Mystery CSB

[jdirty]

i've been researching on how to replace my csb because i've been having these symptoms for awhile now that when i'm in fifth gear, going over 3.5k~4k rpm (roughly 70~75 mph on a 4.10 open diff, i measure speed with rpms because speedo is dead. lol) that the car violently vibrates as if it's about to fall apart.

i found ways to replace the csb and guibo, not too hard, just lazy to do it right now. And today i ended up having to replace my tires out of necessity. it was raining hard in vegas out of nowhere and my tires were bald and i was stuck at the workplace parking lot, and then i thought of discount tire that's down the street. i was slipping like a jackass just trying to accelerate from a full stop on the way to discount tire. new temporary wheels (falken ziex 912? 512?) were mounted and balanced.

as the night set in, the downpour stopped too. i was out and about driving like normal. and i realized that the intense vibration past 4k rpms (75mph+) were gone?! wtf?! i was even gunning my car for the first time!! that crazy vibration was like my speed limiter. lol but yeah.. even at 6k rpms on fifth gear, there was still no vibration?! i don't even know how fast that was as i've never gone that fast on this m42 before (which i probably shouldn't have been doing)

so i guess my question is, would my old tires which were probably unbalanced cause false CSB symptoms?

[danlolasdad]

YOUR TIRES WERE BALD BUT THE VIBRATION WAS 100% DOWN TO BELLIED TIRES ie because they were bald they lost strength across threaded area causing a bulge around the whole tire (most likely to one side) its not always noticable by eye.

[keflaman]

It certainly sounds like something related to the tires was your problem, although your description of "violently vibrates" makes me think you would have seen obvious abnormal wear. Edit: I see danlolasdad responded same time I did and his explanation makes sense.

I wonder exactly how bad a CSB has to be in order to necessitate replacement? For example, here's a picture of the CSB I replaced yesterday. The bearing was practically dry and I was amazed that it hadn't seized. I experienced no drivetrain vibrations or unusual noises.

[Geoff]

like a friend of mine always said, sometimes...
       "square tires roll funny"
            it was true then,  and even more so, now
                                         
                                    Geoff

[Gabs]

Sounds like it could have been unbalanced tires, CSB maybe as well, though sure sounds like your tires. How long did you have the tires on before changing?

Do you by chance power wash your car? I recently noticed my E34 start to vibrate at highway speeds, oddly right after I went and power washed it. Upon further inspection, I noticed a sticky spot on my rim, but the weight was gone. So If you had some sticky weights on the rims, they may have fallen off. I didn't even know they made sticky weights until then