Thanks man. If its still vibrating after new axles and outer tie rod ends, I'll get a new set of rotors.

 

Well it does sound like a pad issue, personally I have a slight vibration at highway speeds due to a slightly bent wheel, combined with slotted front rotors....one simple thing to check is make sure correct pressure is on tires. Over inflated at higher speeds can cause a slight vibration. Personally check for torn boots on suspension. Check for work upper strut mounts. If its only when parking its a brake issue best bet take off rotors check thickness have them slow cut machined. Then its all about bedding in your pads, do a 20 to stop 40 to stop 60 to stop 40 to stop, 20 to stop using mild braking. That should help. Good luck

 

I thought rotors first as well. When I first encountered this issue last year I got 4 brand new rotors and a full set of brand new pads. The car was good for a month or so but the vibration during breaking came back pretty quickly. It wasn't bad, so I lived with it. I bedded in the brakes one day and it was slightly better, but still there. This is what leads me to believe it is NOT a brake issue despite the symptoms I am having.

Last year I also took the car to my old high school's shop teacher to take a look at suspension and bushings, etc. He went over the whole underside with me and everything looked pretty good. In fact most (if not all) of the bushings looked almost brand new! Plus I replaced the outer tie rod ends and all the wheel balancing and alignment stuff. That is why I am looking at axles, because I have not checked or replaced them since I owned the car. The boots on the axles are not torn (that I can see), but there may be some damage or wear internally in the cv joints.

As it turns out, it is quite hard to source axles for this car. OEM ones are $500 a piece (from what I've seen), so I went looking for aftermarket ones. Yes, I know, it is a mortal sin to put inferior axles on the car. I agree. But due to the expense of good axles and me not being sure if the axles are a problem, I finally sourced a set of new aftermarket axles for about $150. I will try them out and see if it makes a difference. If that is in fact the problem, I will be able to drive the car at least. Then, I will probably pick up a set of DSS level 0 (non race) axles for about $400 or so and replace these. Hopefully the axles are in today so I can get to this over the weekend.

 

Well, new axles are in along with new oem outer tie rod ends and a trans fluid change. Car still shakes. At this point it is going to the shop for professional diagnosis as I cannot afford to keep throwing new parts at it.

 

I didn't see ball joints mentioned. They were my problem . Extremely similar in symptoms.

 

Yea that was my next thought. I didn't take a good look, but I feel like I saw grease coming out of the driver's side lower ball joint. But in any case, it needs a front end alignment anyway, so I might as well have the shop diagnose the issue.

 

Found a guy I think I can trust to work on the car that was referred to me buy a Volkswagen guy I work with. The guy said it was a combination of the wheels being very worn out and slightly out of balance and warping of the rotors and rust/buildup on the rotor hats/wheel hub that caused the vibrations. He told me the slotted rotors wear pretty quickly and I had Hawk race pads and those rotors on the car for almost 2 years so I guess that makes sense. Additionally the car must have been in an accident because he couldn't get the rear driver's side wheel aligned 100%. It is .45 degrees out of spec. This was the same thing told to me last time I got an alignment. So the car has a fresh alignment, wheel balancing, and rotors were resurfaced. I haven't picked up the car yet, but the guy told me it is like a brand new car from when I brought it in.

 

Bumpity bump bump

Was wondering if you ever found a solution to this problem? I'm about to fire up my own steering wheel shake thread because no one seems to have a clear diagnosis.

For several years now I've been battling a high-speed steering shake. Nothing has made a huge impact (road force balancing was about the best thing I tried recently).

I'll post a link over to my thread with all the details in a minute...

 

See the post above yours. But at the end of the day, it was a combo of rust around the rotor hats, unbalanced wheels, and bad alignment.

 

Had the same problem changed everything , top mounts/lca bushing/ball joint those 3 easily overlooked by workshops as i experienced but can give u alot of funny vibrations , and last but not least engine mounts , mine looked 100% fine , but the metal "tube" inside were the bolt goes , had developed alot of play , on 2 mounts resulting in small but noticable shaking at high speed to put it mildly took alot of time and money before i reached and looked into those parts