Can lowering cause vibration?

MurrrC01 · Mar 19, 2016

Sorry for the long post....

Last spring I put on brand new 18's with brand new tires, ordered them from tire rack mounted and balanced. They arent the most expensive tires, Fuzion high perf all seasons, but the car drove smoothly. Last fall the car was lowered with elevate springs. Got an alignment accordingly. I noticed shortly afterwards a slight vibration, especially when I had people riding in the back seat.

By then it was fall. I had a local shop rebalance the tires. Noticed no difference. Put my new winter tires on, mounted on OEM 16's. Rides perfectly smoothly.

Back on my 18's again, still a vibration. Took it into same shop who got a new balancer. Car came back with pretty much the same vibration, and somehow it now pulled to the left. :facepalm: Took to a different shop, had them balance and do an alignment. Car drives better, alignment is fine. Not as much vibration, but ther is still a very fine vibration that I can hear radiating through the car and feel. It's ther at highway speeds, then changes as I'm slowing down to a stop but does not go away. IT'S DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

Almost everything in the front and rear suspension is new, or within 20k miles of being new, except I have not replaced strut or shock mounts.
The tires have less than 10k miles on them.
These rims were curbed once pretty badly when I let my wife drive, so there was a little sanding, bondo, and reprinting that took place. (could this cause enough of an imbalance?)

JN2k108 · Mar 19, 2016

Where is the vibration coming from?

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jondevieonS40 · Mar 19, 2016

Do you have a custom exhaust? There's a section that crosses over the rear suspension between the cat and muffler, maybe with the lowering and especially when you have passengers in the back your feeling the exhaust pipe clattering against the suspension.

This is what I have going on anyways sounds and feels like a dang soda can rattling about especially after it warms up.

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T501 · Mar 19, 2016

Lowering does not cause vibration.

I would suspect a bent wheel of a bad c/v axle. If it is getting progressively worse and is more noticeable under acceleration, then it is an axle. Usually the passenger side axle is the one to go bad.

JK900 · Mar 19, 2016

If vibrations went away with you installing oem 16'' back on, then the culprit is likely the 18" wheels and lowering. Not saying they are bent or unbalance, but let's think natural frequency, it's that combination that vibrates. Lowering springs made the car stiffer and bigger wheels and low profile rubber also changes how much vibration the tire absorbs.

Volvo did good amount of r&d with ride height and fitting OEM wheels on their cars before putting them on sale; changing those two upsets their setting, that's just the way aftermarket tuning is. You probably gain performance with the upgrades but sacrifice on comfort.

My $0.02 coz I went a similar route, hope I didn't offend you.

JN2k108 · Mar 19, 2016

What if the wheels hub rings did not match?

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T501 · Mar 19, 2016

JK900 said:
If vibrations went away with you installing oem 16'' back on, then the culprit is likely the 18" wheels and lowering. Not saying they are bent or unbalance, but let's think natural frequency, it's that combination that vibrates. Lowering springs made the car stiffer and bigger wheels and low profile rubber also changes how much vibration the tire absorbs.

Volvo did good amount of r&d with ride height and fitting OEM wheels on their cars before putting them on sale; changing those two upsets their setting, that's just the way aftermarket tuning is. You probably gain performance with the upgrades but sacrifice on comfort.

My $0.02 coz I went a similar route, hope I didn't offend you.

In general this is true. Volvo and all other major car brands design cars for the status quo. If you modify anything you need to be aware of the pros and cons. Lowering does make the ride stiffer, you feel bumps more but it does not increase harmonic vibrations like the type you get with an out of balance wheel. Will it make one of those vibrations more noticeable? Most likely, yes. But lowering itself does not cause new vibrations.

MurrrC01 · Mar 19, 2016

Stock exhaust, and I would think it has something to do with the 18's, but then again it drove perfectly on those same wheels and tires before I lowered it. I really don't feel it much in the steering wheel, but I can feel a very continuous vibration throughout the car at highway speeds. Think of a crap shopping cart when you push it too fast and one f the wheels starts vibrating. It reminds me of that, but just ever so slight. It also radiates a low frequency rumble, and since the v50 acts like a big drum it's really noticeable. Not a hum like a bearing, more like a harmonic imbalance somewhere. Wouldn't the balancing machines reveal a bent rim?

FutureGeneration · Mar 20, 2016

A while back lowering with KW coil over to the lowest settings cause vibrations for 05 and 06 models, when i adjust the coils to be a bit higher then the vibrations were gone.
So as a result of doing alinements and balancing, the left and right axels shaft of the 05 and 06 models were bit short. there is a new OEM version that was used for 07-12 models. so after the third series of the same part, the new version installed and the vibrations were gone at the lowest setting of my coils. There was a TNN but cant remember.

Note: Summary:
VIBRATION DURING ACCELERATION FRONT WHEEL DRIVE (FWD) ONLY. A VIBRATION, ESPECIALLY WHILE IN 2ND OR 3RD GEAR, AT AN ENGINE SPEED BETWEEN 1000 AND 2000 RPM. MAY BE WORSE IN A HEAVILY LOADED VEHICLE OR WHILE DRIVING UPHILL WITH A HEAVILY LOADED VEHICLE

T501 · Mar 20, 2016

MurrrC01 said:
Wouldn't the balancing machines reveal a bent rim?

Only if it's very obviously bent or if you tell the tech to look for it. A wheel balance machine will still try to balance a bent rim. If your wheels are not bent, then I'd look at the passenger side c/v axle, but rule out the wheels first.

I recently had aftermarket wheels installed on my S60. A few months in, a vibration developed coming from the rear. Turns out the little screw that holds the rotor in place during service, was hitting the wheel just enough to keep it from sitting perfectly flat against the rotor. It was enough to cause cupping on the inside of the tires which in turn sent a vibration through the car. All I had to do to fix it was to remove the rotor screw.

Not all Volvos have that screw on the rotor so that may or may not apply to you but it's worth a look. If there's no rotor screw, and the wheels check out ok and not bent, then I would suspect the passenger side c/v axle.

MurrrC01 · Mar 20, 2016

Have I read that lowering these cars can cause the c/v axles to wear quickly? A friend and I already replaced he passenger side front over a year ago. It was throwing grease, so it was east to spot. I'm guessing this one might not be so obvious?

T501 · Mar 21, 2016

MurrrC01 said:
Have I read that lowering these cars can cause the c/v axles to wear quickly? A friend and I already replaced he passenger side front over a year ago. It was throwing grease, so it was east to spot. I'm guessing this one might not be so obvious?

People have speculated about that with no proof. I went through two (OEM) passenger side c/v axles before ever lowering my car so I think it's people's natural tendency to try and make a connection between lowering and axles where there isn't one. Since lowering I haven't had any axle issues. I'm sure I will down the road but it won't be because of lowering. It will be because these axles only last about 90k miles, if you're lucky.

MurrrC01 · Mar 22, 2016

Does the fact that I get steering wheel vibrations if gently braking help narrow it down? Should I concentrate on having the rotors checked for warping?

T501 · Mar 22, 2016

MurrrC01 said:
Does the fact that I get steering wheel vibrations if gently braking help narrow it down? Should I concentrate on having the rotors checked for warping?

That is a symptom of the front rotors being warped. Although if you were only have problems with the front rotors, the only time you would feel vibration is on braking and in the steering wheel.

JN2k108 · Mar 22, 2016

It might also be the rear bushing on the lower control arm too.

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Can lowering cause vibration?

MurrrC01

JN2k108

jondevieonS40

T501

JK900

JN2k108

T501

MurrrC01

FutureGeneration

T501

MurrrC01

T501

MurrrC01

T501

JN2k108

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