Please help! I had my power steering pump changed due to a leak, but now my car vibrates very bad at 45+ mph?? Can my alternator be bad and cause this or did the mechanic f-up something??

Thanking u in advance...............

 

Well Im not sure if that sounds like it is directly related to any work he might have done on the PS pump.
What a really bad vibration usually signals at 45 MPH and up is tires out of balance...or the front control arms....or something suspension related. Does it happen at all speeds above 45 MPH, or might it go away once you hit say 60 or 70?

 

Sounds like you just lost a weight off of one of your tires. Depending on the quality of the rim (premium ones require very little balancing, just to compensate for the tires which are very hard to make balanced), and the quality of the tire, the weights are made of soft lead. If you have a smooth lip on the outside of the rim, then the weights are placed on the inside of the rim with an adhesive. Sometimes, that glue does not make a good connection and the weight will fall off. On the lip on the inside the weights have a little tab that is jammed in between the lip and the tire. That is all that holds it on. These fall off all the time and people automatically presume that its something expensive. Have your tires balanced (might as well have them rotated while they are off) and see if that fixes the problem. Alignment should not make it vibrate, just wear out tires.

Various other things can make it vibrate:
-lose a weight off the drive shaft (very bad, but not frequent)
-rubber bushings on suspension parts wear out (bad)
-engine mounts worn out (expensive- $150 each)

 

I just got new wheels put on and never did the balancing/alignment deal. Isn't balancing like $70 per axle? I notice a little shimmy in my gas pedal at certain speeds and figured I needed to get that squared away asap. Is there any harm in driving with poor balance and alignment? Also what are the going rates on those two services?

 

No, very inexpensive...alignment should run $50-75. Balancing maybe $10 a tire.
What happens if you drive without alignment and balancing? Your tires will wear a lot faster, also unevenly possibly, and you will be putting more stress on your suspensionparts as well because of that shimmy...
I would get it done as soon as you can.

 

Ummm don't forget that around 45 mph is your AT lock up... If your ATF has not been changed, and looks as bad as mine did, you'll get a vibration as low as 39 Mph, and as high as 60... more often that not, I got it between 39 - 49 Mph


John..

 

We charged $36 for an alignment with a laser and carridge setup. Anything else was parts. Balancing with a really good machine (stock Toyota rims need special adapters to balance correctly, I think its just the 4Runner and Tacomas) should not run you more than $6. $10 tops, but thats if you kind of like getting raped. Dealership will always charge triple, and half of the time the dealership does not have the proper tools anyway.

FWD cars are a b!tch to align. There was a big problem with Chevrolet Z71s from the factory being really badly out of alignment. Turns out that when the factory torqued the straps down on the trailer to hold the trucks on, it was warping components.

 

Attention shoppers:

Best price for mounting and balancing I can find in L.A. is $9 at CostCo.

Winston Tires charges $12.50 for same, and $60 for a 4 wheel alignment job.

lex400sc - the GS forum has a huge thread going on discussing excessive inner wear on their tires, and some concluded the best solution was to align the wheels every 3,000 miles!

That would only make economic sense if you bought the "lifetime alignment" package, otherwise you'd lose more in alignment costs than you'd save in tire wear!

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...478#post374478

 

If it vibrates and then goes back to normal at around 45mph, it is probably your ATF fluid. Just have it changed but make sure it is type IV and the vibrations should stop.

 

I was going to give $100 to whomever got it right.....oh well :-)

The issue was a slightly bent rear wheel. Funny how it's fine when I dropped it off though. I think someone went for an extended test drive and bit it, but oh well.

Thanks for the info guys.......

 

You shouldn't feel a slightly bent rear wheel at 45mph . I had two and I couldn't feel them until about 80mph. When the bent wheels were in the front though, you feel a shimmy at around 70mph and while braking hard.