I drive a 2014 Honda CR-V. My steering wheel vibrates whenever my car speed is between 30-40 mph. Once past 40 mph, the vibration stops completely. While most explanation mentions about bad CV joint, motor mount, loose lug nuts, unbalanced tires, stuck brake caliper, etc but it doesn’t address the issue as to why it only vibrates between 30-40 mph and not before or after. It is very steady even from 60 mph and beyond.
Any idea what is the problem?
Worn struts can display that characteristic.
if the struts are worn to a point where they can no longer hold the tires to the ground, and you’re traveling at certain speeds that allows a certain frequency to develop, it can cause what’s called tire bounce.
Tester
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A bent wheel or hub can create that vibration too.
An un balanced wheel vibrates at 60 to 80. That is a single impulse per rotation. A bent wheel is double the impulse so vibrates at 30 to 40. The vibration is at the natural bounce frequency of the wheel and tire assembly or about 12 to 16 hertz. The wheel is rotating about that frequency at those speeds. Lower or higher speed, it isn’t in the range to be set off by the impulse. That is the science.
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A slipped belt in the tire tread can also cause this, I had one that was only noticed around 35 MPH, but those are rare.
Tester and MustangMan are the experts. All in all, the car needs to be on a lift and inspected by a mechanic.
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Read about resonant frequency and see the x=1.0 point on the graph here:
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My brain hurts !
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I love it!
I thought resonance was when i played my piano very loudly
Another idea, esp if problem occurs when accelerating through that speed band, and you have an automatic transmission, could be torque converter shudder. Googling that term will explain.
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I just sent my car for balancing and rotate yesterday. After that, the steering no longer vibrates now. The balancing surely helped. But my feet could still feel the shudder at the 30-40 mph.
While I appreciate all the thoughts on resonance, for tires this resonance normally appears in the 50 to 70 mph range, not 30 to 40 - and if it was tires, it would also appear in the 60 to 80 mph range and it doesn’t (according to the OP)
So I think there is something else going on. Bad CV? Torque converter? The latest from the OP seems to contradict what I said about tires, but what about the shudder?
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Because of the specificity of the speed range, which would seem to eliminate the tires as the source, I agree that a bad torque converter lock-up mechanism is a very real possibility.
This vehicle should have had its trans fluid changed at least 2 times already, so if–as I suspect–the fluid hasn’t been changed for several years, this would be a good time to take the vehicle to an independent trans shop (NOT a chain-run joint like Lee Myles, Cottman, Mr. Transmission, or AAMCO) for a fluid & filter change, and for them to check the operation of the TC lock-up mechanism.
A good trans shop will know that this vehicle requires fluid that is specific to Honda transmissions. If the OP goes to a shop that uses a generic trans fluid plus a “magic” additive to make it Honda-compliant, I strongly suggest that he should go somewhere else for service.
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Here is the latest update on the car vibration issue. Based on many of the recommendations that was posted here, I finally had the car transmission fluid drained and replaced. Just exactly as how you guys have suggested, that completely solved the problem. The car no longer vibrate at low speed anymore.
Thank you to everyone.
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Happy that fixed it for you. Be sure to have transmission serviced every 30000 mile in the future.
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Oh c’mon, I love “magic” 
