I own a 1999 Civic coupe. This winter, I was doing donuts in some heavy snow. When I drove to work the next day, I experienced an intense vibration at speeds over 40mph. I learned it was the snow that had built up in my rims that was causing this. After cleaning ALL of the snow out, some vibration still occurred, but to a much lesser extent. Now, months later, and after an alignment and getting my wheels balanced three times, I still have a vibration at high speeds (>70mph). My mechanic (who did two of the balances) says that my tires, which are Hankooks, are "naturally round", and do not balance well. He said to just wear them all the way down, and get new ones. He said that there is nothing wrong with my suspension. Has anyone ever had similar problems? Are Hankooks just bad tires?

 

Take you car to another shop for wheel balancing.

 

And while you're doing what RonJ said, post the alignment spec sheet. The shop should have given you a sheet showing your alignment numbers before and after.

Hankook tires are extremely popular for road and track use. They definitely aren't "bad tires". Whatever "naturally round" nonsense your shop guy is trying to talk about it just that - nonsense.

 

Tires are circles, they're suppose to be round. That seems like a silly thing to say.

 

I remember looking at the spec sheet for the alignment, but the mechanic never gave it to me to keep.
I had balances done by two different shops.
Maybe my mechanic didn't say "naturally round" exactly, but he implied that these tires are inherently hard to balance. Do you think that a road force balance would help me out? I don't want to pay $75 though if they're only going to tell me that I have a bent rim. Is there any way to diagnose any of these issues myself?

 

possible flatspot or bad tire with shifted belt.. check tires first to see if a belt shifted then get balanced.

 

I went to get my wheels looked at over the weekend, and they only measured 7 and 13 pounds of road force on a hunter machine. If it isn't the wheels or tires, what else could it be? Can warped rotors or brake drums cause vibration even when the brakes aren't being applied?

 

Do you have oem axles on this car. OEM axles are made with a two piece design with a damper in the middle. This helps with vibration.

I suspect that you may have a bent driveshaft/axle

 

I bought the car used, but to my knowledge, they are OEM axles.