i own a 2000 plymouth neon, that for an old girl is in good not great but good condition. any way, ivy (thats her name), hs recently started to shudder as if the rim and all is going to fall off as i go around a left turn. i know that the back passenger rim is the culprit because of the way it moves going down the highway. but when i go down the interstate it doesnt do a thing. that is where i am confused. i think its the alignment or an unblanced tire. but i just had my new tires balanced. if its a worse case project then i am thinking of it being the rear axle. but again its only on left turns. i am too poor to get it checked out professionally since i am a college student. can anyone help me?
This could be dangerous, so I won’t go on the hwy until you have figured it out. It might have to do with the recent balancing, or the problem was there prior to the balance? Anybody checked the wheel and made sure that the lugs are tight and the wheel is not coming off?
thanks for the quick reply. yeah the lugs nuts are tight all five of them. do you have any other advice as what to look for or at?
Without vehicle in hand and not knowing if we’re going to be on the same page or not, I would strongly suggest that you do this.
Carefully jack the car up enough to get that right rear wheel off the ground. Grasp the wheel assembly on both sides and see if you can move the wheel assembly back and forth. There should be little to no noticeable movement in the wheel.
If there is, then then you may have a failing wheel bearing or a rear suspension bushing problem.
If something is worn and loose the shudder could be caused by the tire skipping on the pavement due to the cornering forces being placed on the right rear tire. The camber (an alignment spec) will change dramatically as the wheel tries to tuck under.
This is a safety issue and the cause should be explored further; and quickly before you make a left turn and the right rear wheel makes a right.
If the college you attend has a engineering or physics department, drop by and ask if there is anyone who is motorhead and willing to drive with you and look at the neon. This is a case of driving and looking.
Hope that you can find help.
Shuddering going around left hand corners is not a typical symptom of an unbalanced tire or of alignment.
It is a typical symptom of a loose wheel. Since they were just off, and assuming this problem just started, I would not go one more foot until I checked to be sure that lug nuts are all tight. Occasionally a tech will get interrupted in the middle of the job, just before torquing a wheel, and return to the job on the next wheel, forgetting to tighten the first. It’s inexcusable, but this problem could be so dangerous that it’s something you should definitely check for.
Based on our 1995 Neon, the problem might be a broken rear strut mount – probably on the driver’s side. I’d think someone doing an alignment would notice it, but maybe not as the damage isn’t very visible from below. Assuming things didn’t change much between 1995 and 2000, the tops of the struts are hidden behind a flexible liner on the sides of the trunk. To check, open the trunk, peel back the liner on the sides and look at the top of the wheel well on both sides. There should be a fixture on each side directly above the rear axle just inboard of the tire. It’ll probably be a little black dome with a hole in the center. If both sides look the same with a bolt visible just below the level of that center hole, the strut mounts are probably OK. If there are several inches of shiny rod with a bolt on the end sticking up out of the hole on one or both sides, the strut mount is probably broken.
Another check is to look at the car from the rear when it is parked. If the rear tires angle in sharply at the top compared to the other cars in the parking lot, either a strut mount is broken or the alignment is really bad.
Is a broken rear strut mount dangerous? Quite possibly. Even if it doesn’t kill you, it will almost certainly eat your new tire in a few thousand miles. Can you repair it yourself? Almost certainly not. How much will it cost? I dunno. Maybe $500 a side give or take a lot. For a poor college student, I suggest maybe disregarding well meaning advice to replace both struts if only one is broken. But if you do that, I’d strongly recommend that you not push the limits of stability and handling when driving this Neon.
I hope the problem is something cheaper.
i will try that thanks. but is there anyway that it could also be an axle?
it does not. thanks.
that sounds logical. i will try that too. thanks everyone!
checked the nuts. they are tight. we think its the axles.
It has already been decided that people in College cannot diagnois or fix cars. Remember book smart but can’t do the job?
My College has a dedicated auto mechanic program,we do not take in work off the street,everything goes by the book, the instructors book. If its not in the syllabus it does not get done.
the school i go to is out in the boonies. glenville state college? ever heard of it? but anyway, i understand the whole syllabus thing. we do that here with the forestry dept.