Weird Vibration w/New Tires

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Saturday, I had 4 Cooper CS4s (T rated) installed on my 98 Lumina LTZ. I also had an alignment done. Now, whenever I travel at or above about 50 mph, the car shakes and the steering wheel has a slight pulsation, often continuously. The car doesn't pull in either direction, however. This never happened with my old Goodyear Tripletreads. What could be the problem?

Edit: I did get them balanced at the same time. Probably should've mentioned that, haha.
 
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I'd take them back to where to got them balanced and have them rebalance the tires. If it happens at high speed, more then likely it's a balance issue. Not brakes, wheel bearins, or suspension related.
 
"the steering wheel has a slight pulsation"

One of the front tires could be defective. You can check them yourself for roundness but it's a dangerous test because the engine is running with shifter in D while the front of the car is raised. And you have to look at each tire while the wheels are turning.

A shop can also check them on the balancing machine. And a tire shop mechanic can feel a defect with his hand.
 
if the balance is OK, then most likely the tyres out of roundness due to improper storage. It can enven out themselves in a few K miles. either ask fro change or put on the back axle.
 
Originally Posted By: jwill213
Saturday, I had 4 Cooper CS4s (T rated) installed on my 98 Lumina LTZ. I also had an alignment done. Now, whenever I travel at or above about 50 mph, the car shakes and the steering wheel has a slight pulsation, often continuously. The car doesn't pull in either direction, however. This never happened with my old Goodyear Tripletreads. What could be the problem?

Edit: I did get them balanced at the same time. Probably should've mentioned that, haha.


There is a tire property called uniformity. Think "roundness" and you'll be close.

Uniformity is independent of balance - so tires could be in balance and still have high uniformity values. A tire with high uniformity values can cause a vibration.

I go into much more detail here:

http://www.barrystiretech.com/unifandbal.html

Take the car back and tell them you have a vibration.
 
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Originally Posted By: Char Baby
Indeed, return for a rebalance on your tires. I have had this happen in the past and a rebalance has helped.
Maybe not balance. Yes, maybe balance, or maybe eccentric, or maybe uniformity--stiff sidewalls on one part of the tire and flexy sidewalls on another.

Improper balance is easy to fix--balance correctly. Eccentric tires--replace under warranty. Non-uniform--try correcting on a Hunter Road Force balancing machine. If the stiff spot on the sidewall can be matched with the low spot on the rim (no wheels are perfect), good. If not, replace the tire under warranty.

Capriracer's Barry page is great!
 
I had CS4's before and they were difficult to balance and took much more weight than the previous no name tires that came off of the car. Shortly after I had the balance issue handled I sold the car.
 
Ya know, there is lots of good talk/reviews here about CS4's(many recent posts). Last Oct'10, one of the reasons that I didn't choose the CS4's for my daughter car was that in many reviews, "balancing issues" were common. We went with the Hankook Optimo H727's and are very happy thus far(I can't argue with the reviews). *I'm not promoting the H727's because, time/mileage will still be the final judge here. I actually like our Pirelli P4's better in many areas than the H727's.

Later on, I had reread some of the reviews and there had been now, more possitive reviews than negative reviews causing me to beleive that Cooper had addressed these issues.

I do beleive that the Cooper CS4's are a very good tire and there are many happy customers but, their balancing issues could be due to the lack of calibration in the balancing machine and/or tire tech related(not saying that it isn't the CS4's too). Everybody seems to be in a too much of a hurry all the time when performing work on the vehicles of others and the "this is good enough" attitude!

I use to have a SAM's Club membership and was buying tires from them for a short period of time. Each time I went into the service center(early morning) the manager and a tech were calibrating the balancing machine or the manager was training a different tech. This SAM's Club store in particular did a great job of balancing tires. I was buying G/Y tire there and as typicle(in my experience) G/Y tires need rebalancing often so, I frequented this SAM's store often for my tire purchaces and rebalancing.

I have also found one particular Good/Year Service Center that performs the absolute best 4 wheel allignments I have ever gotten in my life. Over the past 25 years, they are the only place that I'll let do my allignments. They calibrate their equipment frequently(balancing machines too)

When their done with the allignment, the vehicle drives straight, steering wheel is straight and they'll even first do an allignment check for FREE and give you the results. Often showing that an allignment isn't needed and there are other issues. I don't just go into that G/Y Center for an allignment unless I susspect something amiss. Sometimes it's the tires pulling to one side or another(radial pull-again, typical of G/Y tires).

I'm just blabbing again but, my point is: When you find a shop that does good work or a product that gives you good quality, stay with it! I just wish that I could find both in one place but, it ain't happenin' so, it causes me to drive all over town.
 
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Just replaced O.E. tires with Michelin MXM4's last week and love them. Noticed a minor shimmy in the wheel though at around 70 MPH. Thought I had a a tire out of round since they had "supposedly" balanced them but took it to my regular mechanic and he told me that if a wheel is out of balance, the speed it's noticed at most is 68 MPH. He rebalanced all 4 and the shimmy is gone. He pulled all the old weights before balancing and putting the new ones on so I don't know how far out they were.
 
rush balancing job most likely.

new tires shouldnt vibrate.. they need to wear off the mold release compound.. and heat cycle... there is no break in that will stop vibration.
 
Give them a shot at rebalancing.
And note how they tighten the lugs. A torque wrench should be used for the final tightening.
There is a chance at a bad tire - it is kinda rare now with new ones.
Also a bad rim, but it did not do it before, so that is low on the list.
 
Glad to hear that's all it was like in my case. Amazing though, isn't it? When you consider the weight of a car/truck etc. how a few ounces of additional weight placed correctly or incorrectly on just one tire can make all the difference in how a car acts.
 
Yeah, I'll be bringing in my G/Y Assurance Comfort Treads(ACT's) for their 4th rebalance in 3 years. These just need balancing often. Maybe I'll take them in this morning after my doctor visit.
 
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