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Rondinone Rondinone is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 638
Re: Diagnosing minor steering vibration

Quote:
Originally posted by strother
I have an 82 SC, 46K miles, stock suspension. When I get to 80-85 mph, the steering vibrates just a little bit, but enough to make the steering feel a little uncertain. Is this normal with an SC?

The ride in the SC is otherwise nice, smooth, and tight. I can only feel it in the steering wheel.
IMO vibration is never normal. It indicates wear or imbalance somewhere in the suspension or wheel. Every time I've ever had a vibration that didn't go away with balancing, I have found either a bent wheel (2x) or worn shocks (bumper bounce test does not simulate driving conditions!) or worn suspension bushings (you may not be able to detect a worn suspension bushing with your arm or a crowbar).

A bushing, being somewhat of a spring, can couple harmonic motion. Tight bushings couple higher frequencies than loose bushings. As the bushings wear, the coupling frequencies change. If a bushing coupled a frequency that overlaps a harmonic resonance in your steering system, such as an imbalanced wheel, then you get vibration in the steering wheel.
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Old 05-06-2005, 10:04 AM
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