[Natty]

My steering wheel shakes at 55 mph and up. I did take my front wheels off for cleaning, but I put them both back on the correct side. Tires last balanced/removed 8,000 miles ago.
I just noticed that my front passenger and rear driver wheels don't have weights, while the other two do.
Should all the wheels have weights?
How long till tires should be balanced?
Could removing a wheel cause imperfections in blance or cause a "shimmy" at speed?
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[FatSean]

Re: Tire balancing questions? (Natty)

I dunno but I have a similar problem. All my tires "balance to 1/2 ounce" but at 70 and up it shakes bad. Some days worse than others...I went to 4 good shops, and the Dealer told me that one of the tires was out of round! So I dunno what to believe. The rims are bent and scraped, but if it balances on the machine, it doesn't matter right? I'm trying to buy some un-damaged OEM rims to swap the tires onto.

 

[catfishez]

Re: Tire balancing questions? (FatSean)

If your tires are balanced its one of two things generaly, and neither are good. first the tread has seperated from the belt- what the dealer ment by "out of round" if you feel the tires tread you may feel a "bubble". second, bent rim- the only way to detect it is to jack up the vehical -make a jig of sorts that measures the inside diameter's height from the ground and hand spin the wheel while looking for variations. in other words if someone smacked a curb (edit: better to say "if they ran over a rock and blew the tire") with that rim its going to show on the inside diameter and you want to put something static inside that rim for visual reference. don't let any shop tell you its just out of alignment, it will pull hard to one side if its tread skipping. while its off the ground check you tierods- unlikely but possible to cause the wheel hop good luck



[Modified by catfishez, 11:53 AM 8-7-2002]

 

[Slackmeister]

Re: Tire balancing questions? (Natty)

Was it shaking before you removed the wheels? If not, it's possible that one the 'heavy spots' in one of the front rotors is now lined up perfectly with the heavy spot in one of the wheel/tires. Not likely, but possible. More likely that something is just out of balance or bent--oops "out of round".
To answer your other questions:
It is possible that a tire can be balanced with no wheel weights. But not very often--has to be a pretty good rim and tire combo.
Tires don't have to be balanced at a certain mileage, just when you notice some vibration. (tire rotation needs to been done, though) My sister has 56,000 miles on tires that have never been rebalanced---never shakes.
Catfishez is right about alignment---even if it's out it will not cause vibration. Did he also work at a tire store?

 

[Natty]

Re: Tire balancing questions? (Slackmeister)

Thanks guys.
There was no shimmy before I pulled the front wheels off. Now that I think of it, if I rotated the tire, with refrence to the hub, that could do soemthing. Or maybe I did a bad job with the lugnuts. I have no idea if I got 80ft/lbs or not

We shall see.
On another note, when I bought the car, the rear tires (RWD, 240sx) were way more worn than the front. The tire guy said he would not rotate them because the worn ones on the front would be really bad.
I'll check the tie rods and balance the tires, as well as look over the tire condition. Alignment is good, I know that. If it's not that, it's something I did reinstalling my pads.

Maybe the rotor is warped and when I installed the pads, they are in constant contact with the rotor?
Thanks guys,
Jeff

 

[towerymt]

Re: Tire balancing questions? (Natty)

3 out of 4 wheels on my car have at least one bend on the edge big enough that you could see/feel it, but they all balanced fine (one is so big that a firm push on the sidewall can let air out). One of my wheels actually didn't need any weights (I was surprised too), but I don't have any vibration or shimmy up to 90+mph. Maybe I've been lucky with my soft alloys (6 total of the same kind of wheel w/tires), but none of my 4 total bent wheels cause any vibrations.
Perhaps the wheel isn't quite centered on the hub, or maybe you lost a weight at some point. A tire could be the problem too, but normally rotating front to back and driving the car will help locate the problem.


[Modified by towerymt, 1:38 AM 8-8-2002]

 

[catfishez]

Re: Tire balancing questions? (towerymt)

generaly when a rim is referred to as bent its the main part of the rim not just the outer lip. when a impact is hard enough to bend the rim through the tire in the middle of the rim it distorts the roundness of the rim, causing an slight ovalness. if the problem didn't occure before the rotation, reset your lugs but snug them down follow the tightening pattern first then fully tighten them.

 

[Sharpix]

Re: Tire balancing questions? (catfishez)

When the wheels are hit hard by something or simply the steel or aluminum is soft, the get somewhat eliptic, not a perfect circle. Although they are balance 'properly', there are sideway movement because the alteration. Not only a wheel moves exactly in vertical motion, but sideways too. That's why.
I had a rim who was hit and then it couldn't be balanced perfectly. Replace the rim or send it to be balanced to a GOOD wheel repair shop... good luck!