My car vibrates when I accelerate and brake?

Question

I notice that when I start to accelerate, my steering wheel begins to vibrate and tremble, it gets worse the faster I go. It also vibrates as I am braking. This only happens at high speeds. What could be causing this? It started happening after I was almost in an accident and had to slam on the brakes. I have already replaced the brake pads.

Answer 1

Well hard braking won't by itself cause major damage to front end components, unless of course you slid into a curb or ran into or over something under hard braking. You didn't say if you car is front wheel drive, or how old it is - but let's assume it's a few years old, and front wheel drive...

1) Jack up the car and watch the front tires as you rotate them by hand to see if the wheels rotate without wobbling - look for small variations, which magnify the vibration as speed increases

2) inspect the tires and rim for damage - take notice if there are any balancing weights missing from the tires - you *might* have thrown a weigh off in the collision avoidance maneuver, and if the original imbalance was bad enough, could cause some of what you are feeling.

3) You say it vibrates when braking - is that under light, normal braking or harder braking ? If you are traveling Interstate speeds and apply light pressure to the brakes - if the vibration is felt then you will most likely need to replace the brake rotors if excessively worn, or at least have them resurfaced and trued up to remove the rough spots and warping that is there

4) Have the front end inspected by a reputable mechanic or shop specializing in front end repairs. Have them check the CV joints, wheel bearings for excessive play, and steering components. Before going that route, be able to describe speeds at which the problem occurs, degree of braking applied and severity of vibration , and a description of the original incident that started the problem.

I hope this helps... but most of all get it checked out soon. Wheel vibration can cause excessive tire wear, loss of vehicle control and the potential for an accident - all of which are much more expensive that what you will spend with a mechanic to fix the problem - but most importantly, it could just save you from serious injury or even death if your steering/braking systems fail unexpectedly...

Answer 2

well...it sounds like you might have blown the cv axels or wheel brgs.on your ride. OR it could be something as simple as a bent rim or a ply seperation in the front tires. if you hit anything when you almost wrecked then you might have done all sorts of things to it. Better take it to a shop to be checked out just to be on the safe side.

Answer 3

These cars are EASY to keep going right and CHEAP if you know what you are doing. Right now you have a dirty FUEL system and INTAKE system. THey require CLEANING with gumout and Sea Foam spray to get the shake out. You have a dirty IDLE AIR CONTROL VALVE and dirty FUEL METERING BOX. These are do-it-yourself things. Or pay the local quicky lube $50 or LESS to have your THROTTLE BODY, PCV VALVE and IDLE AIR CONTROL ALVE cleane4d up. The IAC is removable and causes FINE TUNING of fuel/air mixture ratio. It is UNDER your air cleaner and EASY to get to. Your METERING PLATE is probably satruated with OLD engine oil. Once the air CLEANER is removed, things can be seen and cleaned ou EASIEST!! Use SEA FOAM and GUMOUT to get things up to par. Clean the METERING plate, which is the aluminum movable part revealed when the cleaner is removed. ANY quicky lube can clean these FOR you. ALSO, you need to BLEED out your fuel lines. With engine running, loosen the EIGHT fuel lines, one at a time, that run OUT of your metering box. This will RELEASE the BAD rusty fuel that is jambing up your fuel mixture. After ALL that is CLEANEDUP. install a fresh set of BSOCH FUSION spark plugs. ALl this can be done for $10 or so. ir you can DIY the job!! GOOD LUCK and keep my E-mail address handy!! ALSO>>>> NEVER use CHEAP oil changes in this engine. You are tempting FATE. Your engine REQUIRES full synthetic engine oil NOT wax based cheap JUNK. MOBIL ONE 0W_40 oil is the EASIEST to find, although TOTAL and PENTOSIN are better! NO VALVOLINE EVER in this engine or BAD things happen to fuel metering and OTHER expensive components. GOODLUCK!!

Answer 4

You may have brake rotors that need turning, they get hard spots from heat. Also, you might have tire balance problems, alignment, and/or loose suspension or steering parts.

Answer 5

It could be your wheel bearings. Have someone look at it. Any place that does brakes can tell you if that is the problem. Check your tire allignment also.

Answer 6

Have you checked your front tires? Are they out of round? And check out the bearings for the front rotors. It will more than likely be 1 of the 2...

Answer 7

You may be about to throw a wheel bearing.

There may be something still SERIOUSLY wrong with your brakes.

It could be just loose lug nuts...

It needs to be inspected by a professional.

Answer 8

first u check to see if you have a belt broke on thr rasdial tires rub your hand oround the tire very carefully it might have wire threads showing and if thats ok then you probably need new rotars and breaks

Answer 9

If they didn't turn your rotors when they changed your pads, it may have been all for nothing.

Answer 10

universal joint