I have a 92 accord that has developed a serious front end vibration. It vibrates all the time but worst when braking. What kind of troubleshooting can I do to isolate the problem? Is there any common problems with these cars?

 

Sounds like a warped or otherwise damaged brake rotor. Tires can also develop bubbles between their layers/plies, but since it's worse when braking it's likely a rotor problem.

 

you need to jack it up to isolate it. if you say it vibrates all the time, it has to do with the axles or a wheel bearing. i think its a wheel bearing. but like i said, jack it up, wiggle the tires up and down and side to side. shake your axles with your hand and see if it has lots of play.

i still think its a bearing. if its a brake issue, then vibration should only happen during braking. in my experience, when i see a bad bearing, evry time, the rotor will be warped as well on that side wiht the bad bearing.

 

Well, I know its not the tires...they are new. Im pretty sure its not the brake rotors becuase it does vibrate all the time.

 

When did it start? Anything happen that you can think of that could have caused it? Did it do it before the new tires? Tires could be out of balance.

Warped rotors can certainly be felt without braking if bad enough. Disc pads don't retract very far when you release the pedal and self adjust/self center, as evidenced when you replace pads and have to force the piston back into the caliper. If they're warped bad enough you will feel them when not braking, then especially when braking.

My experience with worn wheel bearings on a 92 accord is that the brakes would sound different and I had a squeak from one rotor that came or went depending on turn direction and road camber.

Neither rotors nor wheel bearings are fun to do on that gen, so I'd check the easy stuff first. Swap the front tires to the rear and see if the problem improves or goes away.

 

No events that I can think of. It has just been getting slowly worse for about 3 months. It did long before the new tires also.

 

ball joints and/or rotor

 

wheel bearing.. and the rotors are bad now for sure. check your axles too.
yeah those model years are a pain. need slide hammer

 

It could be a lot of things, first check your motor mounts, and make sure that the bolt on there are nice and tight!