Sudden vibration at high speed

[hmkim]

My 2003 Ody suddenly started to vibrate (or shake) at a speed higher than 65mph this morning. It drove smoothly at 70-80 mph yesterday. What might be the problem? The tires are about 1.5 year old and look fine to me.

[pkrface]

Something sudden like that I would suspect a cv joint, but tires, bearings, etc. could be in play. From personal experience I can tell you not to put off getting it checked out if it turns out to be a cv joint. An axle that out of balance will take out an axle seal and drain the transmission fluid in no time. Losing a wheel bearing at highway speed could be fatal in several ways. I have always been able to hear a bearing long before it is a problem, but some people can't. Hopefully it is something simple.

[bruce2]

+1 in checking it out immediately. Besides what has mentioned, could be a broken spring or something simple as the balancing weight on the tie has came off. Post back.

[OdyinNH]

Could be as simple as losing a wheel weight or as expensive as a front end part like a CV joint. If it were me I would rotate the tires and see if it moves. If so have them rebalanced.

[BigBoat]

My 2003 Ody suddenly started to vibrate (or shake) at a speed higher than 65mph this morning. It drove smoothly at 70-80 mph yesterday. What might be the problem? The tires are about 1.5 year old and look fine to me.

Out of the blue, but with Toyo tires I've felt bad vibration at cruise speed under very cold weather and just after getting the car out of the driveway (something like when the tires have a flat spot). Vibration goes away as soon as the tires have warmed up...

[hmkim]

As an initial step, I got the tires rotated. The mechanic asked me to come back for rebalancing on a warmer day because the tires were covered with snow.

Now, I do NOT feel excessive vibration at highway speed (70-75mph). I don't think the previous arrangement of the tires was wrong because I had driven at highway speed with no excessive vibration before.

Can anyone make sense out of it? I'm curious as to what might have been going on.

[BigBoat]

Tough call, but either the tires got a bit "deformed" after a sudden overnight temp change as explained earlier or there might have been some leftover stuck snow/ice packets inside the wheels when you drove that day. That small weight throws them out of balance so to speak. As a comparo just see the balance weights on your wheels, they do a lot even when they look small and light

[hmkim]

On the day before sudden vibration happened, the temperature was in the low 50s. On the day when I felt sudden vibration it was in the 10s. I remember clearly because I wore my coat for the 1st time on that day in this year.

[bruce2]

Have you check for uneven wear on your tires? Once this happened to a friend as you mentioned that the vibration went away when you go really fast. As I ran my hand across the surface of the tire the steel wires stabbed my hand. We find both front tires wore down to the steel belt on the inside. Finally an alignment and new tires fixed it.

[WSY]

On the day before sudden vibration happened, the temperature was in the low 50s. On the day when I felt sudden vibration it was in the 10s.

You may have had ice/frozen snow inside the wheels which was throwing off the balance; this is more likely if the Ody is parked outside at night.