Vibration from front end: control arm bushings?

My car is a 2011 GT with 85k miles.

I am getting a vibration at highway speeds. It disappears at times but always returns within a couple seconds. I thought one of the wheels was out of balance so I had all four rebalanced. That smoothed it out some but the vibration is still there. I am now leaning toward front end control arm bushings or possibly tie-rods.

Does anyone know of test I could do to determine if it is in fact the control arm bushings as I suspect?

Is your car lowered?

If so, have you installed an adjustable Upper Control Arm? Have you checked the pinion angle?

The car is lowered with Steeda Sport Springs (not a huge drop) but no, I have not installed an adjustable upper. Car has been lowered for years and this issue has recently surfaced...and I'm feeling the vibration through the steering wheel (as well as the whole car).

Could it be the EPAS issue?


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@ 1:23
Are your tires exhibiting any unusual wear patterns?

If the checks above don't pan out take your car into one of the tire places and have your rims/tires checked. Your tires may be balanced but your rims could be out-of-round. I found this on a set of aftermarket rims that I could never seem to maintain balance on. When I had them spun at the tire shop I found they were out of round (manufactured that way I suspect) so I sold them and bought an OEM set second hand; found out they were damaged/out of round too so I sent them back and finally just bought brand new. No out-of-round issues now...3 sets later.

Morale of the story. Buy new/take-off/known good or be prepared to keep paying over and over and over.

No unusual tire wear and last time I had the car up, I checked the tie rods and they're fine. I guess I can pop it up in the air and do a visual and "wiggle" check for the bushings, but that rim issue has me thinking...

Had the car on the highway yesterday and didn't notice it nearly as much as I did three days prior. I have a set of winter rims so if I feel ambitious, I could always throw the fronts on and take it for a spin to determine if the rims are the issue. Thank you for all the responses.

Give the wheels a spin when you jack it up. Look for runout at the rim and on the tread.

I had the same type of mystery vibration happening. When I put my new tires on they ended up finding one of the bands that hold the TPMS (tire pressure sensors) was broken.

Kobie said:

I had the same type of mystery vibration happening. When I put my new tires on they ended up finding one of the bands that hold the TPMS (tire pressure sensors) was broken.

Click to expand...

Hmmmm......

I forgot to say, check the rear tires also. Sounds strange, but an out-of-round tire in the rear can vibrate the front.

DieHarder said:

Morale of the story. Buy new/take-off/known good or be prepared to keep paying over and over and over.

Click to expand...

Buy nice or buy twice!

Knock on wood, but...

I am actually leaning toward some flat spotting on my tires right now. Due to not going too many places because of COVID right now, and then taking my convertible when I do, the GT has been sitting in the garage for weeks at a time without moving. Temps have been in the 80's-90's. The reason I suspect this is I have been taking the GT wherever I go for the past several days (analyzing how things felt and being hyper sensitive to steering, braking, etc.). This has included some highway driving as well. I had noticed a decrease in the vibration the past couple times I took it out. Last night, I felt NO vibration at all. Everything felt back to normal. I'll continue to take it out over the next week to see if it remains issue free. Sure would be nice if the key to fixing it is simply drive it more. All my other checks and inspections showed nothing obvious.