greg3852

So I bought 4 new tires from Tire Rack. Had them installed at a place I always go to. Had a wobble at around 70 miles and hour until around 80. Went back had them balance them again. Still have a wobble in it. Thought it might be related to brakes and rotors which were horrible, but I changed them two days ago. All 4 rotors and pads. I can feel the shaking in the wheel and my seat as can the passengers. It is only at highway speeds.

I can't tell which tire it is coming from or even front vs back. My thought is to pull the brand new spare out and put it on one at a time to try to isolate the bad tire. Spare is brand new so it should be comparable to what I just put on last week. Anyone have any other suggestions?

I called Tire rack, and they said if I can isolate it they will ship me out a new tire no questions asked. Just looking to see if there are any easier methods or if I'm doing it the right way.

Devh

Sounds like a plan and that's what I would do to isolate the bad tire.
Once you find it just have it replaced. I would also make sure the wheels are properly torqued to their right values. Most tire shops don't use a torque wrench.

7milesout

I had a similar issue on my truck. I have 2 suggestions.

1. Have the tire shop determine the out of balance one. Have them let the air out, then break the beads. Then spin the tire around the wheel. Meaning, spin the tire while the wheel is not turning. It doesn't need to spin far. Maybe a quarter turn. The shop I used, they got 4 guys around the wheel / tire and they all grabbed the tire and walked in a circle. Very effective. They turned it close to a whole turn. Anyway, this relieves any sidewall stresses that *can* be induced by the machine that runs the bead from outside to inside of the wheel. They did this to one tire on my truck. And after that, it was perfect! On the balance machine, it was showing it was balanced well, but you could eyeball the tire tread and watch it sort of "wobble" from runout running over this stress in the sidewall. The balancing machine doesn't balance for ALL speeds, so it didn't pick this up. But it was right at 70 mph, just like your problem.

2. If this is a Korean brand tire, don't bother with the above, let tirerack replace it until they get a good one.


7milesout

dlbuckls10

I suggest a good tire shop should be able to find the cause of your problem without using your spare (too much work) to isolate the problem. I had a similar problem (wobble and vibration) after a new set of tires was installed that I didn't have before. I took my car back and found out that one of the new tires was bad. They replaced the bad new tire and my problem solved.

SW17LS

What tires did you buy?

greg3852

I bought the Continental Eco Plus. Tire rack already said if I isolate the bad one they will ship me out a new one.

These Here

SW17LS

Interesting choice...what made you choose them over the P7?

How do you like them other than the wobble? Lol

Nospinzone

Sorry to hear you are having problems with those tires. It definitely sounds like one, or more, are out of round. I'm surprised the re-balancing didn't fix it. Is the shop using Hunter Road Force equipment?

See this -

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=40

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

^^ what he said. They should be able to road-force balance the wheels and find if there is an out-of-round tire/wheel/combination.

Just a thought. On BMWs, when the tires/wheels/balance have been eliminated as the cause, control arm/thrust arm wear can cause this.

greg3852

I decided on them just to give them a try. I'm going to try to go with a different brand each time until I find the one I want. I plan on my next car being a 600hl so I'll be still in the LS line.

I have an appt monday to have them road force balanced with a shop I trust. Should be all set after that. I'll either know one is junk or it'll be fixed.

greg3852

Well after the road force balance, two of them are out of round. Called Tire Rack, and they are sending me two new ones, paying for the road force balance, and will pay to have the new two mounted and balanced. I couldn't be happier with their customer service.

Nospinzone

That really is good customer service. I buy all my tires from Tire Rack. I've never had a problem, but it's good to know they will stand by you.

As a matter of fact my installer just ordered two rear tires today for my 612 from them and they'll go on next week.

SW17LS

TireRack is great.

The two Continentals being out of round would make me think twice about buying Continentals...

greg3852

Yes, I'm a little thrown back by two being one. One was just about bad, but the other was way out. Good thing is all four cost less than $600 after the $70 rebate. But I think next time I'll go with the Pirelli if I still have this car.

SW17LS

Ordered my set of Pirellis today, they go on Wednesday and then I take the car on a 250 mile trip Thursday morning, I will post a full report.