Odd, non-constant Vibration

[E-Tank]

Bent rim/rims. I had this exact issue and new wheels made it go away.

[mikeislord]

Bent rim/rims. I had this exact issue and new wheels made it go away.

 

With my particular issue, happens on two sets of wheels.

[JoeFromPA]

I'll just add my usual dose of how to track these things down, but I'll add one recent experience that was weird as hell:

 

Pastor of my church bought a '95 Jetta Vr6 5-speed (in great condition) for $1500. About a week or two after he got it, it started to make a really weird clunking sound. I test drove it and confirmed it was not tied to the engine speed, transmission gear selection (happened out of gear and in gear), and was rotationally inclined but didn't happen at certain speeds or increase with speed.

 

Sounded like a golf ball hitting one side of the engine.

 

I inspected his front rotating parts as well as I could with a flashlight at night in the rain, and nothing jumped out at me.

 

Turns out he had one lug-nut loose and at certain speeds the wheel wasn't seating right against the hub.

 

I'd never experienced or even read about that before, so....just something to think about as mentioned above.

 

...

 

Besides that, when trying to track down a vibration my first item is to rotate the tires front to back and determine if it's changes (or rotate them X-wise if you can). If it does, you've limited the vibration to the tire/wheel package most likely. Then it's simply a tire out of balance, a wheel out of balance, a tire with improper inflation, or a tire with a seperating belt or some such item.

 

If nothing changes, just confirm again it's rotationally related and not engine or gear affected, and then start diving into the parts that rotate behind the wheel.

 

Good luck

 

Joe

[Andreu]

ROAD FORCE BALANCE. this is slightly diffrent from a typical balance that recreates the situations of driving. I got it dont today for $40!!! car have no more vibration in the wheel.