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Thread: Brake vibration at highway speed and wobble from driveshaft inner bearing.

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    Brake vibration at highway speed and wobble from driveshaft inner bearing.

    I took my car in for diagnosis and my brake rotors were warped...again. They gave me back the car it was all great until I went on the highway. Brake vibration is still there. So I jacked the car up and found that the passenger side driveshaft wobbles side to side at the output shaft bearing. I took it to the dealer and they admit there is vibration but they say it is normal. I asked them for the specs for the axle play and they said they don't have any specs for it and that I'm welcome to take it to another dealer. Another saga with Mitsubishi is on....



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    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    Describe the vibration. What does it feel like, and exactly when does it happen?

    And what did they claim to do to fix it?

    How many miles on the car? What brake maintenance has been done? How old are the tires?

    The play in your axle is probably totally normal. That's likely not your problem. But, if you answer the above questions, some of us might have some ideas for you.
    Simplify and add lightness.

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    I'm at 60k km's. WhenI brake at highway speed I get bad vibration felt in the steering wheel and brake pedal. It's similar to warped brake rotors. Also I notice a humming noise when I drive that changes/lessens when take a curve in the road at speed...ie at 60km/h or more. I also notice lately the car jerks back and forth a bit a low speed...similar to the jerk you get if the car moves a bit on slight incline while in park and you let the brakes off. I feel that the dealer does not want to get involved in my warranty claim as I have on springs spacers in the front, sway bar in the back and air bags. So I will try again at another dealer next week after I remove some of the items except the sway bar. It definitely feels like a wobble/vibration from the axle. I had a nissan that had the same problem before. When I had the transmission swapped out at a transmission shop after my warranty ran out... the mechanic told me there should be no side to side play at the output shaft bearing. I'm the original poster way back when... that shared my good results with the forum. I still have to say the spacers are the best thing I could have done to the car to make it drivable.

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    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    Brake rotors don't actually warp all that easily. What most people call "warped rotors" is actually uneven brake pad deposits on the rotor. Brake engineers explain this better than I ever could:
    http://www.stoptech.com/technical-su...nd-other-myths

    If you think that might be your problem, start with an "Italian tune-up". USE the brakes, HARD every now and then! Basically go through a standard "brake pad bedding" procedure. Make a few good hard stops, get some heat into the brakes. Then drive and let the brakes cool. Maybe do it again. Then let them cool overnight, and that should do it. But, if you've got "cementite" build-up (read the article), you may need to replace your rotors.

    It's also possible that you're talking about two entirely different problems. Vibration when you touch the brakes... probably the above. Vibration when you're just driving? That's usually a tire or wheel problem. That's why I asked how old your tires were. Old tires can sometimes wear funny and cause vibrations exactly like what you're talking about. It's possible that you could just have a tire out of balance. (and on a lightweight car with lightweight wheels, it doesn't take much)

    Lastly, cheap cars have cheap shocks/struts. A "driving enthusiast" will very much notice as the shocks start to degrade. 20-30k miles (you can do the conversion), the car will definitely not feel as crisp as it did new. And, as far as I'm concerned, factory shocks are beyond dead by 50-60k miles. On the Mirage, the rear shocks seem to go "flat" a lot quicker than the fronts. Having shocks that have lost their edge and are "mushy" will make any sort of tire vibration more noticable because the soft shock will allow that little bump to become a bigger bump, and set up an oscillation. If it gets bad enough there will be a certain speed where the oscillation amplifies itself and things start feeling outrageously bad.

    So, there ya go. Brake problem... could be as simple as re-bedding your pads. Worst case, new pads and rotors should cure it.

    Other vibration problem... typical stuff: tires and shocks.

    That's my take. This comes from 25+ years of playing with cars, a lot of if with Miatas, which are lightweight and sensitive to vibration issues, just like the Mirage.

    I think you're chasing your tail with the axle. The axle is held in place by a circlip. It's NOT 100% "tight", there's gonna be a slight wiggle if you pull in/out on it. If you've got any ROTATIONAL play in it, that's a problem.

    Maybe Fummins will chime in and back me up on some of this. He seems like a pretty experienced professional mechanic. I'm just a hobbyist. We've got some other experienced folks here, as well.
    Simplify and add lightness.

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    The wiggle is when you try to push up or down/forward back...it's not it out wobble... the output shaft bearing is worn.

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    Still Plays With Cars Loren's Avatar
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    Your mileage is really low for that sort of problem, but anything is possible.
    Simplify and add lightness.

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    On my Nissan I changed the whole front suspension trying to find the root cause of the vibration. It was when I was changing parts that I grabbed the axle and felt it wobble and had a 'ah-ha' moment. On the nissan the axle didn't wobble until I popped the lower control arm ball joint. On some cars it is necessary to do that to feel the wobble...some cars the suspension holds the axle and keeps it from wobbling unless there is torque applied from driving.



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