Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Highway Vibrations...again!!!

Has anyone out there found a solution to the vibrations that Contours/Mystiques are prone to at highway speeds? I know Ford put a TSB out a while back but it did not show a fix to the problem...it just described certain things to try and if nothing worked it suggested that there was no fix available. It also stated that a fix was coming soon. My 95 SE ATX has this symptom and as far as I can remember...it always has...it's annoying and I want to fix it. It usually starts at about 65 mph and will be present until about 80 or so. I feel the vibration in the steering wheel and througout the body of the car (and this is NOT under braking conditions).

If anyone can help me out I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,
Tom in NJ

Vibrations? Prone to?

My car is rock solid stable at any speed.

I would look into having the tires balanced (swapping the fronts side to side may help too), alignment done, and control arm bushings & tie rods inspected.

Just sounds like a bad tire balance to me. My car is a 98 SVT and I find its silky smooth until I flung one of the weights off the rim racing someone on the highway, then it started to shake. Rebalanced the tire and all was fine again....

Maybe its a tire going bad too...shifted belts

Three possible solutions:
1 Keep under 65mph
2 balance tires
3 get new tires

A likely first suspect would also be any tire that has been repaired without being re-balanced.

my tires are balanced, and my wheels are straight, but my control arm bushings are jacked up on the front passenger side. Whenever I am not accelerating or decelerating on the highway, this produces a mean wobble in the steering wheel. The play that exists can also be felt as a slight lump in the steering wheel when turning slightly at about 25-50mph. This has made my car feel unstable and numb, I can't tell if I hit a bumpy section of highway or if the vibration is getting worse unless I apply the brakes or accelerate to pull the control arm up agains one side of the destroyed bushing. This is a stupid problem to have, I should get the control arms from BAT, but I want to pay off my car first.

Anyhow, check your front control arm bushings.

I'd bet it's your tires. I've had this problem with my 'tour and my wife's Montana (maybe it ain't really a minivan )

After much biting, scratching and general getting the run around I finally found a shop that admitted I had tires out-of-round on both vehicles. Since they were replaced things have been nice and smooth.

Good luck with it. From my experience, most shops won't admit to tires being out-of-round. I guess they don't always get their money back from the manufacturer or something like that.

no vibes that i remember feeling....only problem my car has is tired struts and cheap tires

Teal Tom in NJ is still alive! Sorry to hear you're still having the problem. I remember talking to you about it at least 3 years ago. Oh well, at least you've pawned it off on the wife!

Jim Harris
E1

try rotating the tires, front left with right rear and front right with left rear, be sure they are inflated to the proper pressure and see if the problem persists.

If the problem goes away its either a tire imbalance, or a defect in the tire tread causing the tire to no longer be concentric.

If the poblem persists then it may be a loose tie rod end in the steering linkage, worn front axle bearings, or possibly air entrapped in the hydraulic steering actuator wich should be able to be fixed by filling the power steering resivor to its proper level, lift the front tires off the ground and with the engine running, transsion in park or neutral and parking brake set, turn the steering wheel lock to lock several times to give the steering actuator several full travel cycles.

I am having the same problem, only vibrates on highway between 65-80 mph. anything above or below is fine. I was wondering if warped rotors could cause it.