simple question, just wanted some opinions from more experienced people.
86 rx7 sport, na. no abs, no power steering.

I had a very bad steering wheel vibration above 60mph. I changed my ball joints which decreased it tremendously, but there is still quite a bit of vibration after 60mph, goes away around 75ish, then comes back if I continue accelerating. now with the new ball joints, my drivers side front wheel still has a very slight movement when pulling on the wheel at the 12 and 6 oclock positions, not at 3 and 9 oclock. I'm thinking its my wheel bearing. other side doesn't have any play and the rears are fine. the wheel isn't making any noise so if it is the wheel bearing causing this, can I just repack it with grease? thanks

 

pulling on the top and bottom of the tire is an indication of a wheel bearing on our cars. also check the tire balance.

 

First off, balance the wheels. Top/bottom play, but no side/side play isn't indicative of a wheel bearing. If it were a wheel bearing, it'd be all around. If you've already changed the ball joints for new ones, then try this. Lift the car and use a large pry bar under the tire. Have a friend move the pry bar up and down and watch the suspension. See what's moving and where the free play is. Pay attention to areas such as the ball joints, their mounts, and the lower control arm bushings.

 

+1 on the tire. you can try rotating them and see if the vibration changes, if it goes with the tire, its a tire.

step 2 is a wheel bearing, they are supposed to get cleaned and regreased ever 60k, but its hardly ever done...

 

didn't think it could be a bushing. I already moved the wheel around with a friend. ball joint is tight on there. I couldn't tell exactly what was moving other then the wheel. the movement is very very slight but noticable and probably exponentially so at high speeds. tires have been mounted, balanced twice and rebalanced again but no change. my car has 152k miles. I bought it at 130k with no previous info or records so bearings probably have not been replaced or repacked ever judging by my shot trans mounts, shot clutch cylinders, and the sludge I found when I changed the trans of fluid. I'll check this weekend for bushing movement and if none there then attempt to repack the bearing.

I to thought that if it was a bearing it would move from all positions and not just top and bottom but when I was looking at things and my friend was moving the wheel it looked more like the wheel itself was moving. double check this weekend. thanks for the ideas.

 

A wheel bearing repack takes almost no time, and is super easy. I'd repack the bearings first, then do like j9fd3s said and rotate the wheels, but do them one side at a time. If the steering wheel vibration goes away, you've located a bad tire or bent rim. And yes, it absolutely can be a bushing. Lower control arm bushings, steering rack bushings, a loose subframe, worn tie rods, etc.

 

well tie rods seem ok, I checked those when I was changing ball joints. I bet everyone one of my bushings is in need of replacement at 25 years old lol. and a bent rim...I don't want it to be that as all my other cars are 5x100 and the FC is 5x114. they balanced fine though so idk.

I've never repacked a bearing before but it sounds easy. I'll have to look the thread up again as I thought a fair number of parts had to be taken off to get at the bearing to repack it.

 

Wheel, caliper, and rotor.

 

A bearing repack is a waste of time, theyre dirt cheap to buy new ones. So just buy new ones, they probably need to be replaced anyway. Lower control arm bushing would cause ALOT of steering wheel movement. Steering rack bushing would cause a clunk + a steering wheel vibration. A loose subframe would REALLY cause a clunk but no vibration, you would be chasing the front end back and forth with the steering wheel to correct the wheel movement as opposed to a shake. Worn tie rods (inner or outer) will move at the 9 and 3 o clock positions of the tire.

 

Warped rotor COULD cause this but only if the caliper slides were frozen so if you take off a caliper and the slides move easily in and out then that isnt the issue. The tires have slipped belts but rotating the tires from front to back.. 1 side at a time (as suggested) would have solved that.

 

Repacking bearings is not a waste of time. That's like saying transmission bearings are dirt cheap, why not replace those instead of changing the fluid? Repacking the bearings consists of cleaning, inspecting, and packing them with fresh grease. If there's any movement in the bearing, the preload gets re-adjusted and you're sent on your merry way. And doing so costs what, like $3 for grease?

And a loose subframe will cause a vibration. Ask me how I know.

 

the thing with the tire can be that they do not always wear round, sometimes they wear in weird ways, so it can balance and still be not round.

i would do the bearings, repack should be fine, new if you're feeling spendy. make sure to recheck them after 50 or so miles.

i would also do the trans mount, it won't cause a vibration thru the wheel, but it will cause vibration, and its hard on the U joints. trans mounts are very easy, you can do it without removing anything else.

in my experience the bushings and tie rods on these are pretty robust, so i would eliminate the other things first.

 

trans mounts are on my list but expensive. I need new y blocks and the crossmember. I know that the trans mounts would cause body vibration but mine doesn't effect the car too much.

from what has been said, its probably not my steering rack bushings. no clunk at all but I will check those after I repack the bearing if that does nothing. subframe mounts are good, car steers fine and does not really pull. I'm not chasing it. control arm bushings may be a likely culprit if its not the wheel bearing judging from what I have read here and elsewhere. thanks for the info guys.

btw, I run an adjustable sublink in the back due to my coilovers, my pinion angle is already messing with my u joints I guess (so I've read). I'm not too worried about that as I will be sourcing a t2 rear end and driveshaft, already have t2 trans. also going to get individual camber adjusters so I can fix my rear camber properly instead of half assing it like I am now lol. and no, my coilovers have nothing to do with vibration. it was there before and after install and coils have been triple checked and are all snug and car has been aligned.

 

well, repacked the bearing and it is a little less now but still there. next are the tie rod ends and control arm bushings. and since apparently 2nd gen manual rack bushings don't exist anymore new, I won't be replacing those. they seem fine to me though, I checked those and thre isn't excessive movement there. the control arm bushings do look pretty bad so tie rods and that should be everything other then tires and wheels. I'll borrow a friends wheels and see if that helps first. will eliminate my tires or wheels at least.

 

Look in Jeg's or Summit for sway bar bushings...you can find a suitable replacement there (some cars apparently run kinghell sized sway bars...).

 

^thanks, will do if my other fixes lack results. I am trying to fix so much at once on this car.lol.

 

my 86se has vib and I'm tired of it and time to fix

 

Sorry I never updated, I'm usually pretty good about that. well I changed my tie rods and repacked the wheel bearings but it was still there. I finally found a friend with 5x114 wheels (can not believe that everyone I know is 4 lug or 5x100) and guess what? it was the wheels. well one wheel that I narrowed down. so was SUPER lucky and found a match at the junkyard (almost never have FC's here) so now all is well and the car drives smooth with a matched set of stock wheels.

order of operations: check ball joints/tierods/wheel bearings first. replace as needed. check tire wear/get wheels balanced, replace tires if the wear warrants it or replacing other parts hasn't done anything (or find a friend with good wheels/tires and try them out on the car to narrow down if its wheels tires before you go buy some).

 

Did you ever replace the control arm bushings. Mine look dry and cracked, so there coming out regardless. I found OEM type bushing, hope there not NOS. would be old And hard as well.

 

could have told you it was the wheels, a bent rim can't be balanced to get rid of a vibration but it may balance out on the machine. the tires can't conform evenly when the wheel is bent.

rotating the tires if possible is the first thing i do when a vehicle has a vibration issue. if the steering wheel previously had a shake to it and it goes away but the *** end wobbles then you know it's a wheel/tire issue.

 

^good point karack. I'm not too unhappy about all the things I replaced as my car is 26 years old and it all should have been replaced anyway. I always seem to never think of obvious things like rotating the wheels. simple just kinda flies over my head sometimes. perfect example: where did my hammer go. 1 hour later after looking everywhere, "where is my F'n hammer". girlfriend walks in, hands it to me. it was just above my eye level on the wood stove lol.

HRnico- I never did the control arm bushings. Mine need replacing and they are dried and cracked a bit. I used a crow bar and put some pressure on my control arm from under neath to move it forward and back and all over. seemed like it was stiff enough so left them. I need to do a full bushing kit, was waiting till I get a t2 rear end and do it all at once but I'll probably buy the front bushings and do them before that.

 

simple saves time, i have to live by it and is why they are the first suggestions i make. but in this case you already had it solved.

 

Funny thing is, I posted this when I was on stock suspension. I have Parts shop max coilovers now which are 10kg/8kg and notoriously stiff dampers (1st generation style units). so now my whole car shakes a little when I hit a crack in the road lol. but for the most part, the vibrations are gone so thats good.