I used to have a shudder in the car under heavy acceleration and at 100km/h cruising, it was hardly noticeable. now it has come to the point where it is unbearable at 100km/h. and i do most of my driving at 80+. the car has 4 new wheel bearings, new tyres and brand new cv shafts. It is not the wheels or tyres because it behaves exactly the same way if i change to another set of rims. the lower control arm bushes are not cracked or leaking, and all engine mounts are either new, or have replacement inserts. i had the tie rod arms check when the bearings were done, and they are also fine. (the wheel alignment is also fine)

the vibration is definitely coming from the front of the car.

i have no idea what it could be. my only other option is to change the strut top to see if it is them, but i would like to know if flogged out strut tops could cause this. also if anyone has another idea, it would be greatly appreciated

thanks, Tom

A shudder is one of the hardest things to diagnose, its not as though you could drive at 80ks+ and look under the bonnet. if the shudder is in the steering wheel, then it has something to do with steering, if its felt through the whole car, then it could be almost anything, a bad missfire could cause this, unballanced crank shaft, harmonic ballancer could be bad. just a few things i can think of right now

the shudder does not change with motor speed, only wheel speed, i could be in third at 100, or 5th at 100 coasting, and it wont do it. only if i apply enough power to maintain my speed, it will do it.

warped disks?? is it shuddering under braking too?

the shudder does not change with motor speed, only wheel speed, i could be in third at 100, or 5th at 100 coasting, and it wont do it. only if i apply enough power to maintain my speed, it will do it.

Perhaps, when in neutral or park, rev up to the RPM that would deliver enough power to maintain speed. This will rule out whether it's an engine/power/exhaust issue. Mum backed our VE Calais into a 30CM high gutter and forced the exhaust pipe up and to make contact with the chassis. At certain RPM's the exhaust would vibrate the whole car, but only a particular RPM, about 1k - 2k.

Second choice is to go to a mechanic or wherever you'd find a dyno tester and you'll most likely find out if the problem lies with the front wheels or the rear wheels. If the problem occurs on the dyno, you know the problem exists in the wheels, axel, engine or transmission. Rear wheels could be something as simple as loose wheels, wobbling. Far fetched but you never know.

auto or manual?

its a manual so its not the torque converter lol , the car also has brand new brakes all round, and its definitely nothing to do with the motor, its in the driveline or a component connected to the driveline some where, because its speed/power related. like i said, regardless of the speed of the motor, maintaining speed at 100kmh in 5th, 4th or 3rd gear makes the exact same shake. also, the car feels as if its shaking, not vibrating its like if you had someone in the seat next to you that was wrigling about, but a 200kg bloke that just found out the maccas icecream machine was turned off.

If you ease off on the throttle it stops then or continues? And if you accelerate harder? What if you drop it into neutral and coast down a hill or something?

I find it hard to imagine a 200kg guy in my front seat, leat alone jumping around bahah

if i ease off or put it in neutral it goes away. as above, if i accelerate, it only gets worse. its the worste accelerating in 3rd and 4th around 100kmh (overtaking etc).

Is there any dropoff in power when it shudders? If so, it could be a plug lead misfiring, or it could be fuel starvation.

I used to have a shudder in the car under heavy acceleration and at 100km/h cruising, it was hardly noticeable. now it has come to the point where it is unbearable at 100km/h.



A classic symptom of worn ball joints. I bet your car has done over 200,000 km.

Yep mad max, just ticked over 260000, where are the ball joints and what are they worth? Also, what tools are needed to change them (Ie, press or anything not around the home

Ball joints: They are at the bottom of the suspension towers, located just under where the drive shaft enters the wheel hub. It's the bottom pivoting point for the steering.

Been down this track with a wobbly front on a V6 TS at 245,000 km. Disc skim, new front tyres, wheel balance and alignment, tie rod replacement etc had no effect.

Anyhow, it's a bit of a job, but cheap. You need to pull the bottom suspension arms off the front (removing CV shafts and popping off the ball joints is the hardest bit) , clean them up, buy some ball joints from your friendly local parts supplier, and find a workshop to press old out/new in. While the suspension arms are off the car check the rubber bushes at both ends, a severely damaged one will also give you a wobble on acceleration.

Cost me less than $100 all up if I remember correctly.

To test: not possible, unless you release the ball joints and measure the starting/ turning torque. (Nut back on the ball joint, wind it down to the bottom, torque wrench to see what torque is needed to start the centre of the ball joint turning clockwise). Mine had no play while on the car but failed the torque test.

Fixed the wobble on the old TS anyway. Considering the weight and loads of acceleration/steering/brakes etc on these things its great that the ball joints last as long as they do. I've had to do ball joints on rear wheel drive cars at a lot less Km than this.


I figure that wear in the ball joints allows them to move slightly when you accelerate (the front wheels pull the car along, the only bits joining the force of the pull to the rest of the car are the top mount and the ball joints) or your road changes camber and throws the wheel alignment out, causing the wobble, but when coasting the alignment is ok. Maybe. lol


You do need a ball joint splitter and torque wrench for this job. I imagine a workshop would charge about 3 hours labour for this job, and buy the most expensive ball joints for you (aka Mitsu dealer. lol)

Checked your mounts? My trans one is buggered and causes a shudder and harsher then normal idle.

Just pure guesswork on anyone's part (including me) until the OP gets his hands dirty or sees a mechanic, really. lol

Other things that could be checked:

Loose steering rack mounts, the rubbers perish I've been told.
Worn tie rods - there is a ball joint under the bellows at the end of the rack. When the bellows split, dirt gets to the joint.
Worn tie rod ends.
Stuffed wheel bearings.
Stuffed CV shaft(s) that set up a vibration under load.
Top strut bearings.
Really worn dampers.
Loose bolts where the suspension strut bolts to the steering hub.

plus a few others . . . .

Just pure guesswork on anyone's part (including me) until the OP gets his hands dirty or sees a mechanic, really. lol

Other things that could be checked:

Loose steering rack mounts, the rubbers perish I've been told.
Worn tie rods - there is a ball joint under the bellows at the end of the rack. When the bellows split, dirt gets to the joint. - inspected and passed
Worn tie rod ends. inspected and pasted
Stuffed wheel bearings. all 4 have been replaced
Stuffed CV shaft(s) that set up a vibration under load. both brand new
Top strut bearings. this is what i was thinking, but i dont know how to check
Really worn dampers. posibile, but improbably. munroe gt gas @ 65,000 ks old
Loose bolts where the suspension strut bolts to the steering hub. would have been picked up during inspection (hopefully)

plus a few others . . . .

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had a rear bad shudder on my ae82 corolla. turned out the engine mounts had collapsed/come loose allowing the cv shaft to touch the cross member under acceleration. (fine when coasting/deceleration)check all your engine/gearbox mounts. otherwise might be a wheel/tyre or cv shaft out of balance