My 87 just rolled 77k and for the past month or so has been making a sort of low tone groan and vibration on and off. It starts between 50 and 60 mph and get a bit worse as you increase speed. Sometimes the vibration is not much and others it rattles the change in the ash tray. It seems to be coming from the front of the car and I feel it in my feet mostly but you know how it is to pinpoint that kind of thing. Also it sort of feels like it's straining a bit when it does it. That may just be in my head but just doesn't feel as loose and peppy as it was. Engaging the clutch doesn't have any effect on the noise or vibration.

Any ideas where to start the search.

Thanks
Matthew

 

How are you wheels, are they balanced? Maybe you threw a weight. I would start with the basics. Do you feel the vibration in the steering wheel?

 

I don't know about the groan, but the vibration could be wheel balance.

The other thing is tyre rotation direction. I once replaced the brake pads, and had both wheels off at once. I made the mistake of unintentionally swapping the front wheels side to side, and clearly the rotation direction was then wrong. It resulted in a vibration which disappeared when the wheels were swapped back. It was quite intense, but only had a very small speed range, about 5mph around 70mph.

HTH.

 

Thanks for the suggestions...I'll check out the tire weight idea and see if one looks like it is missing. I don't feel the vibration in the steering wheel it's just an overall feeling.

 

I had a similar noise around 30 to 40 mph,it was my front wheel bearings.

 

It also sound like that car has been sitting a lot. It might not be a bad idea to re-pack the front bearings and change the brake fluid, check brakes for signs of draggins.

 

sticking front brake caliper - I bet if after a trip you put you hand to one of the calipers - it will be much warmer than the other

 

eh, I don't know why I typed something about draggons. I meant "dragging". If one wheel is black, then it could be a stuck piston or brake line is swollen. The reason I say re-pack the bearings is that if the grease is old and the car has sat a lot, then the bearing grease could be hardened and no good.

I also think you could have flat spots on the tires.

 

I had a groan when turning on direction. Bad front wheel bearing. I think it was when I turned in the direction of the bad bearing (added load to that side).

In your case I would get it groaning and slightly flip the steering wheel back and forth. Listen for change in sound. It also could be a back bearing.

 

Most commonly green in color and shoot fire from mouth. Don't drive your car if you have them.

 

Yeap,..tires: first.

Doyle

 

I've got the occasional groan thing that will occur when slowly pulling away from a red light,..turning or applying brakes will squelch the sound.......it's very intermittent....Had the pads changed,...new rotors,.....braking seeed to check ok......no caliper drag.....maybe time to look at those bearings (for me (too) )

Best,

Doyle

 

Like that avatar,...where are you down "south"?

Best,

Doyle

 

I knew there were draggons in there!!

 

Hey, Doyle.

I'm in Thomasville - about 30 mins north of Tallahassee. Where are you?

Chad