I bought a 1994 Buick Century in August 2007 with 84,000 miles on it from a couple next door, they moved out of state. At speeds between 63 and 78 miles per hour the cars front end (I think that is where it is coming from) shakes badly and it scares me to drive on the freeways. I took it to one shop, they replaced the struts checked the tie rods (they said the tie rods were good) and realigned the front end, no help, still the same. Took it to another shop told them what I had done to it, they said it was the rotors or the tires or both. They put on new tires and rotors, flushed and changed the transmission fluid, still no change. The front end still shakes the same. Before I put any more money into the car I need your opinion and help on solving my problem with this car. It is a good running car on city streets but I need to be able to drive it on the freeways also.
I would appreciate your help and opinions.
i’m not entirely sure but it don’t think that warped rotors would make a car shake when NOT braking. Of course they would create the shake during braking but you didn’t say that was when it is happening. My experiences with shake at high speeds, especially if it gets worse and worse the faster you go, is that it was unbalanced wheels. I would try taking it to a tire place and just ask them to balance your wheels. not expensive at all and pretty fast.
Balance the wheels WHILE THEY’RE ON THE VEHICLE.
Jack up one front wheel at a time and use the cars engine to spin the wheel/tire. Be sure to set the parking brake. DO NOT EXCEED 45 MPH on your speedometer as the single wheel will be spinning TWICE that fast! If it passes that test, then: It’s “Death Wobble”…Usually only found on trucks with crude suspension and steering. The whole front end goes into a frightening oscillation and you must almost come to a stop before it ceases…Does that description fit your case?