Wheel vibration at some speeds? Wheel balance? Tie rod issue? Steering problem?

[Danillo]

Wheel vibration at some speeds? Wheel balance? Tie rod issue? Steering problem? Car also has a slight pull to the left. I dont know if they are related. Any help would be appreciated.

[LeonK]

Hey there, I'm no car guru, but I did have wheel vibration before on a car I owned. Turned out for me it was a simple wheel balancing issue(apparently the little weight they clip on to wheels had gotten loose and come off). Many tire places will look at that for you for free, so I'd suggest starting there. Well, maybe not driving it there, but take the wheel off and take it in, and they can test if its in balance or not.

I hope it's something that simple for ya, and not smoething more expensive/troublesome

[Danillo]

Originally Posted by LeonK

Hey there, I'm no car guru, but I did have wheel vibration before on a car I owned. Turned out for me it was a simple wheel balancing issue(apparently the little weight they clip on to wheels had gotten loose and come off). Many tire places will look at that for you for free, so I'd suggest starting there. Well, maybe not driving it there, but take the wheel off and take it in, and they can test if its in balance or not.

I hope it's something that simple for ya, and not smoething more expensive/troublesome

Thanks for the response. I will call around and see if someplace will check my 2 front tires for free.
I called on balancing. So far I found

Discount tire = $15 a tire
Firestone = $10 a tire
Walmart = $7.50 a tire

The tires were balanced when purchased at Firestone 5000 miles ago.

[88 LE]

Originally Posted by Danillo

Wheel vibration at some speeds? Wheel balance? Tie rod issue? Steering problem? Car also has a slight pull to the left. I dont know if they are related. Any help would be appreciated.

Tie rod would cause the car to wander, as its part of the steering system.

Vibration would be tire and/or wheel.

Pulling to one side could be an alignment issue.



Do any of the places you mentioned do road force balancing?

[Danillo]

Originally Posted by 88 LE

Tie rod would cause the car to wander, as its part of the steering system.

Vibration would be tire and/or wheel.

Pulling to one side could be an alignment issue.



Do any of the places you mentioned do road force balancing?

I never heard of road forced balancing. What is that?

I was watching videos of people replacing tie rods. It didnt seem too hard a job. Maybe I should just replace them myself if they seem worn. The car wanders left a bit and has vibration at around 60mph. Sounds like an alignment issue, and a tire/rim issue.

[88 LE]

Originally Posted by Danillo

I never heard of road forced balancing. What is that?

Its a wheel/tire balancing machine that has a drum that comes into contact with the tire. It simulates the wheel/tire assembly running on a road.

Not all wheel/tire balancing machines do this. The ones that do can do other measurements like runout. This can tell if you have a bad tire and/or bad wheel.

[Danillo]

Originally Posted by 88 LE

Its a wheel/tire balancing machine that has a drum that comes into contact with the tire. It simulates the wheel/tire assembly running on a road.

Not all wheel/tire balancing machines do this. The ones that do can do other measurements like runout. This can tell if you have a bad tire and/or bad wheel.

Thanks a bunch for the info. I will definitely look for a place that does that.

[magnate]

It is a wheel balancing issue. Go to walmart, it is like $28 for all four tires.

[Danillo]

Originally Posted by magnate

It is a wheel balancing issue. Go to walmart, it is like $28 for all four tires.

Yeah Walmart quoted me $7.50 each so I would like to go there but if they dont do the road force balancing it may be a waste. I may speak to the Walmart guys and see what they think. Also it is probably just 1 of the front tires so I may just get the 2 front ones done and see if that cures the problem.

[Danillo]

Discount tire quoted me $15 a tire last week. They didnt say if it was using the road forced balancing

Then I went to another discount tire today and they said $10 a tire for normal balance. $18 a tire for forced balancing.

I'm pretty sure its the front right wheel. The vibration happens at 50-60mph. I'm wondering would it be OK to do just the front 2 wheels instead of all 4 wheels.

[dug320]

Eliminate the simple/obvious and then move to the complex. Balancing tires is the first step, next is suspension and steering. Check the struts and their mounts, then the tie rods/ball joint.

Sometimes it is worth taking it to an alignment place and see what they find on the machine.

[Danillo]

I think I will have them balanced but when the tires are off the front I will check the tie rods. I have watched some videos of tie rod replacement and I think I could do them myself. The parts for the outter front tie rods seem to be around $35. I think I have 1-2 wheels out of balanced and possibly 1-2 worn tie rods as well.

[Danillo]

Had 2 front wheels balanced today. That helped a little bit. Didnt have the rear wheels balanced. Both rear rims had slight bent outside. I dont think that is the issue though. I check both outside tie rods on front wheels. Both seemed a bit worn. 1 much more than the other. I will attempt to replace both myself this week. With any luck that curse the vibration.

[Danillo]

Some good news. Wheel balance didnt do much but improved the ride a little. Cost me $20 for 2 front wheels.

I went and bought 1 outer front tie rod end. Didnt want to buy 2 in case the one didnt help at all. Did the left outer tie rod end. Car ride improved 90%. I will probably buy and do the right next week. Judging by a test I saw on youtuube the left inner tie rod was shot also. The outer tie rod end was easy except the previous mechanics made the bolts too tight. To do the left front tie rod took me around 20 minutes.

[dug320]

Glad to hear of your success.

It is always better to replace both sides to eliminate this variable.

When you get an alignment make sure you have a full gas tank.