would this cause a vibration?

[Mister2]

Okay so a few months back my clutch went out. I had it replaced but in order to get the car to the shop I had it towed on a flat bed. But the driver did not use the tow hook like I asked him to. He hooked it to the suspension. The car was smooth before this. When I got it back from the shop the mechanic said that he noticed a vibration at about 40 mph when he test drove it and that I should have it looked at (I was waiting to pick it up and needed it ASAP). When I drove it, the vibration would come on hard between ~30-70 mph and go away after 80ish. It was very rough.

I took it to a shop and had them align it but they only did the tow not the camber because they are morons. This did not fix the problem but made it much less noticeable. I had tires put on it and the wheels balanced again and still nothing.



So heres my question. I got under the car today and poked around. I'm no suspension expert but I noticed this endlink is loose. It has about a quarter inch of play in it. The top is fine, and so is the other side. Would this cause my vibration? I was about to just buy a new control arm set. Sorry about the poor picture quality.

Also I've searched and did not find anything specific.

[big_greasy_taco]

That looks like your swaybar link, If that was the culprit, the vibration would probably be more noticeable in corners, as that is when the swaybar is stressed. I am not sure how that bolt would come loose from a tow hook, unless he hooked your swaybar and that stripped some threads as it was pulled...

[Mister2]

Ah thanks. I didnt get to spend much time under there and I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. The vibration is there wether I'm going straight or turning. Most noticeable on the highway.

[big_greasy_taco]

Have you snugged it up yet to see if that fixes it? Its also possible that the towhook was attached to something else, an A arm perhaps, which may have tweaked the bushings as well.

[Mister2]

I'm pretty sure he attached it to the control arm. I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to get under it and check everything out again. My car has 86k on it, should I just go ahead and replace the control arms and everything?

[big_greasy_taco]

Might not be a bad idea... take a road trip down to louisville and ill help out!!

[Mister2]

I'm going to try and get an appointment at Performance Alignment here in cincy this week. They have great equipment and are suspension specalists. Hopefully it wont take any more than that. At least I can rely on them to tell me 100% whats causing it after that.


If not I'll take you up on your offer lol