1998 Mercury Sable Tire problems

Tiny
CATMEDS
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  • 1998 MERCURY SABLE
  • 6 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 125,000 MILES
After driving more than 10-15 minutes or even less if I'm driving at a higher speed, my car heavily vibrates when slowing down to stop. It's a scary feeling. The breaks are fine and the car otherwise is in very good condition. Also, after I come to a complete stop the vibration discontinues for a little while.

I took my vehicle to the dealer and had a belt plus all the tires replaced because I was told a tire was seperating from the vehicle which was causing the problem.

Afterwards, even though the car didn't feel like it was falling apart like before, it was still vibrating pretty heavily so I took it back to the dealer but they said they could not find anything wrong. We drove around town but because we made frequent stops along the way the car behaved normally. I was embarrassed.

I then took my vehicle to a local tire shop and asked them to balance and rotate the tires as suggested by a friend. They were slightly out of balance but it didn't fix my problem. I'm to nervous to drive my car any further than just going to work and my kids don't want to ride in the car.

Are there any visible problems or signs I could check for myself before I take it back?
Monday, March 30th, 2009 AT 10:23 AM

6 Replies

Tiny
JAMES W.
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Does the "vibration" exist when you're cruising down the road, or only when you use the brakes? If it's only when you hit the brakes, it may be a warped brake rotor. Please advise.
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Monday, March 30th, 2009 AT 11:45 AM
Tiny
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I'll start to feel a vibration while I'm driving and it continues until I stop. The vibration is heavier while I'm slowing down even if I don't touch the brakes and just ease on the gas pedal but heaviest just upon stopping.
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Monday, March 30th, 2009 AT 11:53 AM
Tiny
JAMES W.
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This may sound trivial, but it's important, do you feel the vibration in the steering wheel or more in the seat and the floor?
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Monday, March 30th, 2009 AT 12:41 PM
Tiny
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Thank you for your time. It's in the seat and floor that I feel it. It's a pretty rough vibration, sorta like a hop.
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Monday, March 30th, 2009 AT 12:50 PM
Tiny
JAMES W.
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The most common cause for what you describe is a bad tire on the rear of your car. To prove this theory, you can move the front tires to the rear and vise versa to see if the vibration follows to the steering wheel. Taking into account you have new tires, I've had brand new tires off the shelf that went bad after a couple days running. Let me know.
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Monday, March 30th, 2009 AT 7:48 PM
Tiny
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It was a problem in the rear of the car but not the tire like I thought. Something was heating up and causing the rotor to stick. The problem was getting worse so luckily they didn't have to drive the car long to finally see what I was talking about.

I must have been paranoid since they told me orginally the problem was a tire pulling away from the car. Plus I felt the vibration while crusing.

Thank you for time.
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Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 AT 7:55 AM

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