Wobble Problem Mystery

NVH (Noise and Vibration Harshness) concerns are the worst to diag and the most trial and error based. I HATE THEM! lol I hope you can figure it out buddy, I'd be over to help if i was close enough lol :canada:
 
Thanks again. You sure are right about the difficulty diagnosing the problem part. What a nightmare!
 
See if those rear lower control arm bolts are torqued to spec. Also, it can be as simple as a loose lug nut.
 
Possibly. Lugnut(s). It doesn't hurt to check.
 
Plus, a loose sway bar will not cause any wobble at slow speeds. But more of a noticeable audible clanking sound. What was the wheel spacer incident? I don't recall.
 
I put on my winter steel wheels with the spacers on. There was no open space for the protruding OEM bolts to fit so they touched the rims and bent them. Now I'm really not sure how much the wheels actually bent though. Maybe it was a different problem altogether that caused the wobbling in the steel wheels. The same problem that is causing the wobbling in my Sumner rims.

Anyway, spacers are off and are a non factor.
 
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I raised the car up and checked the rotation of tires to see if there was any oscillation movement. I did 2 checks. First looking down at the wheel as it turned and second looking straight at the profile of the wheel. All of the wheels had some movement when looking down. 2 very small with a variance of maybe 1 mm, the other two maybe just a touch more. Seemed insignificant to me. It was when i looked at the profile of two of the wheels\tires that i saw more significant varience in the oscilations. The front left and rear right had a spot that varied at least 3 to 4 mm. This immediately made me question if the wheel is actually hub centered. Also, very notable was that the right rear tire did not spin as freely as the left rear. There was a faint on and off rubbing sound as if the drum brakes were touching at one spot as the wheel turned. This caused the tire to slow down the spin about twice as fast as the other rear wheel.

These observations seem to be pointing to the hub centering as a possible culprit. The right rear drum brake is something I will also check into but the rubbing was so light that I doubt it is causing the wobbling.
 
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I forgot to mention that I also checked each wheel's movement by pushing and pulling on it to see if there was any play. Nothing at all.
 
One final observation was the rear springs. I guess I have never really paid any attention to what they looked like under the car but, as I was inspecting everything around the wheel closely I looked at the springs and saw they were very tightly packed together. Perhaps they were always like this, perhaps thus is new because of the OEM shocks being worn down. ? Both sides look identical. Here is a pic with the car on the ground and one when the car is raised.

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I have read through this several time and I am at a loss. Other than finding someone nearby with wheels that will fit and swapping for a short test drive.
 
The Acura CSX Type S wheels have a bore diameter of 64.1 mm. I'm pretty sure the hub bore for the 2012 LX sedan is also 64.1 mm. Can someone confirm this?
 
You are lowered right Pauly? Springs can be made where the coils touch like in the pics, shocks don't support any weight its all on the spring. Oscillations up and down are what burn out shocks and with a car lowered on factory shocks can wear out faster but that's felt as a bouncy ride more so. Every tire will have some various oscillations when spun, to me if one spot was particularly "protruding" as it's spun then i may be suspect about the ride quality. Have you tried doing a rotation front to rear to see what it does?

I hate to say but unless you put your tires on a road force balancer, slight vibrations may not be as prevalent and easy to see to the naked eye. Being stiffer suspension is going to transfer more vibrations so it's a compromise in handling vs ride quality.

As far as the brakes, I'm not sure if the LX is drum or disc rear brake (assume drum since you seem to reference it) but you want a slight drag. To much gap between brake shoes/drum can cause a low pedal symptom and less stopping power as a result.

Wish i could tell you to pull into my shop one afternoon lol would be so much easier and quicker to figure this out lol.

Is the wobble an up/down or side to side feel?
What speeds do you feel it most/least?
Temp most noticeable? (Colder as stated previous)
Front/rear? (Been focused on rear)
Feel anything shift/different during turns?
Is it more noticeable during accel/braking/cruising?
Windows up or down make a difference?

Ill just keep posting questions in hopes to help eliminate areas. The more info you can asses and relay the better we can help. Like Nix stated, swapping to a known good set is the best way to eliminate wheels/tires but that isn't so easy to do for most people.
 
Really appreciate your input.

Yes, car is lowered on Eibach Pro Kit springs. The wobble is more of an up and down movement. Yes, wobble felt more in the rear. Felt more at slow speeds. The wobble is hardly noticeable at all once speed builds up. The faster the car goes the less noticeable it is. No shake in steering wheel at all. Also, when I let go of the steering wheel the car goes straight. I'm thinking that the car would pull hard one way or the other if the alignment was off and causing a problem. I went to check the tire air pressure this morning. All of the tires were at 32 lbs. They felt a bit soft to me while driving, so I put 2 more pounds in (34). Today, the wobble was less noticeable. I wonder why most mornings it's really noticeable and some mornings not that much. The temperature was pretty cold last night so I was expecting a significant wobble this a.m., but not that noticeable.

This week I'm going to take it into the garage to have the balance thoroughly checked on these wheels/tires. I'm starting to think that maybe one of the wheels is bent. I can't understand how the wobble could be different at different times/days if it's a bent wheel though.

The mystery continues. To be continued....
 
Darkout said:
You are lowered right Pauly? Springs can be made where the coils touch like in the pics, shocks don't support any weight its all on the spring. Oscillations up and down are what burn out shocks and with a car lowered on factory shocks can wear out faster but that's felt as a bouncy ride more so. Every tire will have some various oscillations when spun, to me if one spot was particularly "protruding" as it's spun then i may be suspect about the ride quality.
Click to expand...

What do you mean when you say you suspect "ride quality"?
Do you mean that if my shocks are worn out (which they are) that this may have some sort of effect? Perhaps one shock is "stuck" or not working as well as the other so may be causing the problem. ?
 
Yea the more visible movement seen free spun usually translates to more vibrations when in contact with a road surface but not always. Suspensions have a lot to do with ride quality and how well a car can take tire vibrations without transferring them into the cabin. If a shock is worn out then more vibrations will be transferred through to the cabin since the shock isn't preforming up to "par". If you say you have worn out shocks then this might be a reason contributing to the problem. The car works as a system in a whole, when you have a bad tire for while (or lowered/lifted/modified) that causes added stress your shock (as you say, or bearings or bushings) will go out quicker. If this is left alone too long then the added vibrations the shock absorbed transfer through to say control arm bushings/bearings/springs that in time will weaken sooner. Not only premature wear but the initial problem will worsen as each component starts to wear more.

I've had buddies from northern states where it snows (not around my neck of the woods) where condensation freezes on the shock/strut shaft and causes a locked up condition. Pretty sure a bad seal is the cause. Easily noticeable since you have no suspension travel until it thaws. Don't think this is the cause for you though.

I would think about replacing them if you know they aren't preforming properly. I have a feeling that this may be one of the problems contributing.
 
Replace the rears at least since the are easily done at the house(have not done them but normally rear shocks are easy) and see what happens. That would be my first plan of attack other than making sure the wheels/tires aren't putting to much road force on the suspension.
 
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