I have a 2006 Hyndai Elantra with 65K miles on it. For the past few months, I have noticed that when I get up to highway spped (over 60 MPH), It feels as though the car is strugling to accelarate. I feel a slight vibration coming from the Steering Wheel and the engine sounds like it is working extra hard. I think It may be an unbalanced wheel. The engine sounds like it is reving high, but the RPM’s ar not going above 3K and the gears are shifting when they should. My biggest concern is that I am driving a death trap. Any Ideas?
Tires, wheel bearings, brake rotors may give you that vibration, wheels lug nuts may not be tight too. However if you still driving on first set of tires, they are most likely to give you that vibration.
The balance/vibration issue and the “engine strugling,working extra hard sounds like reving high” I don’t see them connected. I would like some verification about the posibility of restricted exaust or a cat. problem.
I did replace several cats.when I was with KIA for restriction and KIA and Hyundai like to share parts.
Do all the normal stuff for vibration with paticular attention to tire issues.
I would take take of the engine struggling first. This can cause a vibration that appears to be tire related, but isn’t. Once this is fixed, then evaluate the vibration again.
Don’t go after the inexpensive vibration first. Balancing tires might seem like a cheap fix, but if it isn’t the source of the problem, then you’ve wasted your money.