I recently purchased a 2008 Sport with a manual transmission. I purchased it around 95k miles, and I'm now at about 105k.

I got this car pretty blind because I totaled my previous Accord and my family has dealt with the name on the dealership previously, although at a different location of theirs. Short of a valve adjustment, replacing the coil packs and replacing the clutch cylinders because nobody had changed the brake fluid the car has had one key issue; Vibration.

I received this car with Konig Runlite 16 x 7.5 rims with an offset of 45mm. Those rims had BF Goodrich Sport Comp 2, 205/45 R16's on them. I do not experience any rubbing that could have to do with the problem.

On the highway it was constant, and in the city around 50 mph it would shake the steering wheel and everyone in the car could feel it.

I replaced the rim I saw as visibly bent, and replaced 2 more that failed my garage run out test. This made the vibration slightly better.

After this I noticed the tires were cupped. I replaced the set with the same model and aligned the car, as well as adding hub centric adapters. The noise from the vibration is entirely gone, but the vibration itself persists.

I replaced the shocks and struts, as well as the complete control arm assemblies and the sway bar end links. I had the car aligned again afterwards. This made the car feel almost new under about 50mph, but on the highway there is still a lot of wander and around 67-73 mph there is an intermittent vibration that almost feels like wind buffett-ing every 3-5 seconds, but is definitely related to wheel speed and not acceleration. It also SLIGHTLY veers to the right over time on the highway, but I attribute this to the rear passenger alignment being a tad off.

At this point the only parts I have not replaced that I think it could have ANYTHING to do with would be the brakes/rotors, front axles, tie rods, or the bearings. I have not thrown any codes for my EPS so I doubt that the steering wander has to do with that TSB, although it is a possibility.

I have thrown everything I have at this problem to no avail. I have had my wheels balanced to the point where I believe Discount Tire thinks I'm crazy. I would love some insight as my next step is to go to a reputable wheel/tire shop and just let them have their way with it and my wallet until the problem (or my money) is gone.

All I can presume is that the Fit cannot handle 7.5 inch wide rims with the stock alignment and I will either have to change them or find an alignment that makes the car happy with the current rims and possibly shim the rear axles to the more applicable specs.

If anything in this whole run down sticks out to you as problematic I would love to hear what you have to say!

Thank you guys for reading my wall of text. I hope I can add something to the community if I'm able to work through my own issues!

 

Is the alignment to manufacturer's specs?
The vibration being at about 50mph and not higher or lower indicates some sort of harmonic vibration. Have you check the state of the suspension bushings and engine mounts? There's also the possibility of the one or some of the wheel bearings being shot, but that's an easy check with a wiggle of the unloaded wheel.

 

The current vibrations only really happen between 67-73 mph since I got the car aligned and replaced the suspension.

Alignment is within spec on the front, with the rear passenger side (toed in I think) slightly off. The wheel bearings don't seem to have excessive play vertically or horizontally yet.

The vibration does seem to be tangentially related to wheel balancing though. Getting the rims balanced changes the vibration slightly nearly every time but never fixes it.

 

Decided I'm going to bite the bullet and replace the rims, and possibly the tires. Had a few techs look at my car and the fronts are starting to cup on the inside edge.

I'm looking at purchasing a set of 16 x 6.5 Honda HFP rims, and hopefully I'll be able to salvage what's left of the tires as 205/45-16 is the recommended size for them.

Current rims are 16 x 7.5 with a 45 offset compared to the stock 55.

I'm guessing the BF Goodrich sport comp 2's are a bit of a tough compound so if they're cupped too bad I'll replace them with something different.

All I can surmise from my research is because the current rims have a positive scrub radius due to the increase in width and reduction in offset, they will not work without adverse tire wear.

My rear right toe is out, but it couldn't be causing both sides to wear as fast as they are, can it?