06-30-2013, 10:29 PM
So I recently did a whole bunch of work to the wheels on my Tracker, I had a shop strip the peeling chrome and powder coat them. They came out pretty good, at least a lot better than the peeling chrome looked.
During the wheels being refinished, I rebuilt the front calipers and cleaned and painted the rear brake drums, I also re adjusted the rear brakes.
After I put everything back together and installed the refinished wheels and tires (I had a shop mount the tires and balance them) the car is shaking when driving above 30 mph, to be more precise: the steering wheel has a left to right motion that wasn't there before. Then when I apply the brakes, it sometimes shakes a lot and sometimes it barely shakes, as I increased driving speed to around 60 mph the vibration on the steering wheel is hardly noticeable but if I go up to around 70 mph the vibration "sometimes" becomes very noticeable.
If I drive around 40 mph and apply the e-brake slowly, the car shakes a lot.
Since this, I have put brand new rotors and pads on the front, but the issue remains. Judging by the shaking when I apply the e-brake I am thinking I might have a warped drum in the back but I'm not sure. Before I go ahead and keep buying more parts for this car I was wondering if someone has any ideas about what I should check for and in what order. Sorry if the facts are scattered around on this post but I've been trying to diagnose this while driving and my thoughts about this issue are honestly very disorganized at this point.
Something else worth mentioning is that the car is lowered through cut springs which PO sold to me as "lowering springs" since I've had this issue I took a closer look at all 4 springs and there's evidence of them being cut, probably with a cutting wheel on a grinder. However keep in mind that the car wasn't driving like this before I did all the work with the wheels and brakes. I also had it on jack stands for about a week when the wheels were being redone, the front was jacked up from under the frame but I had the back sitting on the rear axle (not on the differential but on the sides, each jack stand a third of the way in) I am wondering if by doing this I could have bent the rear axle
During the wheels being refinished, I rebuilt the front calipers and cleaned and painted the rear brake drums, I also re adjusted the rear brakes.
After I put everything back together and installed the refinished wheels and tires (I had a shop mount the tires and balance them) the car is shaking when driving above 30 mph, to be more precise: the steering wheel has a left to right motion that wasn't there before. Then when I apply the brakes, it sometimes shakes a lot and sometimes it barely shakes, as I increased driving speed to around 60 mph the vibration on the steering wheel is hardly noticeable but if I go up to around 70 mph the vibration "sometimes" becomes very noticeable.
If I drive around 40 mph and apply the e-brake slowly, the car shakes a lot.
Since this, I have put brand new rotors and pads on the front, but the issue remains. Judging by the shaking when I apply the e-brake I am thinking I might have a warped drum in the back but I'm not sure. Before I go ahead and keep buying more parts for this car I was wondering if someone has any ideas about what I should check for and in what order. Sorry if the facts are scattered around on this post but I've been trying to diagnose this while driving and my thoughts about this issue are honestly very disorganized at this point.
Something else worth mentioning is that the car is lowered through cut springs which PO sold to me as "lowering springs" since I've had this issue I took a closer look at all 4 springs and there's evidence of them being cut, probably with a cutting wheel on a grinder. However keep in mind that the car wasn't driving like this before I did all the work with the wheels and brakes. I also had it on jack stands for about a week when the wheels were being redone, the front was jacked up from under the frame but I had the back sitting on the rear axle (not on the differential but on the sides, each jack stand a third of the way in) I am wondering if by doing this I could have bent the rear axle
1996 Geo Tracker, CAMI, 16 valve, 5sp, 4x4, soft top, 2 door, no a/c