Dyn Blin Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 This may be a draft question, but do drums ever become out of balance as they wear? After swapping out both when I rebuilt the rear sets last week, I drove it on the freeway tonight for the first time. An annoying vibration I haven't been able to find between 45 and 55 is gone. That's the only recent change to anything that would remotely affect driving. U joints seem OK as part of of my overall attempts to track it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Voltura Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 The short answer is yes, they do. But the chances of you actually noticing or feeling it are next to none. You would feel a warped brake rotor first. I would be checking your driveshaft. An out of balance driveshaft, which is possible especially after replacing u-joints, will cause an on/off vibration at cruising speeds. I would doubt that brand new drums wore /that/ fast to cause amounts of vibration that would be noticeable. As someone who has 400k miles on original drums and does not have vibration from them, I would be skeptical. However in your case they could have very well have been. Sounds like you've fixed the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 If you are saying they are new drums, then they may not have been balanced from the factory. They won't wear very far out of balance, like Angelo said, but they may have gotten out of the factory w/o being balanced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Drums can warp and then shoe action can wear them out of balance. I'd tend to think there is a harmonic in the drive shaft as Angelo mentioned, OR you have a pinion engagement (backlash) issue. This might show up at a certain road speed because there is neutral throttle. Does it happen while accelerating, or braking through this speed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whisler Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Drums can warp and then shoe action can wear them out of balance. I'd tend to think there is a harmonic in the drive shaft as Angelo mentioned, OR you have a pinion engagement (backlash) issue. This might show up at a certain road speed because there is neutral throttle. Does it happen while accelerating, or braking through this speed? I read the OP as saying the new drums eliminated the vibration. Am I mis-reading? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 I read the OP as saying the new drums eliminated the vibration. Am I mis-reading? In retrospect it seems you are absolutely correct. I was following Gary's lead and lost sight of the OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 In retrospect it seems you are absolutely correct. I was following Gary's lead and lost sight of the OP. Yep, I mis-read it. My bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Voltura Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Yep, I mis-read it. My bad. Glad I was not the only one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyn Blin Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 Thanks gentlemen. I got an unexpected shift and couldn't check back- thanks for the responses. Yes, the drums are the only recent change. I've had 3 more freeway runs since the note and it's still smooth in that range. I kept the old drums. I suppose I could put them on again and go for another run, or take them to get them turned and see if the shop can tell me anything. I keep expecting the vibration to come back, if it does, I'll update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Thanks gentlemen. I got an unexpected shift and couldn't check back- thanks for the responses. Yes, the drums are the only recent change. I've had 3 more freeway runs since the note and it's still smooth in that range. I kept the old drums. I suppose I could put them on again and go for another run, or take them to get them turned and see if the shop can tell me anything. I keep expecting the vibration to come back, if it does, I'll update. Please try not to expect the worst. Having no expectation is better than raising your cortisol levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts