To me, few car problems are more annoying than wheel vibration. There are many factors that can contribute to vibration, and while some are no big deal, others shouldn’t be ignored.
Speed dependent vibration
The most common cause of a speed-dependent vibration is wheel balance. Wheels are balanced with weights on the outside of the lip, or stuck on the inner barrel with adhesive. A sudden wheel vibration at higher speeds may mean you’ve lost a wheel weight causing it to rotate out-of-balance. Even if you haven’t lost a weight, regular tire wear will facilitate the need for regular re-balancing every so often. Many tire shops offer this as a free service if you purchased the tires through them. It’s a good place to start when it comes to wheel shake. If you switch the position of the wheel on the car and the noise travels with it, you’ll most likely need a re-balance.
Speed + Turn Dependent Noise & Vibration
Wheel bearings make a pretty specific noise best described as a ‘womp,'’ or a low grinding noise. This noise will increase in relation to speed and stay persistent even when shifted into neutral. The wheel bearing will also make more noise when you place more weight on it. For example, a bad driver's side bearing would get louder with a hard right turn. Volvo wheel bearings often last 150,000 miles or more, these are supplied by FAG. Some results may vary though based on driving conditions.
Intermittent Vibration w/Hot rotors
This is a new one I’ve recently gotten to experience. At highway speed I was getting a large and low frequency vibration. It would go away after just a few minutes. At first I presumed it was a failing CV joint. I checked the boots on either side for rips or tears and found everything to be in order. Only after another flare up did I realize that my passenger side brake disc was super hot. In fact, it was hot enough to not just sizzle a spritz of water but turn it directly to steam. As it turned out, the brake caliper on that side was sticking. This was really unfortunate as I only had the caliper installed for 10 months, so it failed rather quickly. In the end, this costed about $280 in related damage. The disc cracked and so the only reasonable solution was to source new discs and pads for the front axle. I sourced Bosch Quietcast pads and Zimmerman rotors, an excellent combination as expected.
