lowered mx-3 strong shudder on hard turns

Philthy · Post by **Philthy** » May 8th, 2007, 8:37 pm

My mx-3 is lowered w/ eibach springs (1.5") w/ tokico struts and whiteline sway bars. recently upgraded tires to toyo ra1
still have a strong shudder under hard turns.
Has anybody experienced this?
Alignment good, replaced axles to no avail.
wheel bearings have no play.

solo_ryder · Post by **solo_ryder** » May 8th, 2007, 9:59 pm

Had the same issue when I lowered my car, alignment fixed it though, was most likely my toe angle... Not to sure what your issue is

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » May 8th, 2007, 10:54 pm

I would say alignment too. Did you get an alignment print-out when they were finished. Look around for it and make sure is sais the specs and OEM tolerance. You might not have gotten a complete alignment.

Post by **Mooneggs** » May 9th, 2007, 9:50 am

I'm having this same issue on left hand turns... when you say the wheel bearing has no play... how do you know?

my test was to jack the car up and try and move the wheel back and forth but mine wasn't shaking... I"m still suspecting the wheel bearing though. I am going to take it off saturday and have it repacked at a local alignment shop...

unless it's something else like tie rods or something I have no idea... maybe ball joints? I'll post again after I get my wheel bearing fixed and see if that fixes the problem!

Post by **Custommx3** » May 9th, 2007, 9:54 am

Mark,

remember the vibration I had and I replaced everythign after testing the wheel bearing and that shop also said it wasnt my WB?

I got a second opinion, they said wheel bearing. I tested it myself and it had no play. Turns out minimal play can cause alot of vibration. I assume it needed alot of force to cause the small vibration.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » May 9th, 2007, 11:19 am

PS, you cannot repack our wheel bearings. They are a sealed unit, meaning it is totally encased in metal. No openings for grease after the factory has sealed it.
The vibration can also be caused by a slightly bad axle. Mine has been vibrating for a few months now and is just now starting to click when I turn. So time for Another axle. About my 20th one since I've owned the MX.

Post by **Mooneggs** » May 9th, 2007, 12:15 pm

PATDIESEL wrote:PS, you cannot repack our wheel bearings.

I could've sworn he said he repacked it last time... maybe he meant replace. Ok I know nothing about wheel bearings but if I took the spindle in to the shop what would they do... just replace it? I'm just curious... how do you fix a wheel bearing?

Philthy · Post by **Philthy** » May 9th, 2007, 1:16 pm

Thanks for all the input
A little history, previously an alignment greatly reduced it.
In fact we were so anal that we aligned it with me in it.
But maybe toe still could be it. I'll look at that again.
It seems to be rotational w/ wheel speed while loaded hard into a turn. So i doubt ball joints or tie rod ends (both have no play)
Wheel bearing has no play and no discernable noise using a stethoscope.

I am suspiscous of possibly a marginaly defective wheelbearing or hub not spinning true.

Mooneggs, the way you replace a wheel bearing is done one of two ways.
Either remove the knuckle, press out the hub, then remove a snap ring and press out the bearing.
Or
Use a hubtamer ( a tool made by OTC) and press the bearing out on the car.

I am not running a strut tower brace.
Has anybody noted a discernable difference by installing a strut brace?
What difference did you note?

I'm going to disassemble the hub and bearing and inspect.
I'll post any results.
Thanks again to all.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » May 9th, 2007, 2:55 pm

I noticed a good gain in handeling performance when I installed the strut brace, but I doubt it helps your funky shudder.

Philthy · Post by **Philthy** » May 16th, 2007, 11:03 am

Replacing hub and bearing made no difference.

onward to the alignment rack.

Philthy · Post by **Philthy** » July 26th, 2007, 1:48 am

OK problem solved! even though the problem was there with 3 different right axles, it felt like an axle. So I bought another new (not remanufactured) axle. My plan was to inspect the shaft and see if I could cut it down, respline if needed.
My thought being that the lowered stance required a shorter axle. In spite of the fact that I compressed the suspension w/out a spring in the strut and the axle spun free. When I compared the current axle (compressed) to the new one (compressed), the new one was a 1/4 to 1/2" shorter.
Install shorter axle and no shudder
Everbody, Happy Dance!

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » July 26th, 2007, 9:47 am

You must have lowered it a good bit then. Also on a note, a lowered car is harder on axles b/c of the lack of play and straighter shot between the hub and trans.

Philthy · Post by **Philthy** » July 26th, 2007, 4:13 pm

For sure. I went w/ eibach springs from corksport, I would think a lot of guys have, How far did you lower yours patdiesel. Also i'm willing to bet the axle manufactures use some longer axles that fit different applications, i bet those longer axles work fine in a stock mx-3.

Post by **Mooneggs** » July 26th, 2007, 4:39 pm

ok I thought all mx-3 axles were the same length? of course I realize there is a difference between passenger and driver's side obviously but different manufacturers have different lengths for the same side???

Philthy · Post by **Philthy** » July 27th, 2007, 11:27 am

They should be the same length. But have you ever really looked over a part interchange guide for comparring one manufacturer's part numbers to another? Especially OE to aftermarket. Sometimes a manufacturer will have one part number that crosses to multiple different part numbers in an aftermarket brand. That means some subtle factor was compromised.
For example those slightly longer axles would probably work great in a stock height MX-3

Or maybe I just got lucky and this axle is shorter by chance.