Shakes, and not the milk shakes kind

[Stealther GodX]

Hey guys, I have a 1991 Pontiac Grand Am 2.5L with 118,000 miles and I'm having an issue. This is my DD up here in MN, and I kinda need it. My vehicle starts shaking at 55 mph and quits at 60 mph, and between these speeds it sounds like my tire, or what ever it is, is bouncing and causes the whole vehicle to shake. This "bouncing" noise is coming from the front on the passenger side. There is also a slight whining noise when I start to turn/veer left. I know it's not my brakes/rotors, these are still good. Not my tires (brand new). And neither is it my struts/suspension. I just replaced the CV half shaft/axle shaft this weekend hoping it would fix the problem. Well I drove it and I'm still having the same issue. Also when we put the new one in, we noticed there is a tiny bit of side-to-side movement where the CV half shaft fits into the transmission. Could it possibly be the bearing or bushing, that holds the CV half shaft in place, in the transmission going bad? Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[melsg5]

Switch the two front tires and see if the vibration moves to the drivers side. If it does the tire/wheel is out of balance or the tire has an internal issue. The noise could be a wheel bearing.

 

[Too Fast]

The tires may not be balanced properly, or they may have too much road force. You could also try moving them to the back and see if that changes the vibration.

I've replaced hundreds of CV axles in my life, but I've never seen one loose enough where it fits in the transaxle to cause a vibration. I've seen them cause vibrations for other reasons, but not when it's a tiny bit loose like you describe.

When you load the vehicle when turning, and there is a whining/humming noise, that is typical for a wheel bearing/hub assembly. Hub assemblies are hard to isolate which side from inside the car, I always diag those with the car in the air and listen thru a long screwdriver or steth a scope while the car is at the speed it happens.