Vibration after new wheels and tires

[ganzhimself]

I finally got a set of new wheels and tires for my 03 P5. I had a shop mount and balance them for me, but they didn't install them. I installed them this evening and now it seems that when I hit about 55-60 MPH the car starts to vibrate. I double checked all the tires and they mounted them correctly (2 drivers side, 2 passenger side). The wheels are Drag DR-34's and the tires are Continental ContiExtremeContact 215/40/17. I'm thinking that the problem is that the hub bore of the wheels are bigger than the stock wheels and they're not sitting right. Does this sound correct, or am I looking at something else. I didn't have this problem with my winter wheels that I just took off.

 

[drgnzadiel101]

maybe there a nipple int he one of the tires? did you get an alignment done at the same time (highly doubtful it would cause this but you never know)

 

[Stealth01]

Probably one of the wheels is improperly balanced. Happened to me when I got new Eagle GTs awhile back. Just have them rebalanced.

 

[Matt V]

You need to get your wheels rebalanced.

 

[ganzhimself]

Kinda what I figured, I'll be bringing the car in to the same shop that mounted them and I'll have them take a look, and I'll probably toss down for an alignment too, noticed that the snows wore a little funny this winter.

 

[slavrenz]

you need to get your wheels rebalanced.

+1

 

[ornithology]

ALso make sure you have hubcentric rings.

 

[ganzhimself]

Yeah, I'm scheduled to take the car into the shop this afternoon after work, it's gotta be that (at least) one is out of balance... The hub on the P5 is... What? 67.1mm?

 

[ZoomZoom03]

I have shaking around 70mph and a pull to the driver's side, could improper balancing be culprit as well or should i be looking into possible suspension complications? Thanks in advance for input

 

[P-Funk!]

Just give those symptoms to the shop - and let them troubleshoot. Do not say 'give me an alignment'.

 

[ganzhimself]

The tire shop ran all the wheels through the balancer again and looks like whoever did them before didn't put the weights on correctly and they came off... Go figure.

 

[Rix6]

I doubt this is a balancing problem. You need to have snug fitting hubcentric rings with those wheels. Do you even have hubcentric rings in them?

If they re-balanced the wheels an dthe problem went away, it is still likely that the hubcentric rings are the problem. Each time you take off the wheel and re-install it, there is a chance the lugs center it and a chance they don't. So this time things might be smooth and the next time you take a wheel off, you will have vibration again.

 

[ganzhimself]

I doubt this is a balancing problem. You need to have snug fitting hubcentric rings with those wheels. Do you even have hubcentric rings in them?

If they re-balanced the wheels an dthe problem went away, it is still likely that the hubcentric rings are the problem. Each time you take off the wheel and re-install it, there is a chance the lugs center it and a chance they don't. So this time things might be smooth and the next time you take a wheel off, you will have vibration again.

Yeah, I have a set of rings on order, so when they come I'll be installing them. The vibrations aren't 100% gone, I'd say 85% better, but it doesn't feel like the car is shaking itself apart.

 

[03 mp5]

I have shaking around 70mph and a pull to the driver's side, could improper balancing be culprit as well or should i be looking into possible suspension complications? Thanks in advance for input

The pull is your alighnment, and the 70 mph is the balance.

 

[ganzhimself]

Well, looks like the hub centric rings took care of the rest of the vibration I was experiencing.

 

[Rix6]

Well, looks like the hub centric rings took care of the rest of the vibration I was experiencing.

I was pretty sure that was the problem. I have seen it myself on several cars. The first time I went through balancing hell taking the tires and wheels back like 7 times! They were so sick of me at the tire shop...

This is where I also found out how sloppy the balancing machines are. I started marking the size and location of the weights they put on. Each time they rebalanced, the weights and locations were different - sometimes by drastic amounts like weights on the complete opposite side of the wheel. Once I got the hubcentric ring problem sorted out and had no more vibrations, I took all the weights off the wheels. Guess what - no vibrations! I haven't balanced tires in years since I figured that out. In general it is a big waste of money. If you have weights that are 1/2 oz or less on your wheels, you will not notice the difference if they are removed. I don't think the balancing machines can properly measure imbalances as small as that.

Now I have TPMS sensors on my Mazda6, so I have to go back to balancing the tires because the sensors weigh enough to cause vibration if they aren't compensated by balancing weights.

 

[ganzhimself]

I was pretty sure that was the problem. I have seen it myself on several cars. The first time I went through balancing hell taking the tires and wheels back like 7 times! They were so sick of me at the tire shop...

This is where I also found out how sloppy the balancing machines are. I started marking the size and location of the weights they put on. Each time they rebalanced, the weights and locations were different - sometimes by drastic amounts like weights on the complete opposite side of the wheel. Once I got the hubcentric ring problem sorted out and had no more vibrations, I took all the weights off the wheels. Guess what - no vibrations! I haven't balanced tires in years since I figured that out. In general it is a big waste of money. If you have weights that are 1/2 oz or less on your wheels, you will not notice the difference if they are removed. I don't think the balancing machines can properly measure imbalances as small as that.

Now I have TPMS sensors on my Mazda6, so I have to go back to balancing the tires because the sensors weigh enough to cause vibration if they aren't compensated by balancing weights.

When they put the weights on the wheels one was really sloppy, with the weight being partially on the inside of the wheel and it was then attached to one of the spokes... Pretty sure that's the wheel that "threw the weight" as they said. Well, I guess if they had properly done their job in the first place they wouldn't have had to take them all off and re do them for free. Once they did the balance things were a lot better, but there was still an uncomfortable amount of vibration, and as cheap as the HC rings are, I am happy that they fixed it. In theory it makes sense, and I wish I would have thought of asking about them when I was buying the wheels.