winter tires vibrate

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 25, 2009
Messages
4,085
Location
Chicago, IL
for the winter I got a set of Hankook icept iz2's on new American Racing wheels. bad vibration above 50. 5 times back to DT, 2 road force balances, same problem, although slightly better each time. at least two of the wheels had 12+ weights on them!!!
they finally replaced the tires with Michelin winter tires. the vibration is better, but still noticeable at 50 and very annoying above 70. am I expecting too much?!?!?!? tomorrow they will check for runout on the wheels. Honestly, I am tired of all this and would prefer to return them "DT style".
 
Go to Costco if you are member and pay for balancing.
That is what I do after visit to DT. I have Michelin X-Ice2 on my Toyota and they are smooth as butter.
 
are they hubcentric wheels?? if not they need to be tightened off the ground with no pressure on the tires. found this out on my old outback with uni wheels.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by HangFire
Originally Posted by tomcat27
on new American Racing wheels.

There ya go.

A problem with the wheel should have been revealed by the road force balancing, correct ?
 
Take it to a dealer have them road force balanced.. if that fixes it good.

if wheels or tires are bad go back to DT and have them make it right.. probably can get it paid for in this case by their corp. office.

all 3 DT I have been to their roadforce balancer guy has no clue. and I say that nicely.

comes out worse than their regular balance.

Winter tires can be balanced quite well.. its a tire or wheel issue. are they hubcentric? if not tighten in air.

I'm guessing bad tires.
then I see you had 2 sets..

that makes me think bad person running the machine or wheels.
 
I've never had an out of balance vibration issue with my snow tires. But then, I've never mounted them on aftermarket wheels. I always buy used OEM wheels.

That said inexpensive winter tires are notorious for requiring a lot of weights to balance. It's surprising to hear that you are still feeling vibration with the Michelin tires. That's what makes me wonder if it has to do with the aftermarket wheels.
 
Originally Posted by rubberchicken
Originally Posted by HangFire
Originally Posted by tomcat27
on new American Racing wheels.

There ya go.

A problem with the wheel should have been revealed by the road force balancing, correct ?

Off center mounting, out of round, or massive imbalance of the wheels is not going to be fixed by road force balancing, no. Revealed? Only if the operator knows what they are doing.
 
Same vibration after a tire change means the problem is likely the WHEELS. Cheap aftermarket wheels ( and I would definitely put most American Racing wheels in that category ) often have more runout than a factory wheel, and often NEED to be properly road force balanced for a smooth ride.

Unfortunately, most shops don't properly road force balance a wheel / tire assembly because it takes way too much time. Ideally, you spin and measure each wheel with no tire mounted, locating the LOW spot on the wheel. Then you mount the tire, put the assembly back on balance machine, spin and measure, to find the stiff spot on the tire. Then you break down the tire / wheel assembly, ROTATE the tire on the wheel to match the stiff spot on the tire with the low spot on the wheel. Then you balance the assembly ...

This just took 3 to 4 times as long as a regular mount and balance. Most shops only road force balance on come backs, and many techs have never done a TRUE road force balance, because, well, it just takes too long.
 
Last edited:
^^ X2.

Most tire techs don't know how to operate a RoadForce machine.

What we don't know here is if the tech used the dynamic balance setting or the static balance setting. Did he match mount the tire to the wheel? And what force values did he get?

We also don't know which car is involved - some cars are incredibly sensitive.

Further, the wheel could require a hub ring to center it properly - and even then, the tech has to be careful to snug up the wheel so he doesn't pull the wheel off center.

And my guess is that the problem is that last one. My recommendation is for the OP to take one of the wheels off and see if it is hub centric or not by putting the loose wheel back on the hub and seeing if he can move it around - getting a feel for how much slop there is. I'd also see if the wheels require a hub ring by going to the website.
 
Another thing to check, that I have seen many times after somebody puts aftermarket wheels on their car, is some domestic vehicles have a couple rotor retaining clips over the studs to hold the brake rotors on during assembly. The aftermarket wheels do not have a recess to clear them, and it will cock the wheel slightly making them wobble.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top