Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Intermittent Front End Vibration

My 1996 SE 2.5 still has a front end vibration or shudder at highway speeds.
It first started about 3 weeks ago when driving on the interstate. I was out of town and hadn't driven it was parked for about 2 weeks. When I got back, I hit about 75 mph on a quick trip and it seemed fine. The next day I was out doing quite a bit of driving and it started again.
From this, it appears that the vibration only comes when the car is driven for a while and is hot.
I checked the CV joints, no leaks and also jacked up the front end and pulled on the tire to check ball joint play. Everthing seems tight.
I wonder if it could be the control arms bushings or tie rod ends?

Dan,

I have a 95 SE 2.5 MTX. I have been dealing with the same crap for a long time. I thought maybe it was my tires as they were pretty worn out. I just put 4 new Kumo's on and already have had 2 changed out as they were "out of round". Still, same problem. So now I'm thinkin I'm going to pay the difference and move up to some Michelin X1's on Monday to see if the Michelin's best tire can get rid of the problem. I'm sceptical though - I'm not so sure it's a tire problem. The shimmy is intermittent and varies from speed to speed and does not always manifest itself at the same speeds. I too could really use some information on this. I think it's a front end issue. I can remember this problem going back a long time and since I have had alignments, new struts, springs, brakes, wheel bearings, control arms - all over a 5 year period. Nothing helped. Monday will tell the story with the new tires. Good luck to you.

I get a slight shimmy/vibration at medium speeds 70/85mph... If it is happening I just have to hit the brakes HARD and the the vibration goes away for a few months, why??????????????????? Why this works I have no idea, through rotated tires and new tires (53,000mi)

Funny thing about mine is that the shudder only happens on "long" trips and not on "short" ones, even at highway speeds. Maybe it has something to do with some component getting hot.
Also, it only seems to be present above 50 mph. I will rotate the tires to see if it makes any difference.

I thought I was going crazy. I've gotten new tires twice and had a four wheels alighnment done several times, but with no help. I've contiuned to check air pressure and also the front end of the car to see if something was loose, but everything checks out. I have noticed that when it is windy my car shakes @ highway speeds a great deal more. One way or another I'm going to solve this mistery.

It's possible that your front rotors are warping on your brakes ....

I had the same thing a while back and had to have them replaced. A shop told me that you might get to turn today's rotors about 2x before having to replace them ... The disc brakes get much hotter and the rotors probably aren't good enough to last for more than 60-80K miles. That has been my experience so far with the Contour.

Make sure that if you rotate your own tires, you use a torque wrench to properly seat the lug-nuts. You can buy a good one for $25-$30 at Sears .. or if someone else rotated your tires, make sure they don't overtorque them.

The rotors will go faster if your wheels are put on too tightly.

my 95

The day I test drove my Contour before buying it, it shimmied horribly when braking from 40mph+ speeds. I had them turn the rotors and it's been good.

Mine is pretty bad above 50 mph, enough to take the car back home to get my other one. But only after it is driven for a while, not on short trips. Maybe it is the brakes after they heat up. Other thoughts are the control arm bushings or inner CV joint(s).
As for the vibration going away after hard braking, it might be the calipers sticking.

So I just went back to my local tire dealer yesterday to say "Hey, these Kuhmo's are not round - there not square - but there not round." See earlier post for details. Anyway, I just upgraded to Michelin X1's and while they were doing the work they did a complete front end inspection - no problem. As well, they jacked the back of the car up using the passenger side sway bar(VERY STUPID MOVE). At least they admitted it although it's very noticable. They bent the bar, my steering wheel is very off and you can see the back wheel actually sits crooked. As of right now they are replacing the part and doing a full alignment. I'll let you know if these top of the line tires fix the shimmy problem - bet they won't. I know my car and I don't think it's rotors, tires or rims. The shimmy is to inconsistant. If it was any of the above you would expect shimmy at the same speeds under the same conditions(I know, you can probably shoot a lot of holes in that statement). Anyway, I'm really hoping the new Michelins AND and a new alignment fix the problem but I'm not holding my breath.
Does anyone think it could be poor quality wheel bearings installed by Midas?
Concerned in Calgary,

Probably not poor quality wheel bearings, but possibly poor quality installation.
Let us know!