S60 Wheels Won't Stay Balanced

Did the weights shift? What kind of tires are on it? Is there perhaps foreign matter in the air space inside the tire? I've seen cheap tires that were not well balanced.

Hi Paul,

I've had tyres that refuse to balance properly. You had the tyres rotated - presumably front to back. Try putting things back to how they were. Perhaps your rear (now front) tyres are faulty (for want of a more exact term!). This is assuming there is not something going wrong with one of your front tyres - like a bubble developing (ply separation). Examine them both very closely - you should remove them to do this.

Regards Barry

When I took them to Goodyear, they thought that the weights might have shifted but couldn't tell for sure because they were new.

The tires are the Michelins which come standard with the car, a fairly reputable brand. The wheels are the standard alloy wheels, which were checked for roundness or deformation. I'm taking it in on Tuesday and will report back any findings.

Paul

When I took them to Goodyear, they thought that the weights might have shifted but couldn't tell for sure because they were new.

The tires are the Michelins which come standard with the car, a fairly reputable brand. The wheels are the standard alloy wheels, which were checked for roundness or deformation. I'm taking it in on Tuesday and will report back any findings.

Paul

Michelins tend to be quite good, I suppose you could have got a bad batch, so it's worth inspecting them carefully, but I would expect the problem to be somewhere else.

Wheel bearings in good shape? Alignment good? I can't think of much else.

No bearing problems that I can tell. The car has only 31,000 miles and the problem surfaced after rotating the tires, so had it been bearings, I would have noticed it earlier.

I took it to the shop and they checked the balance on all the wheels. One was very slightly out of balance so they rebalanced it. The alignment was set on the first visit and is good. No irregularity in the tires or wheels, everything round and smooth. The guy at the shop took it up to 80 mph on a test run and noticed no vibration.

Maybe I'm just being too sensitive but I really don't like the road feel of this car. It just doesn't seem smooth and even enough for its size and quality. Last year I had to rent a Chevy Impala while on a trip out of town and it had a much more even ride than my Volvo.

Paul

European cars in general tend to have much tighter, more responsive handling than domestic cars like the Impala. A consequence of this is more vibration and road feel transmitted to the driver. I like this personally but it sounds like you may prefer more of a luxury car. It has little to do with the quality of the car, it's how it's set up.

I used to experience this when I was over-inflating my tyres. What air pressure are you using?

Please excuse my spelling I have hay fever thats my excuse