Swing913

iTrader: (1)

Does anybody have this problem? I changed to a set of 19"X7.5 wheels with 255/50/19, however, when I reach a higher speed around 100 km/h, that's km/h, the steering wheel starts to vibrate a lot, do any of you that changed wheel have this problem or does anyone know how to solve the problem, any help would be appreciated. Thanx.

salimshah

Speed related vibration are due to rotational imbalance of tires. I would take RX back to the place who installed the tires and have them re-balanced.

Salim

Shonuff

definately go back and get them rebalanced. get it done asap as this can cause a lot of wear on the tires quickly.

HarrierRX300

Also, get an alignment to be on the save side. I think the balancing on the tires might have been missing some weights...

wwest

The RX300 is either FWD or predominantly FWD, 90/10, or something close. VERY subject to torque steer!

With OEM tires and wheels there is LOTS of "give" (slack?) in the tire sidewall to combat the tendency for differential torque left to right or right to left (don't know which halfshaft is shortest) so "straight-forward" (driving straight down the road) torque steer wouldn't be noticeable.

With extremely narrow and stiff sidewalls maybe what you are experiencing is a form of torque steer.

Mine (01 AWD) is worse turning right with moderate power on, it wants to turn tighter than my wishes. Extremely bad at WOT and a tight right turn.

Wouldn't that mean the left halfshaft is shortest?

StrmRdr23

i also noticed some vibrations but only at higher speeds and not all the time. i'm not sure if it's the balancing or if it's because of the shorter sidewalls giving me feed back from road...some freeways are smoother than others...

wwest

Most SUVs have shock absorbers, dampeners, integrated into the steering system, to help "absorb" the jerks and jolts one might encounter in rough off-road terrain. Even my 92 LS400 had one (don't have a clue why).

If your RX doesn't have one you might want to consider adding one.

leebro3

I had the same problem with my 19 inch wheels. After reaching the speed of 60+, my steering wheel would vibrate back and forth. Kind of scary actually but I had my car aligned and all the wheels balanced and the vibration is totally gone.

Another problem you probably have encountered is when you brake, the wheel just seems to turn by itself either left or right. The bigger wheels and smaller sidewalls are too aggressive for the car forcing the wheels to steer in whatever direction the road is slopped. This is also an annoying problem but I believe there is no solution. Small price to pay for nice wheels in my opinion though.

Swing913

iTrader: (1)

Wow guys, thanx for all the feedback, I balanced 2 front wheels today already, didn't solve the problem, what should I do next, balance the 4 wheels and an alignment, pls help. Okay, and if I ignore the problem would it screw the suspension or so on or something that I didn't know??
And Leebro3 thanx for helping but just one question, do you think the vibration would come back?? Cuz there is no point of doing the alignment and balancing of the wheels if the vibration is going to come back in several months, I mean there is no way someone can afford to keep doing alignments and wheel balancing. Help again appreciated from all you RX memebers, thanx.

leebro3

Swing913,

I aligned and balanced my wheels about 8 months ago and the vibration has not come back.

A little more detail:
I originally put my wheels on and the car was fine with no vibration. It wasn't until I put my lowering springs on did the vibration begin. So I took my car to a recommended alignment specialist and they realigned all four springs and balanced all four wheels. Since then, I have experienced no problems. I take frequent road trips and drive 65 to 95 mph with no vibration.

One quick question for you, you have spacers correct? I only ask because when I first got my 19s, I put the Michelin Diamaris 255/50-19 tires on my car (the tires on the x5 sport package) and the rear two tires rubbed.

Can you post pics of your car as well? I would love to see the RX with that tire size and wheels.

Thanks.....hope this helps

Swing913

iTrader: (1)

Leebro3, I have lowering springs already put into my car and I guess that's what happened to you car as well. However, when I go to a shop to get the alignment done, do I tell them to just align the four springs as you said or basically the whole alignment of the car or is it the same thing?? Tell me more about it. I'll post some pics tm cuz I am all out on batteries on my digicam. One more question, how wide is your wheel, mine is a 19X7.5 and when I use 255/50/19 tires (I am using the Scorpion Zero by the way, how are ur tires handling?) the tires kind of stick out a bit. I am thinking of changing to some PZERO ROSSO in the size of 245/45/19, what do you think?

Handogen

"when you have two competing theories which make exactly the same predictions, the one that is simpler is the better."
- Ockham's Razor

The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct. Go with getting the tires rebalanced... if that doesn't fix the problem, have your alignment checked...

-Hando

leebro3

Well, I went to the alignment specialist and told them about my vibrating steering wheel problem. They basically said that they were going to realign the four springs. Make sure you tell them that your suspension has been altered because they have to reconfigure their computer to align your car.

(Note: Suxs because alignment will end up costing more due to the reconfiguration of their computer)

Your problem should be gone after that.

My wheel was 19x8. I currently have 245/40-19 Dunlop SP9000 tires but I am looking to change to either 245/45-19 or 255/40-19 tires.

RX300TC

Thank you hando... couldn't have said it better myself. Isn't everybody sick and tired of wild *****'s conspiracy theories?

Cause and effect folks: no vibration before new wheels, vibration after new wheels... gee what could be causing it?

You have three possible variables or a combination of any of them:

1. Tires. I don't care how much the tires cost/brand/etc, there are such things as bad tires. Tires themselves could have structural problems that cause them to be unbalanced, out of round, etc. In this case you need to get rid of them, wheel balancing will only mask the flaws in the tires.

2. Rims. The rims will always be slightly out of balance, that's why there is wheel balancing and weights. But never assume all because they did it once that they did it correctly. You could have had a real idiot working that day that didn't give a crap.

3. Suspension alignment. If you have new tires and rims, the unsprung weight components have changed. At first glance this shouldn't make a difference (since the weight is on the road), but I would ALWAYS get an alignment when changing the overall rim/tire combo. Again, all because they did it once doesn't mean they did it right. I have heard story after story of folks that finally took the vehcile to another place that finally got it right.

Hang in there and stay the course... let us know what finally solves it.

P.S. Not to scare you, but another possiblity exists that the monkey changing your wheels got careless with the air-wrench and unevenly over-torqued the nuts, thus warping the hub/axle near the wheels.

Swing913

iTrader: (1)

Okay guys, bad news I went to do the alignment today and the guy said he couldn't use the computer to do it becuz of my tire, it has such thing call a rim protector on the tire so the machine are unable to clam to the wheels for the alignment done. WHat should I do?