Tires won't balance?

[lannvouivre]

I have some Arizonian Silver Edition tires on my car that seem like they just won't balance. Discount Tire's employees all know me on sight, which is seriously killing my self-esteem. Anyway, I have a steering-wheel shimmy at 68-85 or so mph, getting the most violent at around 75-78 mph and while braking. I've really been worrying about whether or not this will damage something, or that I might have the wheel jerk out of my hands somehow.

They did manage to get the shimmy to go away once, but it came back within a couple of days. They've said that they can't find any problems, but there's definitely something going on.

[djkeev]

More information please.

Old old are these tires?
How many miles are on these tires?
How worn are the tires?
If new, did your old tires behave in a similar manner?
What kind of wheels?
Have you tried a set of wheels from another car to see if that removes the vibration?
Any recent damage to the car? Potholes? Accidents?
How many miles on the car?

Dave

[ehoff121]

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=31279

Several things come to mind:

1) Lug nut torque - must be at 76 ft. lbs.-- any higher or lower can cause wheel vibration issues. Good tire shops will hand tighten with a torque wrench...

2) Rotor warp - although there are those that will claim rotors don't warp, I have personal experience with replacing rotors to remedy wheel vibration. You hear/feel vibration when braking, so this could be your issue...

3) Dirt/rust between hub/rotor, rotor/wheel, or both

4) Ask the tire shop to "road force" balance the tires if not being done already.

5) Alloy rims with stick on weights - they are not as accurate as perimeter clamp-on

6) Rims that could be out of round

Hope one or more of these give you some directions to explore.

[vit]

You could have a bad tire.

[lannvouivre]

Thanks for the replies, guys!

More information please.

Old old are these tires? Less than a year.
How many miles are on these tires? Less than 10,000 miles.
How worn are the tires? I don't know, I'm assuming they are wearing evenly and have plenty of tread on them because the workers at Discount Tires haven't said anything about that.
If new, did your old tires behave in a similar manner? Um, I only recently learned about tire balancing (don't judge me!), so I don't know if the old ones would balance or not.
What kind of wheels? Konig SWURVE 16" wheels, same size as my old steelies.
Have you tried a set of wheels from another car to see if that removes the vibration? I haven't because my old ones are in my parent's attic, and TX attics in the summer are almost as much fun as walking on broken glass barefoot.
Any recent damage to the car? Potholes? Accidents? We have lots of potholes, but they examined the wheels for deformities and damage and they were fine.
How many miles on the car? 75,000 miles

Dave

My replies in bold font.

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=31279

Several things come to mind:

1) Lug nut torque - must be at 76 ft. lbs.-- any higher or lower can cause wheel vibration issues. Good tire shops will hand tighten with a torque wrench...They should be at the proper torque, but I will check this weekend anyway.

2) Rotor warp - although there are those that will claim rotors don't warp, I have personal experience with replacing rotors to remedy wheel vibration. You hear/feel vibration when braking, so this could be your issue... I'm planning at looking at them this weekends, so we'll see.

3) Dirt/rust between hub/rotor, rotor/wheel, or bothThey usually clean the hubs before they stick the wheels back on, but I'll be able to get help with this stuff this weekend as well.

4) Ask the tire shop to "road force" balance the tires if not being done already.Ok, thanks.

5) Alloy rims with stick on weights - they are not as accurate as perimeter clamp-on Ok (and they are stick-ons)

6) Rims that could be out of round They checked the wheels and tires for deformities.

Hope one or more of these give you some directions to explore.

Thanks for this info.

I should also mention that I got a 4-wheel alignment at the Toyota dealership. Lordie, was it cheap in comparison with what the GM dealership said they'd do it for (right before saying they can't because I have aftermarket wheels... ) Hopefully my boyfriend won't have a conniption if I have to pay for anything.

[Salsa Guy]

Warped rotors come to mind. If they are that bad it's possible that turning them won't do any good. New ones are about $40 each ($80 total) and about 1 hour labor to install. However you should go ahead and replace the brake pads also.

[lannvouivre]

It was my rotors. I sanded my brake pads flat and had the rotors resurfaced since both were new, and now there's no steering wheel shimmy and the other rotor-related problems are gone as well. I managed to do both my front brakes without getting injured, too!