Alright, I recently put on new wheels and tires (16x7 rims, 225/50R16 BFG G-Force Sport Tires) and ever since I now notice a vibration (mostly at highway speeds) through the seats and floor. I've had both front wheels off trying to see if there was an obvious problem (struts, springs, etc.) and can't see any reason why the car is vibrating. There is a grease point on the front suspension which was just greased after I had the initial vibration. I know the brakes are shot (23,300 miles and they're already bad) but could the brakes be causing this intermittent vibration? The pads are wearing unevenly, so I can assume the rotors have high spots. It doesn't happen all the time. Took the car on a 24 mile trip to a show yesterday did nothing. Drove 6 miles to work vibrated all the way there. Could the transmission be the culprit? This car is still under warranty and I need to get this fixed.

Considering you got the vibration right after putting on the new wheels and tires, you could just need to get them balanced.



2000 2200 Cavalier: 9/14/2000--10/23/2006
2007 G85 SS S/C: 10/23/2006--Present
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Feeling the vibration in the seats and floor would be the rear of the car. Most likely the wheels. If you had a shop that mounted these up for you, i'd take the car in and tell them you have a vibration in the seats and floor at highway speeds. They'll likely have to dismount them and do match balancing on them. Should take care of the problem.

I ordered them from Discount Tire and I can assume they were balanced correctly. It doesn't seem to happen all the time, so I'm not sure it is the tires.

Maybe a shifted belt on the tires. Try this... Put your old tires back on and test again. If its not vibrating, then the new wheel/tire package is the culprit. If it is still vibrating, leave those wheel on and take it to the dealer since you said it is still under warrantee, they will have to fix it.

Jeff wrote:I ordered them from Discount Tire and I can assume they were balanced correctly. It doesn't seem to happen all the time, so I'm not sure it is the tires.

That could be true. That may have been balanced and on a balance machine the balance could turn out to be absolutely perfect. Most shops now though have balancers that will do road force testing. It can be balanced out and have too much road force, and you'd still feel it. Just make sure you have them checked at an actual tire place. Not some rinky dink gas station in BFE.

SHOoff wrote:

Jeff wrote:I ordered them from Discount Tire and I can assume they were balanced correctly. It doesn't seem to happen all the time, so I'm not sure it is the tires.

That could be true. That may have been balanced and on a balance machine the balance could turn out to be absolutely perfect. Most shops now though have balancers that will do road force testing. It can be balanced out and have too much road force, and you'd still feel it. Just make sure you have them checked at an actual tire place. Not some rinky dink gas station in BFE.

Actually, Discount Tire does road force testing, but you have to pay extra for it. They mount and balance for free, road force is $10 a tire.

Also, it's very likely that it's one or more of your bearings. I just recently put larger rims and tires on my Escape, and I had the same problem. It would ride smooth for a few miles, then vibrate, then go away. It only did this when I was driving over 60MPH. Turned out it was a bearing. The wider tires made it more obvious, but the wear on one of my stock tires showed that the problem was there before.

Jack your car up and pull back and forth on your tire. If your bearings are bad, you will have some play and they will wiggle back and forth a little.
If you feel pull on your steering wheel when the vibrating occurs, it's in the front. If you just feel the vibration, it's probably in the back.

Well first off, if your rotors are warped those will cause a vibration, but it will get noticeably worse when you brake.

And, if the car just started vibrating after the new rims, I would take it to a reputable shop and have them do a Road Force balance, with sticky weights.. do NOT do a static balance with clip on weights, it is complete @!#$. It will cost more money, but it is worth it. And, since it should be free, have them check all of your front end parts while they are balancing your tires, make sure they check the bearings, tie rod ends, ball joints, stuff like that. If any of those are bad it will cause vibration as well.



1983 Camaro Z28

What type of tires did you put on the car? some all season tires cause the car to vibrate in between certain speeds if only 1 or 2 of them are on the car

Put BFG G-Force Sport 16's on.

Fire2004 wrote:Put BFG G-Force Sport 16's on.

Are you completely incapable of reading, in the first line it says that he has those exact tires.

Man, some people..



1983 Camaro Z28

I was getting an intermittant vibration, usually under heavt acceleration around 65-70 mph. Was driving me nuts. I changed tires, checked my rotors and drums and changed my torque converter(to a higher stall though ). My wheel bearing/hub assemblies started to make a grinding noise and there was some play in them, so I changed them. The vibration went away. What I found out there was too much play in the bearing/hub assembly and the started to wabble at these speeds while I was giving it additional power.

As a side note to this, my Ex had to have them changed while I was overseas. The shop that did the work didnt put the dust seals and o-rings in the front assemblies, resulting in the bearings loading up with dust and dirt, causing them to wear out in about two years!