Vibration in steering wheel 70mph+

[actionstan]

Hello All,

Before I take the car back to Tire Discounters to have them take a look I gave it one final look over, and checked the torque on the lugs. (100ft lbs) the front tires slightly needed tightening the back did not at all.

What I found interesting was 3 balance weights on my front left tire (where I feel like most of the vibration is coming from)

I don't honestly know much about tires and balancing them.. but I would assume if you needed 3 big weights in one spot.. somethings wrong with that tire.. I have included a picture for reference. It may be a little difficult to see as they are kinda dirty, but if you will look closely you will see.

Do any of you guys that have experience in this issue see a problem with this? Thanks!

 

[threeputtpar]

Yes, that is certainly a problem that the shop should have addressed when they installed the tires.

Anything more than 2oz total on one tire (inside and outside beads together) indicates a potential problem with the tire/wheel combo. What they should have at least done was to pop the beads and spin the tire 180° on the wheel and reseat and try to balance it again to see if it takes less weight. If not, then the tire should be suspected to have some kind of internal defect. There could also be a bent wheel, but any decent shop will notice that and alert the customer. Have them spin all 4 to visually verify that the wheels are true on the inside bead.

Actually, looking at it again the excessive weight is right at the valve stem which tells me that the heavy spot of the tire would be 180° from where the weights are. If the tire is still marked with red or yellow dots, I suspect that the mark is almost opposite of the weights and valve stem. They should have matche the dot (heavy spot) with the valve stem (light part of the rim because of the removal of material) and that would have lessened the chance of needing so much weight to balance the combo. I'd call all of their work into question if they didn't know to do this simple task when first mounting the tires.

 

[actionstan]

Originally Posted By: threeputtpar
Yes, that is certainly a problem that the shop should have addressed when they installed the tires.

Anything more than 2oz total on one tire (inside and outside beads together) indicates a potential problem with the tire/wheel combo. What they should have at least done was to pop the beads and spin the tire 180° on the wheel and reseat and try to balance it again to see if it takes less weight. If not, then the tire should be suspected to have some kind of internal defect. There could also be a bent wheel, but any decent shop will notice that and alert the customer. Have them spin all 4 to visually verify that the wheels are true on the inside bead.

Actually, looking at it again the excessive weight is right at the valve stem which tells me that the heavy spot of the tire would be 180° from where the weights are. If the tire is still marked with red or yellow dots, I suspect that the mark is almost opposite of the weights and valve stem. They should have matche the dot (heavy spot) with the valve stem (light part of the rim because of the removal of material) and that would have lessened the chance of needing so much weight to balance the combo. I'd call all of their work into question if they didn't know to do this simple task when first mounting the tires.


Great.. I figured as much.. well I'm going up tomorrow to call them out.. we will see what comes of it. Is it possibly for to be pointed in the direction of some official documentation regarding tire balance something that covers how many weights a tire should actually have?

Also I looked for the dots, I don't see any.. so I guess Ill just go up tomorrow and raise [censored] if I need too.

 

[jorton]

Originally Posted By: actionstan
Originally Posted By: gregk24
I was having that EXACT same issue after I got my new Yoko's on the Accord. Shakiness and vibration over 70 mph and the steering wasnt as precise, it was a little "floaty" feeling too. I just had them aligned, balanced and rotated and all is smooth again as it should be. I recommend you do the same. It was worth getting it fixed.


interesting, well Ill look into it, hopefully Tire Discounters is willing to stand behind there work! what you describe is the exact same thing im having.


A bad wheel or rim was moved to the rear?

 

[Nyquist]

Modern spin balancers have a built in function where you mount the tire, check the balance, rotate the tire 180° on the rim and re-spin. If you have the machine set properly, it will highlight the ideal positioning of the tire on the rim.

 

[actionstan]

So just an update...

I am pretty disappointed I spend almost a whole Saturday in two different Tire Discounters from 10a-3pm... blurgh...

The first one only had a hunter balancer, they put the tires on, they told me they came back fine, the service writer took it for a drive and said he did not feel the vibration.. So i took it for a spin.. sure enough its still there..

I called them, they sent me to a different store.. that had an actual road force balancer.. I sat and waited forever, when they finally got to my car, they said everything came back fine... grr.....

So at this point I am at a loss.. I jacked up the front end and everything looks nice and tight. These guys checking the car out are supposed to be ASE certified.. I would think this would mean something.

At this point it has to be one of

1. I am crazy...
2. They have no idea what they are doing/or not telling me something
3.Possibly the alignment is so out of wack its causing this(can an alignment even cause a vibration?) but I have no other symptoms of a bad alignment, and when they aligned the car originally it was just BARLEY out of spec.

OR

4. I bought cheap tires, and now I'm paying for it, and maybe I should learn to live with it.


At this point I am at my wits end.. this is making me hate a car I love, and to no fault of the cars.. It used to ride extremely smooth even with 7 year old dry rotted tires.


If you have any thoughts or ideas let me know, thanks!

 

[eljefino]

So do they have a 30 day satisfaction guarantee on the tires? Several chains I know, do.

I mount and balance my own tires and have had several S series as well as other cars. There's something about the s-series that makes it sensitive. Tight front end, tiny wheels spinning faster... something. Miatas also suffer from this.

I would not sweat the multiple smaller weights in and of themselves. They might be out of your exact weight needed or they might spin the tires up, put 75% of needed weight on, and re-spin so they can center that last little weight exactly right.

 

[quint]

This whole thread somes up what I am going through with my Sequoia. Replaced older, dry-rotting tires (that rode wonderfully) with new cheapies and the vibration, even after 3 trips back for rebalancing, checking rims, changing tire position, etc etc have yielded nothing other than a truck that used to be a total joy to drive that is now rocking, bouncing, and vibrating all over the highway at 70 mph.

Whats really wierd though, is after recently taking it down to Florida a couple weeks ago, the drive down was a nightmare of vibration. The drive back.... smooth as warm butter. Hardly vibrated at all. Wierd.

I'm done with cheap tires after this, I can tell you that much...

 

[SubLGT]

Originally Posted By: actionstan
………..If you have any thoughts or ideas let me know, thanks!


What were the actual road force values for the 4 tires? What were the wheel runout values? Match up the worst tire with the worst wheel, and see what that does. Match up the second worst tire with the second worst wheel, etc. If that doesn't solve the problem, get two warranty replacements from Nexen for the two tires with the highest road force.

 

[actionstan]

Originally Posted By: SubLGT
Originally Posted By: actionstan
………..If you have any thoughts or ideas let me know, thanks!


What were the actual road force values for the 4 tires? What were the wheel runout values? Match up the worst tire with the worst wheel, and see what that does. Match up the second worst tire with the second worst wheel, etc. If that doesn't solve the problem, get two warranty replacements from Nexen for the two tires with the highest road force.


I have no idea, they have never given me any paper work other than a invoice when I bought the tires, no alignment specs or balance specs or anything..

 

[actionstan]

Also If I decide to try and live with this.. What potential issues could it cause for the car? Its not a very violent vibration, I could probably learn to live with it as long as it wont damage the car, this is technically a beater and I don't want to sink alot of money into it.