vibration in steering wheel and floor?

Who did all that work on the car?

Let me take a step back. With the old wheels and tires, there was a very slight vibration... barely audible. I got new tires and wheels at Discount Tire Co. After that, the vibration was much worse. The next day, I took the car to Belle Tire for an alignment and I explained the vibration. After the alignment, they said Discount Tire didn't balance the tires very well and they re-balanced them. The vibration still exists. So, now, I really don't know if I have defective tires, defectives wheels, or a mechanical problem with the steering or suspension. I did the brakes myself.

I know it's difficult to find a real mechanic with a brain, but I think this is what you need to do. Did either shop take the vehicle for a test drive after they finished working on it?

A lot of mechanics are smart.

However, you had a minor vibration that got worse with new tires, brakes and rotors. It's probably the tires or wheels, brakes or rotors. It could be something else, like a bad CV joint, although that's unlikely.

I would take it back to discount tire and tell them.

Jeff

Yeah, I agree. Since I just traveled 600 miles with this vibration, my next step is to find a mechanic and get this resolved... I'm just trying to get an idea of the possibilities first. No, neither place tested the vehicle. And I am still thinking of returning to Discount Tire Co. and giving them hell... at least they have a good warranty.

Since you paid for all this work, it's wise to try and get your money's worth this time, so raise hell. But for the future, I think you should be asking everyone you know if they have a good independent shop they've used and trusted for years. Use them for all work on the car, unless they tell you to do otherwise (which an honest one will do).

Instead, give them the respect that they deserve. Let them correct the mistake. If they don't, then raise hell. You get more bees with honey than vinegar.

Jeff

Respect? The suspension is probably the one general "region" of a car that can get you killed if not serviced correctly. The guy who serviced his car was negligent. That's attempted murder.

At worse, the tech made a mistake. And we don't even know what is really wrong yet. The person at the counter did not make the mistake.

We all make mistakes.

Everyone deserves respect.

Jeff

And I would not expect anyone at Discount Tire to prescribe a solution to my problem... perahps Belle Tire would have a little more knowledge, but these guys straight-up deal with tires. Not much else... They'll get respect because I want respect. But, if this whole issue turns out to be a tire problem and they tell me otherwise, the respect levels will go down.

Getting back on track, if there is a serious side-to-side vibration of the steering wheel, is it most likely unbalanced tires or a bad belt in the tire? If it's a defective tire, how would they know? I still feel like 2 tire balances by two different shops would pretty much rule out bad tires and unbalanced treads... I get the feeling it's a suspension or steering issue.

Did they rotate the tires or put them back the same way?

You can try rotating front to back and see if it changes anything. If it does change anything, there is probably a tire problem. If it doesn't change anything, there probably isn't a tire problem.

Chances are that if you have a problem show up right after having work done on the vehicle in a location that can cause the problems.

When was the brake work done in relation to getting the new tires?

Personally, am I guessing that the best bet is to take it to Belle tire, tell them about everything ask them to figure out what is wrong. It could be be brakes, tires, alignment or something else, like suspension or steering.

Jeff

Oops, I did reply to author...sorry.

I think the tires were put back on the same way.

The brake job was done when I had the use of a garage after about 200 miles on the new tires. Something I forgot to mention is that when I braked, the vibration got worse. With new rotors, however, the vibration is barely noticable.

There are a whole lot of cooks fiddling with this soup.....too many, I think.

It could be the balance job they did if they did not "flip the switch" and balance them both ways (static and dynamic). Do you notice wheel weights on both the inside and outside of the rim? Check all the wheels. If not, they are probably not dynamically balanced. This can cause side to side vibration at high speeds. You may not have a "round" tire. You can balance a square on a tire balancer, but as soon as it touches the ground it will vibrate. You can always see a bad rim on a balancer, so I would guess your rims are not bent. Your car's parts with 142k miles are probably getting a bit worn, upper strut bearings, ball joints, CV joints, ect.. Sometimes, on a car with marginal CV joint bearings, when you use an impact wrench on the lugs without having the tire/wheel assembly snugged and the vehicle touching the ground (the way most tire stores do, while the car is suspended by jacks or a hoist) it can dramatically hasten bearing failure. That could be why your symptoms seem worse now, and you hear noise coming from the front. I can tell you that I know for a fact that Discount had a problem with their new balance machines (setup and tech training) for about six months, and now, for about a month say that all is well. I am only guessing your location, but I would try the local Toyota dealer (Spartan?). I know rates and parts are a bit higher than independent shops, but they will make it right. Good luck.

I only noticed weights on the inside and there is not much space on the outside for them.

I also noticed that Discount tire snugs the lugs then puts the car down and torque them to the correct specs. I don't think that is a problem...at least I hope not, especially considering the cost of CV work.

Yeah, Spartan Toyota is the local dealer (Lansing, Michigan). I am trying to save some money, but I will definitely consider taking it there if no one else can fix it.

Thanks for the input.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@q69g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:

The vibration probably has nothing to with BALANCE, but with TRUENESS.

There is hardly a tire shop on this planet that knows how to properly mount tires: Slap 'em on with some dish soap, load 'em up with weights and they're good to go. Yeah, right. Stupid idiots. Responsible for more comebacks and warranty claims than anybody else on the globe.

Do this:

Raise the car on a hoist maybe a foot off the ground. Start the engine, put the car in gear and let it idle. One of the front wheels will spin, the other may require a hand push to get it going.

Now, get in front of the car and observe the tires as they spin around. Do they spin dead straight and true, or is there a side-to-side wobble, or an up-and-down hop, or both?

If the tires do ANYTHING but spin dead-nuts true, they are badly mounted and there is your vibration in spite of perfect static/dynamic balance.

You can perform the same for the non-driven rear wheels, but you need to spin them by hand.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@h2g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

See my other post.

The "bad belt" or "bent rim" things are favorite dodges of the clueless tire monkey. The monkey's trainer is clueless too, since it's his responsibility to train the animals properly.

This is the correct way to mount wheels.

It's really hard to diagnose the problem without examining the vehicle. You could try looking at several things: are the wheels the proper offset for the vehicle are the wheel bearings fine are there loose suspension bushings are the strut mounts at top too sunken in is there dirt building up in the wheel well

Good luck.