Speaking of vibrations.., and not the good kind Options

[Sinyk]

Whenever I get my car up to speed around 90-100 km/h, I get a really bad vibration back through the steering column and my steering wheel shakes like mad. I only started noticing this after I got my new rims and tires, so I assume it's related. Could I be in need of a wheel alignment? Wheel bearing? MY wheels were bigger than stock, can that have anything to do with it? It's rather annoying I must say. Help!

[95CelicaST]

First, go get your wheels balanced. That would be where I start.

[Sinyk]

First, go get your wheels balanced. That would be where I start.

They were balanced when they were installed. Is it possible they just did a crappy job? Can an unbalanced wheel cause that much vibration?

[95CelicaST]

It could be. Its definately worth a try. I mean, you shouldn't have to pay to have them balanced again, and if that was the problem then you're good.

Is your steering wheel straight when you are traveling straight?

find an empty road and try this.. pick up some decent speed, let go of the wheel and slam on the brakes.. Does the steering wheel stay relatively straight, or does it turn to one side or another?

[jason]

un-balanced wheels should make some kind of vibration at like 60, from ive known, most shop balance them to be descent at low speeds and bad at high speeds, or vise versa, few around here take the time to be precise. with the brake issue... my car pulls a side when i slow to like 15-20, it doesnt pull at high speeds though, so ive always assumed it was imperfections, or a groove worn in the road along with having wider tires was my problem, is that a brake issue though because its not the same side each time and it doesnt do it everytime, never noticed if its the same intersection or not though, and if it were brake related, what would cause that, a bias to one side??

[Sinyk]

Well, I think I may take my car in and get them to check it out. It seems like the car drives straight when I let go (you should see the steering wheel shake when i let go at 100 with this vibration! scaaaary!)

I think it's quite possible that they may be unbalanced. I watched when the guy did them at the shop and he put the wheel on, spun it with the machine, put the weights on and then took them off without re-spinning them to see if they were OK. I think the shop will do it for free, they've been good to me so far.

[LewFX]

me think its a bearing, too common of a problem for our celica

[eggman40]

another possibility is that your tire pressure is uneven. I had the EXACT same problem a few months ago and i just evened out the tire pressure and the vibration stopped. At around 70mph that thing was wiggling like crazy. But that cured my problem. worth a shot.

But if not im pretty sure its a bad balance job.

This post has been edited by eggman40: Jun 8, 2007 - 10:56 PM

[Racer_J]

Yeah, it's your wheel balancing. I've experienced the same problem when I had my new tyres fitted. Was OK for a couple of days then it started shaking. I've noticed it stops the faster you go so I drive everywhere like I've sat on a wasp! LOL

[DSToyo]

its most likely the wheel balancing, i had the same problem as well. it could be a wheel spacer thing, not the thing that offsets the wheels more, but something else that goes on the back of the wheel on some wheels. idk, someone told me something like that. but id deffinitely go and get your wheels balanced again.

[Sinyk]

I'm going to be taking it in after work today to get them to check it out.

[Sinyk]

I took my car in yesterday and had all four wheels re-balanced for no charge. Apparently, the shop's computer was "out" for a while and they had it re-calibrated two weeks ago (pretty well 2 weeks after I bought my tires ). Turns out all of the wheels were balanced incorrectly with the driver side rear being the worst at 1.5 oz off.
I didn't have much distance between the shop and my place, but I found some road, gunned it up to 120 and didn't have any problems except for the usual lumps and bumps in the road.

[95CelicaST]

Awesome. Thats great news. Isn't that better than having to replace a wheel bearing?

[tomazws]

I took my car in yesterday and had all four wheels re-balanced for no charge. Apparently, the shop's computer was "out" for a while and they had it re-calibrated two weeks ago (pretty well 2 weeks after I bought my tires ). Turns out all of the wheels were balanced incorrectly with the driver side rear being the worst at 1.5 oz off.
I didn't have much distance between the shop and my place, but I found some road, gunned it up to 120 and didn't have any problems except for the usual lumps and bumps in the road.

Glad to hear. Thank goodness you haven't made your tire all bumpy yet

[CelicaDrifter80]

Hey having somewhat that same problem but, A) My tires/wheels are stock and B) I had a wheel/tire balance.
So whats up?