Re: 4KQ, Suspesion Vibration & Clunk

[M Connors <mconnor@frontiernet.net>]

>

Damon,


> Questions:
> *  Is the play in the rack normal, how much is acceptable?

> No there should be very little play in the rack.  Have you tried
> jacking up one of the front tires till it clears the ground and tried
> pushing and pulling the wheel from front to back?  In other words, is
> there any side to side motion on the wheel?  If there is some "slop"
> it could be your tie rod ends.  This procedure holds the other wheel
> to the ground and in effect shows you the play from the center of the
> car to the wheel.  From my experience in this area symptoms of bad tie
> rod ends are "shimmying" only at certain speeds.  Gets worse as you go
> faster.  A few mph difference (faster or slower) will clear the
> steering rate up.    Also,  If the struts were done recently are the
> strut towers tight on top where they bolt to the car?   Just a few
> thoughts here.

>
> *  Could warped rotors cause vibration at freeway speeds?

> Don't know about that. It would seem the only time warped rotors would
> come into play is during braking.  Otherwise it would seem that you
> would not notice any type of problem with bad rotors.

> *  Is it possible that there are two problems here?
>

  Again, could be.  You mentioned when going over bumps that you hear a
thump.  That sounds to me like control arm bushings or possibly sway bar
bushings (up front).  Again, jacking up a front wheel and taking a small
2x4 to gently leverage the wheel in different directions might reveal
movement not immediately apparent.  (This probably goes without saying
but be careful to use a jack stand under the car when performing this
type of test.  Don't want to rock the car off the jack and possibly get
hurt.)

> *  If a new set of rotors warps quickly are there other brake
>     parts that may need replacing?

 *  Are there other components that I should be looking at?

> Damon, it really sounds like you have got something loose or worn in
> the front end.  I haven't had a lot of experience with warped rotors
> but have had some experience with front end bushings and tie rod
> ends.  Front end bushing problems are strange because they cause the
> perception of noises elsewhere in the car. For example, when you hit a
> bump it sounds like there is something loose under the driver's seat.
> Tie rod ends can also give you grief.  I have found it doesn't take a
> lot of "play" on the steering to cause shimmying sensations in the
> steering.  Especially when you consider the amount of movement is
> multiplied by two because of  the combined movement of the Driver and
> Passenger sides of the steering.

Just some thoughts here based on my personal experience.  Good-luck on
the troubleshooting and please keep the list posted to what you find.
Thanks.

Regards

Mark