Steering Wheel vibration...

[xkape]

OK, so I buy this car in February and the whole ride home from SC the wheel vibrates.. I am about to spend money blindly trying things until someone here mentioned trying to get the wheels balanced. So, I did that.. check.. no more vibration. Now, it starts doing it again and I look and notice that it appears some of the the weights have come off on a wheel so I go to get it rebalanced... check ..um.. sort of but not really. So now I just don't know where to go..

The steering wheel vibrates left to right and it only kicks in at about 60mph. It gets worse upto 70 or so then seems to tame itself out a tad at 80+. Heres the odd part, it doesn't do it all the time. I can drive 50 miles on the same highway at the same speed and for 20 miles it vibrates, then 5 miles it doesnt the 10 miles it does.. and so forth. It's about an 80/20 mix in favor of vibration. I have no idea what to start with. All I can tell you is that my wheels are balanced and my rotors are not warped. Any help please? Also, do you need more info? I have no idea on this one.

[skwerl]

Tires are out of round or you have a bent rim.

[xkape]

Well, I know where the first place I am stating at it now. 1 reply overnight in 2 different forums and each suggests a flat spot on a tire(s). Any way to check that skwerl or am I just gonna have to buy some tires and see what happens? Worst case, I now would have perfect storage tires available to me..lol Recycling pays off! finally.

[Sabre]

Sounds like you could have separation of the steel belts in one of the front tires.

[Pentalab]

Well, I know where the first place I am stating at it now. 1 reply overnight in 2 different forums and each suggests a flat spot on a tire(s). Any way to check that skwerl or am I just gonna have to buy some tires and see what happens? Worst case, I now would have perfect storage tires available to me..lol Recycling pays off! finally.

See if you can borrow 2 rims and tires....just for a test. No point in buying new rubber....then find out you have a rim problem. I have another set of rims+tires I use for fall winter. You need 2 x known good rims and tires on a temp basis. Then if it goes away, then swap one of your originals back in..and find out which of the original 2 is bad. (or it could be both are bad). Then determine if its the rubber , rim or both.

Worse case is the vibration is still there with 2 known good rims + tires. Just a process of elimination.


Jimbo

[redfire427]

I would try rotating the front tires to the rear/ rear tires to the front, and see if there is any difference. This way you can pinpoint whether it is a tire issue, or an alignment issue. If you get the same results with the rear tires on the front, then it is the aligment.

Carmen

[nawagner]

I would do as Carmen suggests and add if the vibration moves to the rear it's a wheel or tire issue. If wheel or tire my initial thought was the same as Sabre although seperation is usually felt at lower speeds and feels like your car is rocking or moving side to side.

[gtncpa]

Do you drive your car much? I know when I first take my car out after it has sat awhile it vibrates a little. I have R compound tires. They seem to flat spot a little. (just an assumption) Distance and heat quickly gets rid of the problem.

[xkape]

From reading all of this, I am almost eliminating flat spots as an option. I have never slammed my brakes so hard they skidded, I have never done a burnout, I drive 52 miles one way to work each day (distance) and its currently 103 outside (heat). But, as a side note.. my God with the top down its so hot i feel like I am a turkey slowly roasting in an oven and, I am almost fully cooked.

[Drummerdude82]

I would try rotating the front tires to the rear/ rear tires to the front, and see if there is any difference. This way you can pinpoint whether it is a tire issue, or an alignment issue. If you get the same results with the rear tires on the front, then it is the aligment.

Carmen

If you do this, make sure to have the tires re-balanced before you put them on the front. I just did this on another vehicle of mine. Friend told me to re-balace the tires. I ignored him...and had a nice vibration in the wheel at 70 mph. Re-balanced the tires, and presto - no more issue.

[kansjfr]

I'm a nut on car vibration, and almost ALWAYS, it's a tire issue. I fight this issue on all of my cars time to time. The fact that it went away when you balanced the tires indicates to me that it's NOT a wheel problem, but a tire problem. Also, if your car sits around much between drives, the tires will get temporary flat spots on them from sitting which generally go away after the tires get out on the highway and heated up a little bit. Also, where and who balances your tires matters ALOT. The balancing machine needs to be calibrated, and tire shops are notorious for not getting that done, because it costs $ and takes the machine out of operation while it's being calibrated. Also, if the tire tech didn't spin the tires again on the balancer after he put on the weights and made sure it zeroed out, the tires still wouldn't be balanced correctly. I agree with Carmen; move the tires/wheels around and see if it changes the symptoms. I'm betting that it will. Go to a good shop, ask them if their machine is recently calibrated, watch them balance the tires if possible, and make sure they spin them again after the weights are put on and make sure the machine shows "0.00" . I'm pretty sure that will take care of your problem.

[Drummerdude82]

Kans is right on - as another friend of mine is a mechanic, and he balanced the tires. On my car, we have to static balance them (put the weights on the inside of the tire only). On my truck, we just balanced them "regular". He did exactly what kans said....put the wheel on the machine, spun in, found where it needed weight, added it, and spun it again to make sure it zero'ed out. There was one time where he put the weight on, spun it again, and it needed a bit more.

[Larry Moser]

After reading your 1st post you state the problem went away until the weights came off. Go to original balancer and get your money back and find some who can balance correctly. (Weights stay on for the life of the tire) Sounds like original balancer has an attitude problem. Been there done that.

[skwerl]

Check around your town for a shop with a 'road force' tire balancer. Go to the manufacturer's website ( http://www.gsp9700.com/ ) and click the tab that says 'locate a GSP9700'. Punch in your zip code and it will list the local shops with this machine. Get your tires road force balanced, it measures the runout and will identify which (if any) wheels or tires have a problem.

[xkape]

good info everywhere to be had in this thread. thanks for all the replies! OK, I will go for balance number 3..lol And I will find a road force one. The first guys, NTB also managed to keep my locking lug on one of the tires and I didn't notice cuase it was a pretty close match. Ended up buying a whole new set. The 2nd time, at Gateway tire, I just didn't trust it because they never tested it themselves in action to see if it was fixed.

[Larry Moser]

xkape, nice hat. Does the balance tech drive a Camaro? There you go..

[xkape]

So I called my nearest Road Force place.. guy told me that with 20" rims it may be impossible to ever balance them. They have to use taped weights instead of whatever they normally use. He would look at it but couldn't guarantee anything over 18" rim would ever be truelly balanced. That's fine and dandy but I really feel like calling BS.. No one in the world would own a 19"+ rim if it couldn't be balanced and Roush sure as heck wouldn't have installed the rims n my car knowing they would cause vibration would they?

[SteveL]

Before you go get the wheels balanced, go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a $4 roll of reflective foil tape. It's duct tape made out of aluminum instead of cloth. Take that roll and a pair of scissors to the alignment shop. Before he puts the wheel back on the car, cut a strip of the foil tape wide enough and long enough to cover the wheel weights.

[redfire427]

The only time I have heard of ( personal experience actually ) adhesive wheel weights coming off, is if they are applied to a chrome rim when the weather is very cold. The adhesive will not stick and when the rim starts to warm up, it sweats ( condensation ) which will allow the weights to fall off.

[xkape]

OK so I had the day off of work and went hunting for a Road Force balancer at a shop that could do it today. Oddly enough, I ended up at the local Ford dealer. Fully explained my situation and everything that had been done. 2 hours later, no vibration! Oddly enough though, I feel like my ass end is coming out from under me though if I punch it now. Before it didn't do that. I also managed to almost poop my pants because as I pulled out onto the road to test it the rear slid out and I skidded a bit sideways. Never done that before without trying to. I wasn't even giving it much. So now I am a bit worried on that..lol The only difference was that the tech that balanced the tires was with me so to be nice, for the first time ever, I used the A/C. It's never been used before so I am not sure if that could somehow jack up the car enough to make it lose control. Sounds silly to me to think the A/C could cause less traction but, I don't know, since I was 16 (now 34) I have used the A/C so few times I could probably count them on one hand. Windows down, top down.. all day and night long. Even in 103 degrees.

I did laugh though because the speed limit on the 2 lane freeway in front of Ford is 55 and I needed to get to 60 and 70 to test it. I got to 60 no issue.. had to wait til traffic cleared a bit and I hit 70.. then right before the exit, I went on up to 80. On the return, the tech says, "if you want to punch it again to test it, that's fnie with me.. if um.. it were were my car I might want to see it around 100 or so"...lol I think he liked the car. Oh well, rush hour traffic and 100 don't mix so I politely declined.