donor car.

thanks guys, i really appreciate it.

also, i thought it might be worth noting, that if you are on the brakes hard, the problem actually goes away while braking.

to me it sounds like you are on the right track, like the control arm bushings or ball joints are loose and allowing it to move and make noises from different things.

Have you used a pry bar and checked the ball joints for any play?
I have had a similar problem with the driver side wheel on my PA, and I have replaced the tie rods, my inner tie rods were bad, that helped, but I still have a little vibration/shaking going on, so I plan to replace my ball joints ASAP.

i think i would do the bushings too, seems like the big cars wear those out pretty fast.

I had a heck of a shimmy once on the 4x4 and it was supposedly balanced properly.
Took it to a tire shop that had one of those new fancy digital screen type balancer machines, and when we spun it up it was Woh...who the heck did this last balance?
It was way out of balance and had a visible warp to it, similar to a bent rim.
With the new rims on have you had a 4 wheel alignment done as well?
They can check the front end over at time of alignment as well.

I had a very similar problem with my LeSabre that I had a bit of a time tracking down, it turned out to be the passenger side tie rod end. I went thru all the above mentioned possibilities and even double checked them when I couldn't believe there were no problems with them.

well, i took it to firestone today, and they told me its the subframe bushings. same damn problem ive got with my first PA. which is why i bought this one! job is $1600.00 at the dealer. i dont have the money for that. but since i have a spare car, i might tackle it myself. can anyone help me find a tutorial on how the hell to replace them? i cant find one anywhere. ive even checked my alldata account and cant find anything.

i know how to drop the k member, but i need to know if they have to be pressed out of the k member or not. if not, its a job i can do in my driveway. if they do, then i cant do it because i dont have a hoist to actually remove the engine/trans.

if anyone can find this info, i will be eternally grateful.

looking at work, my system is calling for dorman-oe solutions part# 924-044. at $55.99 a piece. there are 6 of them. the bushings alone are gonna put me in the poor house. cant really afford $1600.00!

thanks alot guys!

if they are part of the engine cradle why not swap it from your parts pa? i would swap it all, the control arms and that too

well, i cant swap the cradle... other car is parked on the street. aside from that, id need a cherry picker for the engines. and i dont have one of those, much less two. lol

today i ordered one of the bushings into store stock. looks like they arent pressed in after all. this might actually be something i can do now i just need to find a tutorial on how the hell to do them. if ill need to unbolt the rack, disconnect fuel lines etc.