My car shakes when I’m driving at 30-50 mph

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AshBeech01

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7 Dec 2021
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United Kingdom
Car:
Vauxhall Corsa 1.2L 2008 50000 miles


My car shakes when I’m driving at 30-50 mph.

I feel it mainly under my seat in 4th gear and low revs 5th gear, but my phone on my dash board also shakes, it’s a powerful rumble, but no difference to noise. It doesn’t shake more when I brake/steer.

I pumped my tyres up and it didn’t help, my hubcaps had small cracks in them so I took them off but the shaking persisted. I’ve checked each tyre and there doesn’t seem to be any tread wear/uneven tread.

I’m assuming it’s my wheels as steering and braking doesn’t seem to cause the shake and if it was the engine then I’d expect the car would shake worse at high speeds or high revs which it doesn’t, it’s the worst at mid-speeds.

Anyone know what my next port of call is before I take it to a garage? What should I inspect? Cheers.
 
wheels need balanced is my first thought (maybe a weight already attached has somehow come off) for reasons I have never really understood, unbalanced wheels are always most noticeable around 40mph.
 
Thanks for the reply. Do you not normally feel the shake more in the steering wheel when wheels are out of balance? My seat is where I feel it most, and feel very little movement in the steering wheel.
 
Check every wheel still has tight wheel nuts. Hold front wheels at the Five minutes to One postion on a clock face and pull and push the tyre, can you hear or feel anything?
 
Try swapping front and back wheels. When I used to fit my own tyres I always put them on the back as I couldn't balance them.
 
AshBeech01 said:
Thanks for the reply. Do you not normally feel the shake more in the steering wheel when wheels are out of balance? My seat is where I feel it most, and feel very little movement in the steering wheel.
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Therefore a rear wheel, trying swapping rears to fronts, see if the problems moves with it.
 
AshBeech01 said:
Thanks for the reply. Do you not normally feel the shake more in the steering wheel when wheels are out of balance? My seat is where I feel it most, and feel very little movement in the steering wheel.
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Shaking through the steering wheel is usually the front wheels out of balance. Shaking through the seat is usually the rear wheels out of balance.
 
Harry Bloomfield said:
Therefore a rear wheel, trying swapping rears to fronts, see if the problems moves with it.
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cdbe said:
Try swapping front and back wheels. When I used to fit my own tyres I always put them on the back as I couldn't balance them.
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Okay, may be a silly question (apologies, haven't owned a car for too long!), but if a rear tyre is out of balance, how would swapping rears and fronts help? Surely the shaking would then just be felt through the steering wheel instead? Has this resolved issues like this in the past? Thanks
 
AshBeech01 said:
Okay, may be a silly question (apologies, haven't owned a car for too long!), but if a rear tyre is out of balance, how would swapping rears and fronts help? Surely the shaking would then just be felt through the steering wheel instead? Has this resolved issues like this in the past? Thanks
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It is called a process of elimination. If you transfer the wheels and the vibration follows the wheel, then it is the wheel which is out of balance. If you do it one side at a time, then you will know exactly which wheel is out of balance.

However, if nothing changes, then you need to look elsewhere, maybe at the wheel bearings or etc., but me being me, I would do as I always do when taking a wheel off - check the bearing, ball-joints and suspension parts, etc. for issues.
 
Harry Bloomfield said:
It is called a process of elimination. If you transfer the wheels and the vibration follows the wheel, then it is the wheel which is out of balance. If you do it one side at a time, then you will know exactly which wheel is out of balance.

However, if nothing changes, then you need to look elsewhere, maybe at the wheel bearings or etc., but me being me, I would do as I always do when taking a wheel off - check the bearing, ball-joints and suspension parts, etc. for issues.
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So if my driver seat is shaking, does that mean the off balance tyre is likely on the rear driver side? I don't know if you can feel the vibration in the passenger seat. How would I be able to differentiate which side the off balance tyre is on? I assumed you could feel the vibration in both the driver and passenger seat
 
AshBeech01 said:
So if my driver seat is shaking, does that mean the off balance tyre is likely on the rear driver side? I don't know if you can feel the vibration in the passenger seat. How would I be able to differentiate which side the off balance tyre is on? I assumed you could feel the vibration in both the driver and passenger seat
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Vibrations can travel through rigid car bodies, so it could be either rear wheel - all you can do is try what I suggested to find it.
 
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