vibrations in front of car???

Blain

Middle Lane Hogs
i have a 01 legacy b4,im gettin these vibrations when im driving,when i slow to around 60klms and accelerate slowly in 5th gear in i get these light vibrations around front of car until car hits over 80klm,Ive replaced the whole gearbox and rear diff few months ago,but this problem is still there.it went away for a while but back again, any chance it would be front driveshafts or something??? :hammerhead:
 
theres a slight buckle in the front left wheel but i dont think it would affect the car that way
 
[quote author=Blain link=topic=30779.msg355772#msg355772 date=1307378619]
theres a slight buckle in the front left wheel but i dont think it would affect the car that way
[/quote]

swap the front wheel with the back one and rule it out to make sure , could be something as simple as an unbalanced wheel to a knackered bush , usually stupid small things that you'd never check that causes niggles
 
Small noises are irritating Blain but if it's speed dependent, I'd have a go at Stapos route, wheel balancing first. Probably the cheapest of the options and if your local wheel place has a friendly as well as competent service, they will tell you how much and which wheels are out. It's very easy on our poorly maintained roads (that was polite, eh?) to throw a wheel weight because of a pothole, and sometimes they just fall off anyway.

Wheel balance issues usually show up at higher speeds though. I have a slight turn in one of my rims and I used to get a bit of wobble through roundabouts because it was a front wheel but otherwise the handling was ok until the wheels were rotated during a service and the wobble disappeared but, shortly afterwards I started having some issues with the rear end. Tommys suggestion is good too and if you are going to rotate the wheels, go out on a regular route involving straights, corners, roundabouts etc and note how it behaves. Then rotate the wheels and go and do the same route again at the same speeds. If your rim is the problem, the front should now be good and perhaps, and I mean only perhaps, you might notice something from the back end.

There is one other one that hasn't been mentioned here, diff carrier carrier bushings. These are a known problem/weak point on the Imprezas and Foresters. Because of the all wheel drive, sometimes it's difficult to isolate a knock or vibration due to everything being transmitted through the whole 'H' of the shafts and diffs, you might hear it as being in the front but a back seat passenger might say it's in the back. One of the other symptoms of the diff carrier bushings being shot is a knocking/vibrating sound under braking on uneven surfaces and rear end sway if you boot it and then pull out to overtake as opposed to pulling out and then flooring it. Does the Leggy do the vibration thing at the corresponding revs in 4th? What about under throttle, even gentle, at these revs in 4th and 5th? If yes, then the diff carrier bushings or any of the transmission mounts.

Sticky caliper as Goose said, but going up to 4 pots is costly, especially if that isn't the problem but it is easy enough to diagnose. Drive for a few minutes without using the brakes as much as you can (dual carriageway/mway) and coast to a stop or with really gentle braking and then go around and feel the center of the rim, not the disc. If you have a sticky caliper and put your fingers directly on the disc, you will burn them but enough heat is transferred into the center of the wheel where it attaches to the hub for you to feel it. If all hubs are cool, then it's probably safe to check the discs and if one is warmer than the rest the caliper is most likely sticking, a couple of hours work to fix.

These are issues I have had to deal with on the Forester so I hope they are of some use to you or anyone who is looking at this thread.
 
thanks for the comments,Its not the calipers there ok and im pretty sure its not my wheels i know one is slightly buckled but sure its something else because of the symptoms im having, im nearly sure its got to do with diff mounts etc that fozzybear was talking about,when im driving at low speed around 60klm in 5th and then give a good bit of acceleration between 3 and 4000 revs it will start to vibrate like something is not able to cope with the power but goes away when the revs pick up around 4000.sounds like the diff mounts or something along those lines or maby the shaft that connects from gearbox to rear diff needs something because to me it feels like its around that general area of the car.WHO would be the best and cheapest suppiler and fitter that knows about these problems close to cavan navan area and fit some diff mounts and perhaps a few front bushes as im getting a bit of knocking around the front over bumps and car doesnt feel as tight as it should on the road and cornering..
 
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