Malibu Maxx front-end vibration while braking

Klim
Sat, 21 Dec 2013 06:29:11 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

For a few years, I have noticed an undesirable vibration in my car’s front end. It started as a slight problem but continues to occur and is getting more noticeable. The vibration occurs when braking on a slight downhill before making a right turn. I looked for similar issues, but did not see anything similar after a brief search.

Last fall, I took the vehicle to a mechanic (Dealership service dept.) in a land far away. I left the car for a weekend and returned to retrieve it the following Monday. Initially the mechanic did not find anything after looking at tires, struts, joints, maybe… They wanted to bill me for 1/2 hour of time because they had to pay him to look at my car. I was not amused. I insisted that they find a problem and charge me more

I hallucinated that I could persuade the sales person of a problem and that they would be able to describe it better than I to a mechanic. So I insisted that someone drive with me to ‘feel’ the vibration. I succeeded in that I was able to re-create the vibration, but only slightly. The vibration was not easy to localize where in the car it was originating. Sales person gave his testimony to the mechanic. The mechanic spent another hour of holistic examination and concluded that a grease job was in order on a ??? maybe it was a spline shaft in line with the steering column. I bought the grease job, but that shop has earned an anti-customer.

This evening, I just returned from a week of traveling for work, which involved lots of driving. I can re-create the problem by braking. Starting at highway speed, 55 - 70 mph, braking feels like a bumping on the brake pedal and steering column around 1-time per wheel revolution. Saying that another way, the vibration is faster at highway speed, but reduces in frequency (slower bumping/vibration) as the car slows. The vibration peaks while decelerating from 40 mph to 30 mph, then goes away. I should also mention that I typically brake in a straight line, then apply slight power while turning.

What is the group’s recommendations for next steps?

10 posts - 6 participants