Tire balancing woes.

[saberz]

I swear this car cannot and will not hold a balance. The OEM tires were replaced with Hankook Ventus and still. Wheels are true/not bent. I've had it done at several shops, first my friends and it would be fine for a few days and then back to being bad. Figure it was the wheel weight. After several tries there, I decided to try R&S Strauss since maybe they use a different grade or type of weight. Had it balanced with a 90 day warranty and it was PERFECT.

Lasted all but 1 1/2 weeks and then the wheel shimmy is back. Had it balanced again by them yesterday and it was fine on the way home. This morning? SHIMMY!

They have a Hunter9700 but it was kind of a PITA to have them do it again because the guy running the place was a bit unfriendly. So Im going to another Strauss location and having them do it under warranty.

 

[The_Jeff]

One thing you can do to start is mark the tire and rim together with a paint stick or whatever and make sure your tires aren't slipping on the rims when you brake hard.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

My friend had a similar issue like yours on his 07 Chrysler 300...He finally went back to the stearlership to get it done and now all is well.

 

[mrsilv04]

It's still a possibility that you have a bad tire. Just because you have 4 new tires doesn't mean that it is impossible.

Since you mentioned "wheel shimmy", I'm assuming you mean that the vibration is in the steering wheel. Move the front two tires to the back, and the backs to the front, and see if the vibration moves as well. It would most likely move to the bottom cushion of the seat.

Also, has any problem with your car been ruled out?

 

[saberz]

I'll get them rotated this weekend as Im doing an oil change before my road trip to VA.

My car drives true/straight don't think I would need an alignment? Only 5k about 4500 miles on the tires now.

Good suggestion btw about marking, i'll see if its what is happening. If that is the case how would that get taken care of? Another tire?

 

[BeanCounter]

I agree to move the fronts to the rear and see what happens. DO NOT rebalance them though. If the "shimmy" moves locations, you've started to isolate the problem to those tires. If the "shimmy" does not move locations, you've isolated the problem to the front brakes/suspension, most likely.

 

[meep]

i've had similar problems with tire out-of-round. balances great, but shimmies in turns. only noticed when on front end. seemed fine on rear. Uniroyal tire paw. 3/16" out of round.

m

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: Anies
Good suggestion btw about marking, i'll see if its what is happening. If that is the case how would that get taken care of? Another tire?


If the tire is moving on the rim, could it be possible that too much bead lube was used when they were mounted... or something was used that shouldn't have been used?

 

[SLCraig]

Strange. The only tires I've ever had never fully balance were Hankooks too. I hated those tires

 

[saberz]

I think it may be over lubing and i think it is the passenger side tire as that one has always needed the most adjustment.Im going to mark it and see what changes take place.

 

[Techniker]

Originally Posted By: Anies
I think it may be over lubing and i think it is the passenger side tire as that one has always needed the most adjustment.Im going to mark it and see what changes take place.


I highly, highly doubt it. Tire lube dries and disappears pretty quickly.

 

[Jasper8146]

A couple of things come to mind. About 10 to 12 years ago Lexus was having a problem with the new GS series in that their tires would not hold a balance. The description of some of the problems back then sounds pretty similar to your case. What they discovered was that two different problems were at fault: 1) a lot of the tires were slipping on the rims, literally moving enough around the rim to change the tire's orientation vis-a-vis the wheel and thereby move it from a balanced state to an unbalanced state, and this was occurring at ridiculously short intervals -- what they did to stop that I actually don't recall, but once they realized that was happening they were able to stop it; 2) they also discovered that some tires were perfectly in balance and perfectly round, but when driven upon felt out of round or unbalanced -- to solve that, they got a road force balancing machine which measures a tire's rolling resistance as it rolls. In order for a tire on the road on a car to feel round and balanced, the road force variation must be under a certain number, which depends somewhat on the tire and the sidewall ratio. Lexus had their dealers acquire these road force balance machines and discovered that some tires which superficially seemed fine actually had excessive road force variation when put on the machines. Based on the history you related, I would seriously consider having your tires road force balanced as part of your solution.

One more thing. Once to save money I bought some tires over the phone from Tire Connection (I may have the name wrong but they advertise in the back of a bunch of car magazines, and upon arrival at the Lexus dealer, all 4 failed road force balancing as did 3 replacements. Since then, I only buy tires from outlets with road force balancers so that only tires which pass the road force balance test can ever get onto my vehicle to start with. Good luck with your situation.

 

[Kestas]

Are the tires round and running true? The way to tell is to spin the tires while watching the tread. Though the rim may be true and tire is properly weight-balanced, the tire could wobble side-to-side a bit or is slightly oval.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: Anies
I swear this car cannot and will not hold a balance. The OEM tires were replaced with Hankook Ventus and still.


What is the history of this car?

Specifically, did you buy it new... and has it ever been in an accident, slid into a curb on a slick street... anything?

 

[saberz]

Car is used, bought it 7 months ago with 30k on it. No accidents that were reported on Auto Check or CarFax. Checked the underside of the vehicle and paneling all appears fine. The OEM tires were basically worn/low tread and I bought new tires. The OEM's were Hankook Optimo, and given the EV 4S was a better tire(relative I know) I opted for them instead of OEM. These are low profile tires on 17's(low profile being factory on the G6 17 or 18's).

 

[mechtech2]

Being able to fix it by balancing rules out bent wheels.

The tire slipping thing is very possible.
So is an internally faulty tire. Heat/cold may aggravate the condition.

Loose suspension components don't cause vibration, but rather ALLOW it. This is a possibility, also.

 

[dwendt44]

What pressure are you running in the tires?

Raise pressure to 40 lbs. and see if things improve.

Note: some 'tire lubes' are home brew/soap based and could 'hang around for some time'.

My 2¢

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: Anies
Car is used, bought it 7 months ago with 30k on it. No accidents that were reported on Auto Check or CarFax. Checked the underside of the vehicle and paneling all appears fine. The OEM tires were basically worn/low tread and I bought new tires. The OEM's were Hankook Optimo, and given the EV 4S was a better tire(relative I know) I opted for them instead of OEM. These are low profile tires on 17's(low profile being factory on the G6 17 or 18's).



Who owned the car before you?

A little old lady over on Maple Street?

Or was it leased by some guy named Hertz?