[lilbenz230]

Car has 31,300 miles and brand new tires just installed/balanced. Rims checked, no bends. Alignment check is good. Car was built in 2/2014 and in Japan.

There are 2 main symptoms that I'm having. 1st is a persistent vibration in the chassis/floors/seats at highway speeds from 60-80mph. The tire shop says the balance is correct per their machine. 2nd is a wobble felt in the steering wheel under hard acceleration, say merging onto an interstate. It's brief, but definitely there.

My local dealer is pretty useless, so even though the car is under warranty I am probably going to need to use an independent specialist. But does anyone have any suggestions where to start looking?

 

[Road Trip]

Had a similar vibration on my wife's Chevy Cruze, even though that tire shop said it was properly balanced.

Did either your tire shop or your dealer use a Hunter Road Force Balancing Machine on your wheel? If not, change to one that does. A road force machine applies reverse pressure against your tires while it is being spun balanced. It does so via a second roller, stimulating the upward force the road exerts against your tires while you are driving.

Then took her Cruze to one tire shop that all their balancing equipment is Hunter Road Force Balancing machines, and the 60-68 MPH vibration stopped 100%, and not surprisingly, I since have changed my tire shop to the one with HRFB machine now. BTW, GM has just made HFRB machines "essential equipment" for all its dealerships -- though I do not know whether they are giving them a 90 day window to get it installed.

 

[lilbenz230]

The shop I use does have the RFB capabilities, but they use spin balancing primarily. I plan to go back to them, but the wobble under acceleration does not seem like it would be tire related?

 

[IHeartGroceries]

My 15 SGT wobbles terrible, under very similar conditions. I don't drive it much so I kind of just deal with it but it makes me hate the car pretty passionately.

No updates to offer? I've never really pursued any corrective measures. Perhaps I should just leave it with a tire shop for a couple days.

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[GerryB]

My 15 SGT wobbles terrible, under very similar conditions. I don't drive it much so I kind of just deal with it but it makes me hate the car pretty passionately.

No updates to offer? I've never really pursued any corrective measures. Perhaps I should just leave it with a tire shop for a couple days.

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Have you checked the wheels for true? Steve just had one of the RX8 wheels on his 6 trued up for about 90 bucks. It was bent at the hub.

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[lilbenz230]

UPDATE:

Cheap tires were put on the car when I got it, and at least one of them had an issue being out of round. I had all of them returned under warranty and paid the difference for some Continental DWS06s. Vibrations are gone.

 

[JDabzzz]

UPDATE:

Cheap tires were put on the car when I got it, and at least one of them had an issue being out of round. I had all of them returned under warranty and paid the difference for some Continental DWS06s. Vibrations are gone.

Do you recall what these cheap stock tires were? Were they the Dunlops?

 

[seanc81]

If it were me I'd like to see the wheels spin on a roadforce machine to see if there is an underlying issues with the tires or to see the rim's rotate (to rule out the wheels 100%). From there, I'd suspect a slightly out of balance drive shaft. My 2010 had something very similar - - so try that. Good luck!

 

[Road Trip]

When I had my tires immediately changed from Dunlops to Michelin A/S 3+'s, putting the new tires on Mazda's 18" dark alloy accessory wheels, had my tire shop tell me the run-out on the new ones. All were good. I think we consumers should be not only always be requiring road force balancing when we get new tires, but asking and considering for wheel run out information, especially if you have just bought and are initially mounting tires onto new wheels you just bought at the tire shop. Here's more wheel/tire balancing info for thos who want:

Tire & Wheel Balancing

 

[Silver sGT]

I am in the exact same boat...14 sGT with 32k, Japan built. Noticed a vibration coming from the front (right strut had been replaced 6 months ago). Took it in and they found that 2/4 of my new Goodyear Eagles were out of round. They were replaced with RSA and I still have the same issue. Took it back in and they said it was a thrown weight. Fixed supposedly, but the vibration is still there. I asked them to check suspension components but they stopped each time at the tire. I'm out of warranty, so I'm not sure what my next step is. Thoughts?

 

[seanc81]

And as a reminder, anytime you get new tires avoid hard braking and be easy on the gas. The tire can slip on the rim for the first week or so, hence why when you get new tires there doesn't seem to be any vibration, but after a few days that changes.
When cars are manufactured, they tend to sit in a compound before being delivered, hence why it isn't an issue.
Too bad wheels didn't have like an automatic balancing sensor that could move a weight on the wheel to ensure its smooth at all times....guess that would but tire company's out of business.....but make a lot of car owners happy - especially people like me who are very sensitive to these types of things.

 

[Road Trip]

Are your tires wearing evenly, no signs of improper wear? If not uneven wear, that is a good first step. If uneven wear, have your wheels/tires been re-balanced exactly as per below?

Got to a highly-rated independent tire shop that has a Hunter Road Force balancing machine, and have them test each wheel for balance. If not in balance, to fix it they can break the tire bead, rotate the tire around the rim a little or a lot (as the machine shows them), and re-inflate. Have them also check your wheels for being true, checking the amount of their maximum run-out, for it is possible that you have a bend tire from a pothole. If so, and you like your wheels, there are specialty wheel shops that can re-true your wheel.

And best option, maybe you can find a shop that both can re-true a wheel and has a Hunter RFB machine and do it all at once.

Lastly, and maybe not last in the order of doing things but upfront, find a dealership who will fully and properly inspect your suspension. It could be, not probably but more than a remote possibility, that your new strut is defective, or something else is needing repair.

Sorry to throw all these potential issues at you, but as you asked, wanted you to have options to pursue this, as I hate driving with a vibration and am guessing so do you.

 

[CJR238]

Sounds exactly like my slightly bent axle. Higher speeds it would vibrate shake, No one was able to diagnose because they assumed it was the normal things that happen. Nope, just a slightly bent axle, could barley tell even if you looked at it.

 

[CJR238]

I am in the exact same boat...14 sGT with 32k, Japan built. Noticed a vibration coming from the front (right strut had been replaced 6 months ago). Took it in and they found that 2/4 of my new Goodyear Eagles were out of round. They were replaced with RSA and I still have the same issue. Took it back in and they said it was a thrown weight. Fixed supposedly, but the vibration is still there. I asked them to check suspension components but they stopped each time at the tire. I'm out of warranty, so I'm not sure what my next step is. Thoughts?

The Strut went for a reason, i am thinking axle got bent when the strut went and they missed it. If that the case the dealer should cover it.

 

[IHeartGroceries]

So, how'd your axle become bent?

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[comebackqid]

I have the same issue under braking from about 50mph or higher I step on the brakes and the sterring wheel wobbles and vibrates pretty good. once I change the front compliance bushing/font lower arm I think it shoud go away also the rear engine mount is pretty week swapping that out too. Im at 35k. hoping suspension mods will slove the issue. Also it may be do to me blowing both tires on the right side hitting a tow hitch a while back when it was raining like crazy in so-cal also hitting a freaking sink hole during the rainy season. I'll update once everything is updated and professionally aligned.

 

[CJR238]

So, how'd your axle become bent?

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No idea, just happened (I do drive hard). And twice actually. It wasn't a lot, just off a little and caused vibrations at higher speeds.

They are not very robust so it can happen.

 

[arathol]

I have the same issue under braking from about 50mph or higher I step on the brakes and the sterring wheel wobbles and vibrates pretty good.

Thats probably an issue with the brakes. New pads might fix this, and you may need new rotors too.