spinner074

I have a 1988 chevy Celebrity with 56,000 original miles on it, when I hit speed over 60 mph on highway the front end starts shaking, I was told the tires were dry rotted causing the problem so i had them replaced and it still shakes. Would putting one of the rear rims on front help if it is slighly bent or will the rear start shaking? Any advice iss appriciated.

jffgin

yea I would try that i'd rather it shake in the back, But when was the last allinement you just got new tire you should get one and then let that mechanic decide. good luck

astroDZak

Any noises? How far can you turn the steering wheel defore it starts turning the tire each way?
It could be a lot of things like ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm, and I've seen the nut thats at the top of the strut come completely off before.
Somethings either loose or worn outyou need to find it. Have a friend turn the wheel and watch for excess movement. Any noises like a pop or bang when you turn tight either way and during movement of the car?

spinner074

No noise, But the car seems to wander slightly on the highway, would loose struts do that? it doesn't seem to have any play in the steering, if there is I must have gotton used to it, the wheels should turn as soon as the steering wheel is turned, right? that is how to determine if there is a problem with ball joints? what other things can I do to diagnose the problem? is it more likely the front end has a problem than a rim being slightly bent? thanks for the reply

astroDZak

I think I would take it to an alignment shop and have them look at it at this point. If it is a bad tie rod or ball joint you could end up in the ditch pretty easy.
Some shops will check your car and tell you what it needs but they're expecting you to bring it in to align it after you replace the parts. Fair enough I would say.

spinner074

I had the rims rotated and it is better now, should I still be concerned about the front end? what can I do to see if my tierods are bad? if I have the car up in the air and there is no exess play in the wheel axiswhen I try to move the wheels does that mean everthing is ok, or can I not go by that?

astroDZak

Ball joints have to be preloaded to see if their going bad. To hard to explain how to do that but testing the ball joints is easy.
Raise the carand hold the passenger side tire from turning left or right and then try forcing the drivers side tire to turn right or left and watch all the tie rods and idler arms for sloppy movement.

spinner074

well everything seems to have no play, I was driving my father's 97 cavalier and when I went back to my 88 celebrity I noticed the Cavalier's steering is tighter, now SHOULD my celebrity feel looser than a cavalier? are they not gonna feel the same anyway with everything in order? The Cavalier's steering is much more responsive, so I'm assuming its because of design differance? Can anyone explain why the Celebrity feels "more loose" ,? when the engine is off and steering lock off of course, the steering wheel can be moved a bit before feeling any real tension, is that normal?

btotheh33

I had a couple celebertys and the steering is just naturaly looser than the cavalier. The steering box has a different ratio