You are WAY over my head here.

No aftermarket wheels here, 18 hole steelies.

 

Sorry about that I got confused so, I had a look in your gallery, saw you changed out the front rotors to larger SS rotors, was the vibration there before and after you swapped out the SS rotors or just after ?
you stated in your post that the tires were installed and balanced prior to you getting the HHR, try the front to rear swap as you said, and then you'll have to go to a tire shop to have the run out and balance redone.

 

Yes vibration was there before and after the front brake swap/ upgrade. Rotors are brand new (SS size), pads were new too, SS calipers of course.

I'm going to swap front to rear wheels tonight and see if that helps.

Thanks!!

 

Just because the tires are new, doesn't mean you haven't got a defective one. They can be out-of-round, mis-seated on the rim, concentrically out, mis-belted inside the tire, and the list goes on.

I fought similar issues years ago, but did not find the problem until rotating a wheel/tire one day - luckily I was using a rag in my hand to spin the tire, as the rag got ripped out of my hand by the ends of the steel belt that were sticking through the tread. The belt was mismanufactured, and the ends of the wires from the belt had probably been slowly wearing away for thousands of miles. So, two new tires later the problem went away.

That is a good suggestion about swapping them front to rear, keeping them on the same side. Well worth a try.

From what I have seen and heard, sway bar end links, or end links won't cause issues like what you are encountering. When they cause problems, it's just a lot of rattles, and clunks.

 

hubs? again.

Do the tires have a directional arrow on the sidewall?

 

Did the front/rear (kept on same side of car) wheel/ tire swap. No difference.

I had bought new sway bar endlinks and bushings and was thinking about replacing them this weekend, but while I was doing the wheel swap I really got under the front end and looked, pulled, shook, etc. I don't think either of those is the problem.

I'm beginning to think one of the struts (gut/ ear says passenger) has something wrong with it. When I go over sharp speed bumps it makes a creaking sound sometimes a bit.... which was what led me to think sway bar stuff (from reading here).... Saturday after doing the wheel swap, I went to a new mountain bike trail that I've never been to before. Ended up driving on a dirt/ gravel road for a few miles to get to trailhead.

On the way back out I had my front windows cracked and I could hear a "Fffftt" noise over a lot of bumps etc. It was mainly on sharper bumps. The more I try to notice when and how the vibration/ wobbly feeling happens, the more I think it might be strut related - like it's too soft or slow to rebound or...

I have a warranty (non-factory) - that covers big stuff. I was hoping to kinda figure it out for little $$ in my spare time, rather than taking a day off and heading to a shop and fighting with the warranty company. But .... I think I'm going to have to have it checked out.

I don't know. Thanks for the suggestions, sorry to thread jack...