Do I really need new tires?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Messages
14
Location
Chicago, IL
Recently the steering wheel on my car began vibrating and the ride became shaky too. My first thought was get the wheels balanced. But when I brought my car to the garage they told me my problem was the tires not the wheels needing to be balanced and suggested replacing the tires. I still have 2 original tires on the car that have 45,000 miles on them and 2 replacements that have under 10,000 miles on them. If anything my first thought is to replace the originals or is there something else I might be missing here?
 
Mileage on the tires doesn't explain the full story. A tire can be bald or completely dry rotted with 20k on it.

If the tires are in good condition, I say, get them balanced or better yet, road force balanced. If the rubber is the cause of your new found vibration, that will fix the problem.
 
If it's so bad it's making the car shake, I see 2 new tires in your future. It sounds like they have started to separate.
 
Originally Posted By: chainblu
If it's so bad it's making the car shake, I see 2 new tires in your future. It sounds like they have started to separate.


I've had this happen even though the tires still "looked" good. Start checking for bulges in the tread.
 
How often did you rotate the tires? A friend had the same problem on his truck and it ended up being the tires. They were never rotated and were cupped pretty badly causing the vibration.
 
Originally Posted By: AustinCooper
Recently the steering wheel on my car began vibrating and the ride became shaky too. My first thought was get the wheels balanced. But when I brought my car to the garage they told me my problem was the tires not the wheels needing to be balanced and suggested replacing the tires. I still have 2 original tires on the car that have 45,000 miles on them and 2 replacements that have under 10,000 miles on them. If anything my first thought is to replace the originals or is there something else I might be missing here?


When you say "vibrating" and "the ride became shaky" what specifically do you mean?

Are we talking a vibration at high speeds? A low speed wobble?

Did they show you the issues on the tires they were referring to?

We need more info, but they very well could be right.
 
Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Originally Posted By: chainblu
If it's so bad it's making the car shake, I see 2 new tires in your future. It sounds like they have started to separate.


I've had this happen even though the tires still "looked" good. Start checking for bulges in the tread.


I had this happen on a tire that had close to 100% of the tread left - original spare that had been under my truck for 15 years.

CAM00501
 
This is why they recommend trashing a tire that's more then 10 years old. The rubber is naturally degraded.
 
It is probably the tires. When you replaced two tires at 35,000 miles, did you not plan on replacing the other two in the near future anyway?
 
Get new tires with winter arriving soon and start from scratch in learning proper tire rotation and air pressure checks.
 
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: AustinCooper
Recently the steering wheel on my car began vibrating and the ride became shaky too. My first thought was get the wheels balanced. But when I brought my car to the garage they told me my problem was the tires not the wheels needing to be balanced and suggested replacing the tires. I still have 2 original tires on the car that have 45,000 miles on them and 2 replacements that have under 10,000 miles on them. If anything my first thought is to replace the originals or is there something else I might be missing here?


When you say "vibrating" and "the ride became shaky" what specifically do you mean?

Are we talking a vibration at high speeds? A low speed wobble?

Did they show you the issues on the tires they were referring to?

We need more info, but they very well could be right.
The steering wheel starts vibrating at low speeds and the best way I can find to describe the ride is shaky or bouncy. When I get up to around 40 MPH though the problems that come with both the steering wheel and ride aren't as bad.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Has this happened all of a sudden, or has it gradually gotten to be like this?
It happened suddenly. I never noticed this problem until I took it for a drive earlier this week. I decided to drop my tire pressure after that since I keep it on the high side but still below max pressure.
 
You should have the pressure set based on what the car manufacturer recommends- that is usually found on the driver side door sill. You should not be going by the max pressure on the tire. I agree with above- you need new tires.
 
Originally Posted By: tdpark
You should have the pressure set based on what the car manufacturer recommends- that is usually found on the driver side door sill. You should not be going by the max pressure on the tire. I agree with above- you need new tires.
True, I learned the hard way but wanted to lessen some rolling resistance. Now I think that might have cost me a lot more than I ever thought it would. The place that I took my car to though, didn't believe that tire pressure was the problem though.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top