Vibration

[VMF]

i have a slight problem with my car. it vibrates a lot when i drive between 80-90 mph, before and fater the car is fine but at 85 mph whole car is shaking. i changed tires and did wheel alighnment and it didnt help. what else could cause this?

[SKperformance]

2 main things a bad torque of the nuts

meaning tehy are not being seated with the rims to the outer rotor hub properly

or the rotors are warped which can also be caused by overtightening or non specs of the nuts

also does it happen when slowing down as well as speeding up during that speed?

[m2pc]

Just to cover all bases, you did not mention if you balanced the tires? You would probably need to balance the front two.

I am having the same issue with tires that were put on with less than 1k miles on them, I know its a balance issue, but haven't had time to bring it in. And I did do an alignment as well, not for shakes, but becasue the tires I replaced had uneven wear on the treads.

Good luck!

[m2pc]

OK,

after my last post, I decided not to be lazy and brought the car back to the people who installed and balanced my new tires. Like I said, its been around 1,000 miles since I put them on , but the vibration at 70+ MPH has always been there since I put the new tires on.

Well anywhoo, this is the interesting part, same tech ( but using a different balancing machine) Front right slightly off (.5), front left more off (1.0), left rear - still perfectly balanced, right rear WAY off (1.5), but to add to my dismay, he showed me that the right rear rim was not perfectly round! As it was rotating, you can definately tell that it was out of shape :(

He did give me a contact who supposedly could reshape and refinish for around $120-$150, anyone have any experience with something like this? Or just buy a new rim for $250

I am going to see how the car runs tommorrow at 70+mph speed and if all feels good with no shimmying, then I am going to leave it be.

Going back to the balance issue though, how in the world could the balance of three tires been so far off in only 1k miles? And no, I don't aim for the potholes :)

[steviej]

my guess is that they were not balanced properly to begin with, or the balance is not right this time.

third time is a charm, but the proof will be whether or not there is any vibration now.

steviej

[m2pc]

Wow,

now it rides like a charm. Guess they balanced it wrong the first time. The only thing I can think of is that when they first used the calipers to measure the tire the first time, they measured the bad "out of round" wheel. So should I have the tire shop re-round and re-finish the tire? Or just leave it?

[SW03ES]

If it doesnt vibrate, its not hurting anything so I'd just leave it be. My Explorer has a bent rim, they just have to double balance it and its fine.

[m2pc]

I brought it in today and had them throw it on the balancer again. Actually, it was more out of round than I originally thought and it looked even worse after they off the tire. Anywhoo, I had them redo it while I waited, the rim had worn away its original tire unevenly and since I just got a new set, I might as well take care of this now.

Was pretty interesting to watch, used a rubber mallet, then used a torch to heat it up, used some hydrolic presses and bingo, nice and round again :D

Ok, now the trick is to not have my wife run over anymore potholes :P ok,ok, maybe I ran over one or two :whistles:

[amanda]

m2pc, i take it you had this balancing done at a non-dealer place. can you say where?

[m2pc]

I had the balancing done at NTB, which is basically a Sears shop. The service is so so, that is why I had to bring it back twice with the second time showing that three of the tires were not balanced properly.

But after they balanced it again, it made a ton of difference. The reshaping of the rim was done at a specialty shop in Newton, MA. and probably didn't have to be done.

Amanda, don't give up, I know it is a pain and a real hassle to put up with as I have seen your post in other boards as well, but as with any vehicle, things occasionally need to be taken care of. These vehicles take a lot less taking care of than a lot of other vehicles.

In Mass, there is a chain called Direct tire, I heard the tech are trained very well and they do a good job, but. I used to think they were a little pricey. After my experience, I think I would pay the little extra to not put up with the hassle of having to reschedule and go back and argue that they rebalance my tires. NTB was more than willing and very accomadating to redo this, but as I said, what a hassle as well as they were kinda looking at me like I had done something in between the 1000 miles that they put the tires on.

[amanda]

yeah, i should take it easy. it just gets me so upset when i think about how much energy i've already put into trying to keep this car quiet when its quietness was the reason i bought it in the first place.

but at least you got good results at sears, so i am going to go back and give it another try.

i think i am getting a cold and maybe that's made me more irritable too. sorry you guys.

[m2pc]

No worries Amanda :D

I totally understand how you feel and you are absolutely right in expecting it to drive smoothly. It shouldn't be an issue for them to rebalance since I believe its a lifetime balance with Sears. Let us know how it turns out.