I have intermittent but most of the time vibration of the steering wheel and ride mostly above 60 mph and gets stronger as speed climbs.

I ruled out wheels/tires, i.e. balance/out of round.

Could this be symptomatic of shocks problem? Or steering system?

 

Check alignment and have the alignment guy inspect everything including going over the tires carefully. If your strut cartridges are bad he'll be able to tell you this too. Make sure you describe what it's doing to him. I doubt it's the struts.

Even if the tires aren't out of round there may be a separated belt or just enough of an out-of-round condition (within tire co's specs) to cause vibration.

Has rotating the tires made a difference?

 

As I said, I ruled out wheels/tires because I swapped wheels/tires with another Fit and it still had the same vibration.

Can you tell me how alignment would cause vibration?

 

Not an expert, but toe-in might have an impact. Well that and worn/damaged parts. Anyway you cut it, the alignment guy will be best able to locate the problem since you've ruled out tires/wheels. CV joints? How many miles on it?

 

Currently 30,000 miles, but it started at 26,000. I noticed it after either:

1. Brushed a curb with right rear wheel.
2. Rotated tires myself. Did my torquing of lug nuts do something to alignment?

Thanks for your help.

 

unlikely struts or CV joints. They should be good to 100K+

Over torquing the lugs might've warped a rotor, but this would be pulsing brakes, not vibration. Wouldn't affect alignment. Are the wheels on tight still?

Brushing the curb shouldn't be an issue; it's not that fragile.

I'd go see a good alignment guy.

 

Still on factory tires/wheels?

keep in mind you're well within warranty. (5yrs 60k on drivetrain, right?).

If you take it to the Honda dealer they will probably tell you it's the tires.

If you take it to a Dunlop/Goodyear store they will tell you it's the wheels.

An independent alignment guy is your best bet. If something's broken/worn I'd go back to the dealer with that. If he says the tires are the cause you might want to look at a new set. 30K seems about average for Fit factory tires.

I know you said you tried someone else's tires/wheels, but these are still the most likely cause.

I went through the royal run-around on another Honda with Goodyear tires getting passed back and forth between the Honda dealer and the local Goodyear store. I finally bought another set of tires and that "cured" the problem, but that particular Honda remained sensitive to tire issues.

 

Again, I assure you, wheels/tires are ruled out. I can't stress that enough. Not only have I had balance done to all 4 wheels multiple times at multiple shops and yielded the exact same characteristics, but I've rotated them a number of times as well. If it's wheel/tire, I would've seen some change in degree of vibration, as well as what speed it starts to show up. And again, sometimes the vibration goes away for a while.

 

I totally sympathize. Even a slight vibration drives me nuts.

Sorry to belabor the point, but are these the original tires? If yes, I predict a set of new tires in your future helping to smooth things out.

What pressure are you running? Try 33PSI. Maybe on more worn tires higher pressures are more likely to bounce.

Another possibility is a shop that does on-car spin balancing. This will also show up issues in the drive train. But I'd go to an alignment guy first.

 

Intermittent issues are difficult to diagnose. Speed related vibrations are usually related to tire issues.

Ball joins - wheel bearing end play - stabilizer link - a dedicated alignment shop and a clear description of the issue should result in a solution. Rule out nothing... have it checked.

K_C_