vibration on new tires

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I recently replaced the OEM Yokohama 205/50/17 tires with Bridgestone Ecopias in the same size at Costco. The vehicle is a 2015 lmpreza.
At highway speeds above 60mph, l notice a wobble type of vibration. It is similar to a situation l had last winter where snow and ice buildup on one of the wheels caused excessive vibrations and wobbling. Removing the snow fixed that issue. The OEM tires never had this issue otherwise.
Will having the tires rebalanced fix this? Is it possible that one or more tires are defective? The Costco location l took it to is only a year old and has brand new equipment.
I plan on taking it back to Costco later this week, but wanted to get some feedback here on how to proceed.
 
The OEM Yokos on my 2016 Forester came from the factory with a horrific amount of wheel weights. Not sure if it's wheels, rubber, or a Subaru thing. I'd take it back to the tire shop regardless.
 
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Happens now and then. After the first few miles the tires seat on the rims and get out of calibration. Get them balanced again and while rotating in the machine have the rims eye checked if they are perfectly round.
 
I'd first verify that the lugnuts are torqued properly and check for any other cause. Techs are not perfect and they can make mistakes.

If the problem persists then I'd go back and ask them to roadforce balance the tires.
 
It is possible for a tire to be defective but it happens rarely. I would recommend asking them to do a Road Force balance on the tires and it should uncover any issues.
 
Lots of places just add weights, and dont remove the old weights. I'd have them balance the tires as is to find the out of balance one, then make sure they remove all the weights and try again. They might even have to break the tire off the rim and rotate it 90-180 degrees to get it to balance. If it wont balance, ask for a new tire.
 
I have the same Ecopia tire installed on my Yaris at Costco. Vibration comes in at 70mph, I took the car back & they rechecked the balance & it was good. I rotated the tires & the bad tire(s) are on the back now. They don't have road force balancer so there's not much they will do. I haven't called Costco yet to see if they will reimburse me for a shop that has a road force balance machine.
 
Let Costco have another chance to balance the tires. If that doesn't work, most tire makers have a "ride guarantee" program that allows the buyer to return them if they aren't satisfied. Iirc, Bridgestone's program is for 30 days. I've taken advantage of programs like like this: occasionally certain tires just don't suit a certain vehicle.
 
Update: Had the tires rebalanced. Improved, but vehicle still has a noticeable vibration at highway speeds, but not as profound as previously. Never had this problem with the OEM tires.
Any suggestions on how l should proceed?
 
Originally Posted By: Joe1
Update: Had the tires rebalanced. Improved, but vehicle still has a noticeable vibration at highway speeds, but not as profound as previously. Never had this problem with the OEM tires.
Any suggestions on how l should proceed?



Were the tires road forced balanced on a Hunter machine? If you did-then you need to explain that this is unacceptable and ask for the offending tire(s) to be replaced. Costco is generally excellent when it comes to making a customer happy.
 
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Originally Posted By: DaleRider
Michelin



There it is.....the "M" word in a tire thread when there isn't any remote mention on the tire in the OP's post.


Like they are the only tires that will balance. Even cheap Chinese tires will balance with enough lead.....
 
Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: Joe1
Update: Had the tires rebalanced. Improved, but vehicle still has a noticeable vibration at highway speeds, but not as profound as previously. Never had this problem with the OEM tires.
Any suggestions on how l should proceed?



Were the tires road forced balanced on a Hunter machine? If you did-then you need to explain that this is unacceptable and ask for the offending tire(s) to be replaced. Costco is generally excellent when it comes to making a customer happy.





l don't know what a road force balance is. I'll ask next time l am at Costco. A friend of mine says that being that my size ecopias are made in Mexico, that the quality control is not up to par, but l don't believe him. I had the car up to 70mph today and thought they were "marginally acceptable" but not quite right.

I've read about others here having trouble with out of balance tires, but couldn't relate until now that l am experiencing it firsthand.
 
Originally Posted By: Joe1
Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: Joe1
Update: Had the tires rebalanced. Improved, but vehicle still has a noticeable vibration at highway speeds, but not as profound as previously. Never had this problem with the OEM tires.
Any suggestions on how l should proceed?



Were the tires road forced balanced on a Hunter machine? If you did-then you need to explain that this is unacceptable and ask for the offending tire(s) to be replaced. Costco is generally excellent when it comes to making a customer happy.





l don't know what a road force balance is. I'll ask next time l am at Costco. A friend of mine says that being that my size ecopias are made in Mexico, that the quality control is not up to par, but l don't believe him. I had the car up to 70mph today and thought they were "marginally acceptable" but not quite right.

I've read about others here having trouble with out of balance tires, but couldn't relate until now that l am experiencing it firsthand.


You need to go to a tire shop that has this machine. I don't believe CostCo has them. You can go and have this done-then go to CostCo's Service Manager and see if he will reimburse you. The Hunter machine-in all likelihood will solve this issue. Ask for a road force balance.


Someone above referenced a link so you can search in your area who has the machines.
 
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Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
You all are talking about balancing . Is it likely the tires are out of round or something ?

Thanks ,


That's what Road Force is about - even though most folks use the "B" word.
 
Since the old tires didn't exhibit this vibration then it is the tires or the balancing. I would first have each tire rotated on a balance machine and check ofr out-of-round (there is a maximum recommended). If the tire is round and don't show any side to side belt issuers, then re-balance. Do this for all 4 tires. Ed
 
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Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
You all are talking about balancing . Is it likely the tires are out of round or something ?

Thanks ,


That's what Road Force is about - even though most folks use the "B" word.


Thanks , had nor heard of Road Force . :)
 
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