I took it in today and of course couldn't replicate the issue. My car decided to behave all nice when the tech was with me. Even the glovebox was strangely silent. Maybe the solution is to have a tech ride with me at all times

@vinnimac - the tires actually got balanced twice, once at the place where I bought it, and then road force balanced at the Honda dealer. I know they said the ride was the same even when they swapped out the tires with a stock Fit, but I'm wondering if this is just flat spots from when the car sat in inventory for 5 months. I read that permanent flat spots can cause vibrations sometimes only in a certain speed range. Maybe I wasn't in that range today with the test drive.

OH! one thing I forgot to mention in my original post - the service manager at the first place said when they called Honda, they were told there was a TSB out regarding vibration. I never got details on that (what Honda said the problem was or how to fix it). Anybody else heard of that?

 

I'll be working over there tomorrow, I'll see what I can find

 

07 NHBP for me! No vibration noticed at all. It is suprisingly better than my civic was. If you did the tire change and still notice it, check your bearings and your steering. Also, your gonna laugh but how are the roads in your area? a small area around my mom in laws' house has these cracks in the road that are evenly spaced. sounds like i'm dragging something under the car.lol but when on the highway, im good to go. good luck.

 

i have a 07 with 70k on it. only vibration i get is goin 90 plus.

 

I didn't even think about suggesting that! There is one place getting onto the interstate on the on ramp that when you first hit it, it sounds like the car has a flat tire, but when you get onto the interstate it goes away. Lots of places are like that around here actually...

 

I think it is normal for a small car

 

From my experience, Honda's are prone to this vibration. The mating surface of the wheel and hub gets corrosion built up on the surface, making it uneven. This causes the wheels to run untrue at different harmonical frequencies. Starts out small but gets worse with time.

My fix is to take my pnumatic grinder with a 1" desposable abrasive disk that takes off all the crud down to metal. This trues up the mating surfaces again and the vibration all but disipears. Along with properly hand torqued lug bolts.

 

Tagged for resolution (for a different car but same problem)

 

I just got my 08 the week before thanksgiving. I took it in for the same pulsing vibration and all they did was balance the tires and machine the breaks. Three weeks later it is still vibrating on and off sometimes it is bad other times I don't feel it.

Mila did it stop after they gave you new tires?

 

Interesting that your vibration isn't consistent. Perhaps you have tires that are not in synch regarding out-of-round- or out-of-weight or just because you're on different road surfaces. The latter is easy to spot but the former aren't.
You can check wheels for 'wobble', that is sideways movement of the rim edge. More than 1/16" is certainly a problem, especially if one wheel is much different from other wheels. You can measure the circumference of each mounted tire so see if there is more than 1/4" difference between tires that could be an out-of-round problem..
The out-of balance (weight) can be a result of much difference in the weights applied to your wheels. One wheel with a several ounces of wheel weight greater than other wheels can be a problem. And just the combined weight of wheel and tire much differenct than other wheels, or even tire pressures, especially on the same axle, could be a problem.
These aren't guaranteed to isolate your vibration problem but not a bad start.

Good luck.

 

Come on people. Make me a liar. Get the corrosion ground off both the wheel and rotor mating surfaces. I had the same vibe issue on my 08' Fit and 05' Pilot and ever since I buff out the corrosion at each tire rotation I have never had the issue again. It doesn't take much corrosion to cause this. Of course it is easier since I have an air compressor and tools to do this. But for those that don't any competent garage that removes your wheels will do it. Its not a big deal.

If anyone tries this, chime in and let us know how it works out.

 

I just took my car into the shop two days ago.

They called me at the end of the day to tell me that they are replacing the tires. This didn't make sense to me since the first time I took it in the rotated the tires and the vibration was coming from the same front left side tire.

Yesterday they call to say they figured it out. I had a bent control arm which was wearing down the tires unevenly (Causing vibrations). That is why it got better when they rotated the tires the first time.

Thanks for all of your posts. They were a big help.

 

Did you have any front end/side impacts?

 

If its persistent and not occassionally it could be build-up on the brake rotor. Have them turn the rotors ever so slightly and recheck if no problems found with tires or wheels or shocks (worn shocks can lead to vibrationtoo).
It also depends on your definition of vibrating. If you're used to a big heavy car and you go to a much lighter car like the Fit the 'vibration' may be normal. But if its actually shaking the car check the rotors if the tires, wheels, and shocks are OK..

 

I had a big laugh at myself the other day:
I was driving out of town for a business trip at work. I was cruising at about 90km/t and suddenly I felt a very destinct vibration in the steering and could even hear a loud humming noice.
Just a second later it disapeared. And it was gone about 20 second and came back again. It went like that a few times. Then I remembered this post on this forum and was afraid something terrible had happened to my car!

I then desided to notice what I did just befor that vibration started again. And then again when taking a slight turn to the left the vibration started again. When the road straighten up the vibration disapeared. And I got more worried!

Next left turn I realised that I was cutting the corner a little as I was all alone in the night driving on this road.

It was THEN i discovered that they have painted the center line on the road with a special pattern that had raised dots with just a few cm between, and they was so high that you could feel the vibration in the steering when the wheel was going over it and made that audible tone from the vibration.

Duh! After that I stayed in my lane !

Have also noticed that all roads laid after this summer has this kind of markers both on the center line and the line on the side of the road. Its actually a nice safety thing.

 

I notice this too but only when my rpm is at 3k. I used to drive with fuel efficiency in mind so i never noticed this during the first year. I can feel the vibration on the pedals.