Hey guys, i have been havin some problems with my 2000 blazer 4x4. First off, when driving at 50-60 mph, the sterring wheel would shake very bad. I had both ball joints, idlerarm and all four tires replaced and that problem has sence gone away. however, I also have another vibration when I pass 70mph. this in not in the wheel, but the whole vehicle vibrates, almost like i have a vibrating seat! Also, the vibration goes away at speeds above 90mph! Anyway, this still happened before i had my ball joints replaced, so i know its not them. I am thinking wheel bearing? I can hear a little grinding when moving at slow speeds, and turning left. what do you guys think? any input is wellcomed..

Thanks, Matt B.

 

Get your tires checked for balance. Even though you have new ones, get them checked again. Should be some sort of 90 day warrenty on the ballance. You could have gotten a bad tire. Road Force Balancing is the only way to tell if its a bad tire. We charge $15 per tire, unless you bought your tires from us.

Seat vibration is typically steering or rear end (back tires). usually a wheel bearing will make a grinding noise, however it doesn't usually make the truck vibrate. Well, it might if you are exceeeding the speed limit. Could also be a u-joint, however the first place to check is the tires.

 

You may have answered your own question. It may be the wheel bearing. Don't speed until you get it fixed. Good luck!

 

Let me ignore the metal noise first.

Just a comment on simple thinking. I dont see where the shocks were replaced. If I were having a problem with an unknown shimmy/shake or vibration, the first place I go is wheel balance, then shocks. If I had not replaced shocks recently or was fairly sure they were good, I wouldnt even get new tires. New tires go bad quickly when shocks are gone. In order to go through replacement of ball joints. idler arm and such, there had to be serious vibration problems. Serious vibration goes straight into the shocks. Bad front end parts will destroy weak/old shocks in a matter of months. So leaving the old shocks has to be looked into, even it has nothing to do with noise or vibration.

Also read another post with a metal noise in the front end on this forum just a few minutes ago. These are four wheel drive versions, right? CV joints? Front gears? Any universals on the driveshaft? Dont know, dont have any, but they sure used to have them.

One more thought. Have had reason on numerous occasions to make shakes and shimmies disappear through some very simple measures. I see maintanance schedule mentioned in several posts for ball joints and such. What I suggest may sound completely nuts to many, but having lived in both the New England states with their ice and snow and in the deep south with its dirt roads, I find DIRT and SAND a real problem. To make it very clear, check your wheels and drivetrain for DIRT, SAND and debris. I cant even say just winter, cause here in the south, its an all year long problem.

I proceeded to pull two front wheels on a two wheel drive recently. Between brake dust, road grime and plain old sand, I found up to 1/4 inch of crud on the inside of one of the wheels that even a high pressure washer had a hard time removing. I needed a putty knife. The other was a little better.

The point is that maintainance is not only as needed for lube or oil change. Simply washing the crud off will actually save a balance job. I cant believe a wheel can stay balanced when the buildup is that big. I cannot believe that all the sand and salt of regular driving can keep from damaging the underside of the vehicle. This to include all the moving parts, even though you would think this junk would fly off, it just simply doesnt sometimes.

I actually learned this when a teen. Driving in heavy snow in New England would cause it to get caught in many places. Then parking and driving the next day on clear roads, I would find my car shaking sometimes. Stopping to remove the ice from the previous day was often the solution. It became a routine to do this prior to driving at all. Funny how my dad had this routine long before I did?
A cv joint with a bad boot can pick up so much garbage that the shaft may go out of balance. Replacing the boot may keep it in one piece a lot longer. This of course is temporary, but a semi permanent situation CAN occur.

Just had to mention some of these simple things cause little of this has been touched on.

 

I definitely agree on the road grime / snow / dirt situation on the inside of the rims. I have had this happen with snow very often. Get some snow up through the back of the rim (or thru the spokes) while driving around, then the hot brakes will melt it leaving a pool in the bottom of the rim. Cold enough temps will refreeze it and... Instant imbalance.

I would hope that if he had the rims rebalanced, that the shop would have cleaned off the insides, but...

 

swartlkk;

To tell it like it it these days. My son had just replaced two front tires onto a set of rims that he had bought new on the previous set of tires. After first installing the new wheels, he damaged a brake line and we fixed it. He was left to replace the wheel and clean up the mess. this wheel was the drivers side wheel at the time. lots of miles laker, he had the new tires installed and they balanced them. bet they never looked. They reversed the the wheels. So now the dirty one from all the brakefluid and dirt stuck to it is on the passenger side.

I get the truck one more time for a bad rear axle seal. No problem, but I always clean things. So I crawl under the darn thing with a high pressure sprayer and also do the front. This is a family car, I dont trust chance. I see the mess on the front and go searching for more trouble. Finally get to him and we have a long discussion. He knew they changed sides on the wheels cause they had to do the job twice. Placed the whitewall out rather than in.
Not seeing anything else wrong, I proceed to remove the darn passenger wheel. I almost reached for a chisel. I didnt want to ruin the wheel, so I took my time.

To make this shorter, when I got done, he had to have it rebalanced because they had balanced the DIRT.

Life is stanger than fiction, I dont make this stuff up.

 

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