Vibration from front end at highway speeds

yatzee

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Location
Montreal, Qc
TDI
see sig
Update: I have found a torn left front control arm bushing. I'll be putting the arms back onto the car tomorrow and will then be roadtesting it on Monday. I'm optimistic that this will solve my issue
 

yatzee

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Location
Montreal, Qc
TDI
see sig
Here are the pics. I couldn't see the torn bushing with the arm in the car due to a fairly deep pocket on the subframe (unlike the MK4s). A quick roadtest showed no vibration, but i'll report back after i've done 1000 kms or so. I'm pretty shocked that the bushing is that bad after only 100k (60k miles)



 

yatzee

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Location
Montreal, Qc
TDI
see sig
I've now done about 700 kms in the car and i can confirm that my vibration is gone! I'd suggest that the OP gives this a try.
 

Teamzarz

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Location
FloriDUHH
TDI
2009 JSW
Ok so slight hijack here, I just replaced a few front end components on my 2009 JSW, tie rods (inner and outer), ball joints, and swaybar links.

I was chasing clunky steering, a weird sort of wallowing when changing lanes and I run over a reflector, and an annoying vibration at highway speeds that comes on around 60-70mph.

My fixes have cured the steering clunk and the turn in is much better. The strange wallowing/tracking issue when changing lanes and vibration persist. I am wondering if this could be related to the LCA bushings as well.
 

roni024

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2007
Location
Syracuse, NY
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SEL DSG
When you say wallowing, are you referring to the car kinda steering itself, almost to the point of where it feels like you're not controlling the car?

If so, I had that issue. Brought the car to the dealer under warranty, and they ended up replacing the LF strut and mount. It's been a few months now and it seems to have taken care of my issue.
 

redbarron55

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Location
Navarre, FL.
TDI
2012 Touareg TDI Executive
I have found that a lot of front end problems are related to weak LCA bushings.
One difficult to find that put me there was a vibration or oscillation in the steering wheel with no corresponding vibration is the car itself.
Weal rear LCA bushings were the problem that let the wheels shift left and right (through the steering rack tying them together) turning the steering wheel.
I replaced tires, road force balanced replaced front brake discs and finally finally as a desperation effort changed the rear LCA bushings.
 

Teamzarz

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Location
FloriDUHH
TDI
2009 JSW
When you say wallowing, are you referring to the car kinda steering itself, almost to the point of where it feels like you're not controlling the car?

If so, I had that issue. Brought the car to the dealer under warranty, and they ended up replacing the LF strut and mount. It's been a few months now and it seems to have taken care of my issue.
Yes! very much like this, where i get was feels like bump steer but the wheel doesn't move and the car tracks like Im driving in grooves!

Also in response to the strut issue I noticed today there is a tear in my passenger side shock boot but it doesn't appear that there is a visible issue and that side rebounds normally.
 

Sojourner

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2019
Location
Louisville, KY
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SEL Premium
I'm having the same problem. Would this be something a dealer would even be willing to fix/look at for free in a used car?
 

Teamzarz

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Location
FloriDUHH
TDI
2009 JSW
I'm having the same problem. Would this be something a dealer would even be willing to fix/look at for free in a used car?
Possibly but not very likely. Most dealers want to charge 100 bucks for a diagnostic even if it's only to hook up their software and read some numbers and regurgitate what the TSB tells them to say.
 

roni024

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2007
Location
Syracuse, NY
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SEL DSG
I strongly recommend checking your suspension. The "stuck-in-a-rut" feeling exactly describes what I experienced before have the strut replaced.
 

BroncoAZ

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Flagstaff, AZ
TDI
2015 Touareg Lux, 2015 Passat 6MT, 2009 Jetta (long gone), 2011 Touareg (bought back 02/18)
Mine developed a significant pulsation in the front brakes over the past couple months, so I decided to replace the front rotors and pads. The old rotors had some slight grooving that could be felt but not really seen, runout measured .002 and the pads were still +50%. I purchased the Zimmerman rotors and Akebono ceramic pads from FCP Euro for $164. Everything installed easily and after bedding seemed to drive smoothly on the highway. My wife took the car to Phoenix today and reported it drove very smooth with no vibrations. I hadn’t noticed a difference in the vibration when rebalancing/rotating the tires the last couple go arounds, so I was thinking rotors, wheel bearings, half shafts, etc. It looks like the rotors were the culprits. I’ll be driving it to Phoenix and back myself this week, so hopefully it’s all smooth for me as well.

On the last rotation I marked the tires again, 1500 miles since the rotation and they haven’t moved on the rims this time. When I had the tires off doing the brakes I checked the weights, my right front has 3.5 oz currently which seems high for a passenger car tire. The rest of the wheels on my car are under 1 oz.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/vw-brake-kit-zimmerman-kit-1k0615301aakt1
 
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Funguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Location
Front Range of Colorado
TDI
2015 Golf Sportwagen dsg and 2015 Passat 6 M/T
That sounds great Bronco. Glad you got relief from that shimmy. I find that it takes a lot of joy out of long drives...
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
zimmerman rotors are such a killer deal from FCP.

I have zero intention of using their lifetime warranty (you pay shipping back to them, they send out new ones) but its nice to know it's there.
 

tdi54

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2010
Location
California
TDI
1981 Rabbit Diesel(sold), 2009 Jetta TDI MT(sold)2010 Jetta TDI MT, 2015 Jetta TDI SEL, DSG, 99 Ford F 350 PSD Dually, 2016 BMW X5 xDrive35d, 2016 535d
zimmerman rotors are such a killer deal from FCP.
I bought the same rotors/pads from FCP, and so far they have performed great.
 

Upnorth88

New member
Joined
Jan 25, 2020
Location
Minnesota
TDI
12 jetta tdi
Ok honestly I had a problem like this too. Was real busy getting to work so couldn't give the car a look over. Turned out the tires were all 6 psi low and the rear rims had over an inch of ice and snow frozen on the inside. Drives smooth as freshly frozen lake in the fall.
 

BroncoAZ

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Flagstaff, AZ
TDI
2015 Touareg Lux, 2015 Passat 6MT, 2009 Jetta (long gone), 2011 Touareg (bought back 02/18)
Mine is still rolling smooth on the new brakes, about 13K miles on them now. I have noticed that when I get the tires rotated and balanced every 5K miles, the tires end up out of balance and I have to take the back in a couple days, then they are fine for the next 5K. Last time two tires were off by 1/2 oz after being balance two days prior, but they are not moving on the wheels.

I’m likely due for new tires in the next 5-10K, when they reach 4/32” on the inner edge they can be warrantied. I’m not sure if I’ll stick with the same Pirellis or try something different. Overall the Pirellis have been pretty good, I like the way the car handles corners and winter weather, but they are a little noisy and stiff on rough roads.
 
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740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
balanced every 5K? shops must love you!

So far we have about 20K on the front zimmerman rotors and about 8-10K on the rear rotors (with stock pads) and no pulsing as of yet, fingers crossed.
 

BroncoAZ

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Flagstaff, AZ
TDI
2015 Touareg Lux, 2015 Passat 6MT, 2009 Jetta (long gone), 2011 Touareg (bought back 02/18)
Discount Tire does a free rotate and balance every 5K with any tire purchase, I’m not paying for it each time.
 

johnsTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2019
Location
Canada,ont North America were Neighbours to usa
TDI
2012 Highline
Aluminum wheels are trash on vw's!
Oh really.? I have owned my 2012 VW TDI for about a year now with the 'original factory aluminum wheels the car came with back then' & have had no issues to date.. wheel alignment is Perfect & strait as a an arrow with 0 signs of any what so ever shakes just because your experiencing issues dont mean you can say all VW aluminum wheels are trash.
 

johnsTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2019
Location
Canada,ont North America were Neighbours to usa
TDI
2012 Highline
John, i had a tdi right up until the turbo gave out ended up scraping the heap and bought a 2016 toyota tundra 60 thou.K's :D
Glad to hear You got a 'Toyota Tundra ' but Toyota,Honda,Nissan Just because there Japanese doesn'nt mean they are or have been Perfect neither they are reliable vehicles but like any make or model they too have there recalls & bulitens & issues no different than anyone else but too point fingers at someone like VW & say all there VW aluminum rims are trash.! is not right to say the least especially when God Knows VW as been through alot on dealing with there own emission scandal. & hey i gotta handed to VW i will give them credit because they actually put in the effort to make things right afterword for there customers vehicles & there still Open & selling cars today. it shows they actually cared for there customers & made the effort & changes they needed to make things right, so theres no need to put VW down like that. Just Saying. Good Luck on your Tundra.
 
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