mike229 Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Mechanics please help me with other ideas for high speed (60+MPH) vibration!! I have new rotors and new tires. I had an alignment and balancing done twice (under warranty), and the vibration goes away. Smooth as can be at 80MPH.....for about 2 weeks!!!! After a few weeks the vibration comes back!! I am having a hard time believing that you have to balance your wheels every 2 weeks on a $50K+ vehicle, no matter how old it is My local mechanic (I refuse to take it to the Dealer) says "NPF" No Problem Found - visibly anyway....I dont think they road test on the highway... Any ideas?? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tansupplyman Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 If you have chrome wheels you can have problems balancing the tires. I have them and had the tires balanced with 'hammered-on' weights; went just about 10 miles and heard banging coming from under the car. Long story short: the hammer-on weights will NOT stay on the wheels period !!!!!!!!!!!!! They sling off. Went to a wholesale tire equip. co. and bought a box of weights specifically[said on box] for a Lexus--cost me about $12. !!!! Went back to the balance place and had them use these weights-----same problem: would NOT stay on. Finally wised up and went to a place that used stick-on weights and did dynamic balancing. NO Problem since by using stick on's. Note that the 1st place would do stick-on balancing (if you furnished the wts.) but would only put them on one side of the wheel [ set for static !!]--static balancing is good for bicycles,etc--ha. Don't know if this is applicable--but it is true. Only use hammer-on wts if you have painted wheels--then you shouldn't use them since they will scar the wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike229 Posted January 8, 2004 Author Share Posted January 8, 2004 Thanks Tan - I do have the chrome rims but I hadnt noticed weights coming off.. They did use the hammer on kind... I will try to find a place that does dynamic wheel balancing and see if that does it... So did you say I should use stick on weights on my chrome rims, and on both sides of the wheel? Thanks again... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tansupplyman Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Yes, dynamic balancing on a machine. the machine will be set to the dynamic mode and will read out the wt required for each side of the wheel. Watch all this work---make sure the guy cleans where the weights are to go since they use foam tape that is on one side of the weight. The guy should be able to cut the wts in half if closer balancing is needed. Also see the numbers zero out, indicating a balance[on a subsquent spin]. Make sure the machine is fairly new--not 15 years old!!! I usually put a dab of Goop on the edge of each wt. when you have been thru this you don't want it to come off. Oh, make sure the guy takes off the old wts first. Good luck on this---it may not be the problem--but it was my experience. let us know if it solves it--don't know if I want to know if it doesn't!!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VMF Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 i have chrome rims and they had weights only on the inner side and i had the same vibration problem until i went to the shop and they balanced them again but this time with weights on both sides and it solved the problem. before this i changed rims and tires and it didnt help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obergc Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 If they are rebalancing the tires when you take it back, then you might be throwing weights as these gents have all suggested but if the problem persists after doing everything suggested, you might, just might have some bad tires. I had a problem similar to what you describe years ago with a set of American built steel belted radials. They would ride smooth for a while and then start shaking the car again. Everytime I took the car back, the balance had changed but in the mean time they told me that I had bent rims, NOT, bad shocks, NOT, and was blaming everything but the tires. Eventually, I got tired of messing with it and bought a set of Michelins for the car, problem gone forever. To this day I have a hard time trusting American built steel belted radials. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
90LS400Lexus Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 My grandfather had a similar problem with his 1990 Mazda 929 sedan (LS400 wanna be). Anyway- after about 100 miles of driving after new tires were installed- it started shaking in the steering wheel (not upon braking) at highway speeds. Took it back and a wheel weight had fallen off. Took it back again- about 100 miles later- it happened again. Just let it go @ that point. Had new tires installed since then and I think all is well. I think the tire shop did not know what they were doing. :) His car has alloy wheels and he was told that weights seem to fall off of this type wheel pretty easy- but who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRK Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 If the vibration is past 60 MPH then get a print out of the alignment that was done - before and after angles. The alignment is critical, and no amount of new tires or balancing will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCF3 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 How about tread patterns? Are they the same on all four? If there's nothing wrong with your suspension, I can't think of anything else. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.