2005 Civic front shakes while driving?

2005 Civic front shakes while driving?



I am in the market for a new car for my son. I was looking at a Ford Focus
or the Civic as potential vehicle. This is a High School graduation
present, so I was looking for long term reliability. This car needs to take
him through college and several years after.



We test drove a new 2005 Civic LX. I noticed that there was a shake in the
front end when I got the speed up to approximately 60-65 mph. While I did
not have a chance to test drive a second car, I am wondering if this is a
common problem. I found several complains against the 2004 model at the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTS,
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/



My questions to the group are:



1) Is this a common problem?

2) Has a fix been identified, i.e different brand of tire/tread pattern
etc.



Thanks

 

It was probably just a wheel weight was thrown from the wheel.

Did you mention it to the salesman when you took the car back to the dealer?

Brian

 

Yes, the salesman was in the back seat. This what I would have thought
also, but after reviewing the complaints at the NHTS site I am wondering,
hence my post to the news group.. Below is an extract of one of the
complaints.

NOTE: I changed the text from all upper case to sentence case for
readability purposes.

"Purchased 2004 Civic VP new (this is my 4th Honda civic). From day 1, there
has been a noticeable vibration/shimmy in steering wheel and front end. Upon
visit to dealer, i was told that the vibration/shimmy could not be
duplicated, but oem tires (Dunlop SP20) could be separating. During a
subsequent visit, vibration/shimmy was acknowledged. Dunlop dealer said that
the tires are okay, but 2 front wheels were bent. Honda dealer replaced 2
front wheels and remounted/rebalanced the original tires. All tires were
rebalanced and rotated. Vibration/shimmy persists and continues to be
noticeable at all speeds. Steering wheel vibration/shimmy is observable and
felt when turning the wheel, regardless of vehicle speed. Dealer suggested
test drive of identical 2004 civic vp; i, and the dealer service manager,
noticed the same issues with this civic. Problem remains unresolved.*ak"

 

Thats odd, I own a 2005 honda civic and have never experienced that problem.
My suggestion would be to test drive the specific car you are going to buy
to make sure it is ok.

 

Hello,
I don't advise you to buy the 2005 Civic LX that you test drove. Please
let the service manager or salesman know about the problem. If you buy a
Civic--get the EX since it has more options. Test drive another Civic. You
will probably find complaints against any car that you research on the
NHTS website. Buy a Honda Civic or any of the smaller cars made by Toyota.
Their resale value holds up better over time and Honda and Toyota does a
much better job of making well built cars than American companies. I wish
this was NOT true but I know from past experience and what I have read in
car magazines that what I have said is true.

 

If you buy a Civic--get the EX since it has more options.

This is for my kid. The cost differences from LX to EX cannot be justified.

 

I understand--buy the LX