So I've known for a few months now that my car will shudder just slightly right at 35-45 mph, more noticeable under hard acceleration. The steering doesn't shake at all, it has new plugs and coils, and the wheels are balanced (does the same regardless of which set I have on). My conclusion is that it is coming from the rear end, my guess is either the CV joint on the driveshaft or inner/rear CV joint, rear bearing? Any suggestions before I take it in? The car shudder nearly went away when driving in the rain last night...weird...

Also I think I have a bad front bearing because I can hear a slight crunchy sound during hard acceleration in first. I think I have a torn boot, and possibly bad bearing or joint?

I saw other posts similar to this, but most dealt with the front end shuddering...any advise would be great.

Cheers

 

I had the same issue. If you have a torn boot or one where grease comes out of then you probably have a bad cv joint, as dirt gets in there and chews it up good. Mine started like that and went away at higher speeds. then it got worse as time went by until it felt like i was driving a tank. I went ahead and bought 2 used axles from a low mile wreck and swapped out my fronts. it fixed the problem. if you hear crunching then a wheel bearing is on its way out. mine went out on the front left which had the bad axle as well. rarely will it be in the rear as there isnt quite as much stress back there, but obviously not impossible. Hunt down new cv joints or just a set of low mile axles. I got mine for 150 on e-bay.

 

something to keep in the back of your mind... slight possibility its knock. very slight, but possible.

Helped diagnose a guys scooby, he thought he was having issues described exactly like you are now. Thought it was from the rear end. His engine was actually developing a bit of knock at a very narrow RPM range right around 3200 RPMs. That was a fairly modified car though, our motronic would usually find a way to adapt around that type of stuff. As for not getting it in the rain, well, thats natures water injection. A little bit of humidity in the air is just like water injection.

Again, slim chance you're seeing the same issue as this guy, but just make a mental note how easy it is to mis diagnose problems.

 

The shudder comes from the rear, and the crunchiness comes from the front. Is this a very difficult change to do or should I just go ahead and have a technician look at it first before I go and start buying parts?

 

as far as the wheel bearing its not that simple to change. Id say the overall job is not hard but you will need the correct tools to get the bearing out. what is known to happen is the bearings come appart and the race gets stuck in the spindle. i paid a shop to do mine cost me $500 parts included.