Nathan,

There may be other reasons for your vibration, but the most likely indeed is balance.

That being said, one other thing you can check is to see that the tires are perfectly round... there is a device which most tire shops have which checks to see if tires have gone out of round, and you might want to have yours examined. The device involves a roller and a pointer -- the wheel is turned with the roller in contact, and movement of the pointer shows if the tire has any bumps or variations on it. If it does, it's usually an indication of internal belt separation or internal damage. (A defective tire like this is normally replaced free by the manufacturer.) A tire CAN be balanced but be slightly out of round, and you will feel that at speed.

It's far more likely, though, that your problem is in fine-tuning the balance. There are speed shops and racing shops who take wheel and tire balancing to a fine art. Most typical tire balancers use 1/4 ounce weights, thus their balancing is to the nearest quarter ounce. Most shops use machines that barely spin the wheel/tire up to 20 mph and then indicate where to put weights in increments of 1/4 ounce. But some speed shops will balance down to 1/10 ounce and their machines spin the wheels up to 60 mph, and the resulting fine balancing makes a noticeable difference at high speeds. Don't bother looking for this service at your neighborhood gas station or tire retail outlet... you're going to have to check with high-performance specialists to find it.

And, you might not need this super-fine balancing, though I'd recommend it if you habitually cruise at high (90mph+) speeds. Tire balance changes over time with tire wear, and you might not have had a great balance job done originally, so periodic rebalancing is a good idea. Try getting your wheels/tires rebalanced and see if that fixes it. Good luck.

- = M = -

• Is front-end vibration always unbalanced tires?, Nathan Work, Wed, 17 Jan 2001 10:28:55
  • Re: Is front-end vibration always unbalanced tires?, chrisx, Wed, 17 Jan 2001 14:58:52
  • Re: have you lowered your front suspension ?, Gavin, Wed, 17 Jan 2001 10:57:24
    • Re: have you lowered your front suspension ?, Nathan Work, Wed, 17 Jan 2001 16:38:01
    • Could also be inner driver problems..... n/m, Charlie, Wed, 17 Jan 2001 11:16:02
  • Almost always, Monster, Wed, 17 Jan 2001 10:46:28 <-- Viewing This Message
    • Further to Almost always, DET, Wed, 17 Jan 2001 12:50:28
      • Re: Harmonics, Monster, Thu, 18 Jan 2001 09:17:58
      • Thanks for the great info! n/m, Nathan Work, Wed, 17 Jan 2001 16:38:54
  • Re: Is front-end vibration always unbalanced tires?, Aaron Govatos, Wed, 17 Jan 2001 10:34:09

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