Vibration at 55 to 70 mph

[Lukasguy]

Hi peoples

I've got an annoying vibration when when driving between about 55 mph to 70 mph. At speeds above this the vibration goes away and the car drives nicely.

I can feel the vibration in the car itself, but also a little bit in the steering wheel.

At first I thought it were my wheels so I had them all balanced. Vibration is still there.
Next I noticed my brakes needed replacing so I did that as well, vibration still there.
I also replaced all 3 motor mounts which also didn't help in this case.

My next suspect would be my cv axles because I've read that they can also cause vibration during this speed but this would mostly be during acceleration, which is not the case with me because the car keeps vibrating even when I let go of the gas. Could it still be these? I also sometimes notice a faint ticking noise when turning a small bit on the highway.

I've also had the 2 front wheel bearings replaced in the beginning of the year so these are still good.

The car in question is a C30 1.6D2 from 2011.

Thanks everyone!

[Simmy]

check the inside edges of all tires exsesive wear will cause vibrations

[Lukasguy]

Tyres are pretty new (couple of months old). Though I did check and they don't have unusual wear

[Lukasguy]

Just rotated my wheels (front to back and back to front) and the vibration is exactly the same. Any ideas?

[Wgl2020]

This seems to be a common issue on these cars.

Genuine Volvo driveshafts are £££ and aftermarket ones are not always great...... this could be the cause.

Given the cost involved in replacing these it's sensible to rule out other potential causes. Check for play in control arms, ball joints, drop links and shocks/ top mounts. If these are all good then I would suggest getting a proper 4 wheel alignment check (Hunter or similar).

[Markos01]

Originally Posted by Lukasguy

Just rotated my wheels (front to back and back to front) and the vibration is exactly the same. Any ideas?

This is what I'd have suggested but clearly it's not wheels or tyres. if the driveshafts are going I hear it's manly under load that you get the vibration. Maybe this only happens further down the line with worn driveshafts, and you've spotted very symptoms? It seems only OEM driveshafts last in these cars and they're not cheap, so as suggested above get a garage to check all suspension components and bushes, get a decent alignment done and take it from there.

[Lukasguy]

Thanks for the help guys
I'll take the car to a garage to have a look at everything to see if anything is worn/loose

[T5R92011]

On these cars, there are lots of things that can cause this.

• Unbalanced Wheels
• A bad wheel bearing
• Worn Front Control Arm bushes
• Brake discs warped
• Driveshafts

My S40 T5 shook badly on the front left side due to wheel bearing, it stopped immediately after I replaced it. Then about a year later it started to develop a vibration at 50-70mph range, but it would come and go. I then polybushed the front control arms and that cured it completely. Worth noting that the car had always pulled to the left since I'd bought it, and after doing the control arms, the car pulled completely straight.

Don't immediately rush out to buy driveshafts as they arent cheap.

[Kentish Dragon]

For what it's worth,
When I got my v50 it had the same vibration.....only from about 50mph up to about 70-75mph.
I changed both driveshafts & bottom suspension arms, as there was play in the bushes.
Cured the vibration ( apart from a little from antiroll bar droplinks over rough surfaces, which were on back order at the time)
Hope that helps.

[Lukasguy]

Hey guys, the problem has been fixed!

I found a nice deal on 4 wheels with tyres. So I put those on and there was still a vibration, but after having them balanced the vibration was gone! It appears one or more of my wheels is a bit bent which the guys at the balancing machine didn't notice.

So a bent balanced wheel can still cause vibration!