rominl

iTrader: (4)

i think that's oz? and yeah i rmember 17-21 is the limit, anything more than that you will get vibration. so the car is fixed now and everything is silky smooth huh? congrats man, i am glad that your problem is fixed and you left with the ride you were looking for!

STONER

I spoke way too soon. The shimmy has returned and it's a little different now. I think it may be spanning a larger range of speeds but with less violence if you get what I'm saying.

Should I take it back to the place that did the balance?

Is the Control Arm bushings my last option at this point?

This is getting more than a little frustrating.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

umm.... i don't know man. if it was good and now getting worse (in a relatively short period of time), not sure if it's the balance (unless some weighs got thrown off?).

STONER

I ended up going back to Curry's Automotive. That was the place that did the Hunter balance. They admitted the wheels were off and did a rebalance. Now a week later I still get a vibration at 55-65. I can't imagine that the shop is that lazy or that the balancer is that broken, so I have no choice but to think that it isn't the balance of the wheels. It seems I am going to have to get the Control Arm bushings replaced as this is killing the enjoyment of my car.

I did the ball joints in the last 10K miles. Should I do the tie rod ends while the suspension is apart? Anything else down there I should know about?

Thanks

RIPP7399

I have the same vibration problem... mine seems to be right around 58-59 MPH constantly replaced bushings, control arms, tie rods, ball joints... and promptly hit a gignatic pothole the same day as i picked up my car and bent the rims on passenger side.... hopefully when other two rims get here i wont have the vibration....

good luck

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

Sorry your troubles have not gone away.

I still don't think I am hearing enough of the story to rule out that it is no longer a tire balance issue.

Is the tire place saying they just didn't do it right the first time or that the tire is so out of balance that they can't get rid of all of it? I start to question their capability if they had to do it over, and if it is really a badly off balanced tire they should of told you that as well.

I think before you continue searching for other causes you need to know for sure what the situation is with the tire. Some tire brands/models are known to have mis-balance issues.

Our localHunter dealer is also a Tirerack authorized installer. They have told me of cases where a brand new tire from Tirerack is just so out of balance that it is considered defective. Tirerack will actually authorize for that tire to be returned and replaced free. They do this if the authorized dealer has the Hunter that can verify that this is the problem.

So was the balance actually now confirmed good or the shop cannot get the tire to balance within spec? You may or may not get a straight answer from them at this point.

I would say your best way to know for sure is to run a different set of tires and wheels up front. This should be a good way to confirm if the vibration goes away

If you still get vibration, then def start looking elsewhere.

STONER

They acted surprised when they said that it "sure enough was out of balance". The guy suggested that I may have hit a pothole (which I'm sure I did not) I guess I need to go for a test ride with the tech there and have him tell me that the ride I'm experiencing is "in balance". It may well be a tire that is out of round, but I sure wish they'd tell me that rather than let me go thinking that it's fixed.

SloGS3

Man it seems like everybody has this problem with their GS. I just got my Daizens yesterday, and im still waiting to get my Tein CS before i take the front apart completely, that should be a project for next weekend, ill let you know when i get mine installed if they made any difference. Im also thinking my rotors could be the issue, since they are ready to be swapped, and im also going to get the Hubcentric rings as well, i guess do everything i can to get rid of this problem!

spike_um

iTrader: (3)

for what its worth, i put on my stockers and the vib went away. 80k on sus. put back on different set of new wheels vib came back.

Kbueno

I agree, the stock GS rims seem prone to get bent/unbalanced. The bushing replacement/L-tuned suspension upgrade helped considerably....only had a small vibe at 70-75. With new rims the vibe has vanished.

STONER

I am running the 18" IS350 wheels, so they are somewhat stock. I got the car back this afternoon and so far three times seems to be a charm. The guy said that my tires may be part of the issue (ContiExtremes) but I have my fingers crossed that this is the last attempt at balancing. The shop repairs a lot of high end stuff Porsche, BMW, and a RennTech CL600 the last time I was in there. I think that they are truly thinking it's fixed each time. I will update this in a couple of days for those that are interested.

chuckb

hey Andy-I had the same prob when I put my 18s on. They just could not get rid of vibration. It turned out one of my new Pirelli tires were out of round. Discount tire sent me 2 new tires and the tire shop got it right. An out of round tire can be balanced, but will still vibrate.

STONER

I suggested that to the guy and he said that it was a possibility. I'm not sure how to prove that the tire is out of round if it continues to balance. I have a 100+ mile round trip today with mostly highway driving so this will be the true test. I drove to work this morning and it seemed better. We'll see.

RIPP7399

this may be a stupid question , but how can you prove a tire is out of round??? if it can be balanced and shows being balanced on a machine??

rominl

iTrader: (4)

one easy way is mount it on the car, jack up the car, and spin the wheels. you should see the wheel being out of round if that's the case