Hello

I did a tire rotation on my car last weekend, and after taking it on a test drive, i felt a vibration through the steering wheel as well as through my seat. the car still tracked straight and didn't pull to either side when driving.

i originally criss-crossed my rear tires to the front, and put my front tires straight back into the rear (drivers side front to drivers side rear).

After test driving, i switched the front tires from left to right. Driving the car again - there was noticeably less vibration, but it was still there.

I thought i needed to get the tires rebalanced, so i got that done today. Unfortunately that did not fix the problem either.

Can anyone give me some advice as to what could be causing this vibration? I'm guessing its related to the tires, since the car drove perfectly fine before i rotated the tires. The tires looked to be in good shape with no bubbling, flat spots, or uneven tread wear. Could it be an alignment issue? If so, why would the alignment be off now and not before?


Thanks

 

check also all steering/suspenssion joints, bushes, etc. Better way is to check first the aligment. You will find the part that causes trembling

 

Will do - thanks for the advice.

 

usually tires are about the only thing that causes a shake. If the only thing you did was rotate tires, then rotate the tires back the way they were, and test drive. If the shake goes away, have the rear tires road force balanced. You will probably find the tire that way. Seperated cords will not be found by a dynamic balance.

 

Well, I ended up rotating my tires back to their original positions, and the vibrations are gone. I've never heard of a Road Force balance, but I found out my local Discount Tire performs this service for $25/tire.

The tires that have the issues have plenty of life left- about half the treads. Do you really think the Road Force balancing will solve the issue? I've already spent $25 rebalancing the two tires. I'll be adding on another $50. Just wondering since I could potentially get new tires instead and be certain the issue will go away.


Thanks

 

Thats crazy, blows my mind. Could one of the tires be a little smaller diameter than the others?
-Ed

 

I just wanted to give an update in case anyone is interested...

I got the tires Road Forced Balanced today and that seemed to take care of the problem. The guys at Discount Tire really took great care of me and even re-rotated my tires. Upon balancing one of the tires, they noticed that one wheel/tire was really out of wack and re-seated the tire onto a different position onto the rim.

The car drives straight as an arrow and is even smoother than before.

 

glad you worked it out. I am sorry for giving you faulse "remedy", i thought that you have had the tires allready balanced. Aligment is the next thing you search after tires are well balanced.

After 2-3K miles you sould check for even tire wearing.

In my opinion you should always make an aligmend check after installing new tyres because you don't want to wear them quickly.

 

people think road force balancing works, but I have NEVER seen it work. Sometimes it is temporary. A road force balancer uses a big drum. It puts pressure on the tire, and sees how many pounds of pressure it takes to make the tire roll flat. A car is usually under 14 pounds i think. You just use it to find the bad tire, and replace it. Dont let them actually try to balance it. It is a temporary solution for a permanent problem.

 

I'm a bit confused - you're saying a road force balance usually doesn't work? but why did you suggest me to get one?

 

so the road force balancing machine can find your bad tire. If by some miracale turning the tire on a perfectly round rim permanently balances the tire like people claim, than more power to you, and them. Sounds like a placebo to me

 

I've had similar vibrations in my 2017 Accord sport.
First fix i tried was swapping a good tire/wheel into the problem position. That wheel then also began to cup wear.

On a mechanics suggestion I then replaced brake rotors and lubed my caliper slide pins. That didn't do it.

Then I replaced the rear control arm on the side where the wheel was cupping. Wheel is wearing smoothly now and vibration is reduced.

Today I am replacing sway bar links and sway bar bushings as the boots on my links are torn. When I saw the even wear on the inside of the tire tread for the problem wheel, i knew the problem is largely solved and I now just require an alignment.

Note of caution here, upon inspecting other bushings on the rear suspension, some are starting to tear and should be replaced to minimize compliance (too much flex) in the suspension alignment.


Cupped tire: wear on inside tread blocks is uneven with greater wear patches repeating every few inches (see how the bottom edge here doesn't look round and has an angular look?)

Cupped tire from another view: alternating dark spots where tread has greater wear due to tire not consistently staying on the road.

Tires will be replaced once all bushings are fresh and suspension is aligned.