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Wheel Balancing Recommendation. Steering wheel shakes when driving freeway

Joined
9 April 2009
Messages
288
I noticed that my steering wheel rattles and shakes at certain freeways around LA and when going past 60 mph. It all started when my front rim got bent and after I got it fixed from Marco @ Performance Wheels. He assured the rim was properly fixed.

Wondering if I need wheel balancing and that would solve the problem. Has anyone experienced this problem?

Can anyone recommend a reliable and affordable wheel balancing place around LA?

Thanks again friends!
 
http://www.citytireonline.com/

a friend recommended this place. $10-12 for each wheel balancing. john, the owner, mentioned doing a road force balance if problem can't be solved with wheel balancing which costs $35 per wheel.

has anyone dealt with this place? also, is this the solution to my problem?
 
I noticed that my steering wheel rattles and shakes at certain freeways around LA and when going past 60 mph. It all started when my front rim got bent and after I got it fixed from Marco @ Performance Wheels. He assured the rim was properly fixed.

Wondering if I need wheel balancing and that would solve the problem. Has anyone experienced this problem?

Can anyone recommend a reliable and affordable wheel balancing place around LA?

Thanks again friends!

Does it only vibrate at certain speed like between 60 to 65 mph? Did you install the proper hub rings? Did you also replace the tire after repair?

I would think that the wheel was balanced after the repair.

You can spin your wheel on a balancing machine and see if there is any out of round and bend condition.


Good luck...
 
Missing Hub centrics can cause massive shaking at low speeds like 40+ mph. I've had that.

I've also bad poorly balanced wheels because the shop tried to balance the old weights and just add new weights, so I ripped off all the weights myself and had them redo it.

And lastly, my latest cause of shake/vibration, a broken belt in the tire. I didn't know the belt was broken until thousands of miles later when a HUGE bubble formed atleast 1/2" tall.
 
this shaking/harsh vibrating would only occur on freeways and exceeding 60 mph.

i will get the wheel balancing done and check also for the tire, since i didn't check if there are any problems with the tire after the accident...

thanks guys for ur input. if anyone has anything to add, please chime in~
 
I've had a similar problem with a different car. If wheel balancing was all right, then it may be due to a slightly bent wheel lug.

citytireonline are good guys. they are more into track cars/track event cars. i've been to them a few times for tires and install. i believe they are in South Gate.
 
Sun,

Here's the cheapest and methodical way of checking for this w/o going on a wild goose chase.

1st - put back your stock wheels (i'm assuming those don't vibrate)
* If it goes away then you've isolated your problem to the Volks. Take to a good tire shop (I go to Donald @ Tire Central in SGV). He can spin it on the balance machine and quickly notice if it's bent or wobbly. If it is.. get it fixed. If it's not, have him rebalance it. You don't technically need a hubcentric spacer as long as you have lug centric lug nuts. It's always better to have hubcentricity but not super necessary - I run hub centric to make installation and torquing down the wheels even and easier.

** If your stock wheels still vibrate or otherwise you did all in [*] and they still vibrate then you've got other issues that people are talking about (i.e. wheel bearing bad, bent lugs, bad tire and so on...)

good luck
 
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Sun,

Here's the cheapest and methodical way of checking for this w/o going on a wild goose chase.

1st - put back your stock wheels (i'm assuming those don't vibrate)
* If it goes away then you've isolated your problem to the Volks. Take to a good tire shop (I go to Donald @ Tire Central in SGV). He can spin it on the balance machine and quickly notice if it's bent or wobbly. If it is.. get it fixed. If it's not, have him rebalance it. You don't technically need a hubcentric spacer as long as you have lug centric lug nuts. It's always better to have hubcentricity but not super necessary - I run hub centric to make installation and torquing down the wheels even and easier.

** If your stock wheels still vibrate or otherwise you did all in
[*] and they still vibrate then you've got other issues that people are talking about (i.e. wheel bearing bad, bent lugs, bad tire and so on...)

good luck

ryu, thanks for your input! unfortunately, i sold my old rimes and tires, but i didn't notice any vibrations when i did have the old rims on there. i'm thinking it is the volks and current tires that are giving me grief. i hope the wheel balancing and/or fixing and bents will be the solution...
 
ryu, thanks for your input! unfortunately, i sold my old rimes and tires, but i didn't notice any vibrations when i did have the old rims on there. i'm thinking it is the volks and current tires that are giving me grief. i hope the wheel balancing and/or fixing and bents will be the solution...
your part of town has some wicked pot holes too :(
 
ryu, thanks for your input! unfortunately, i sold my old rimes and tires, but i didn't notice any vibrations when i did have the old rims on there. i'm thinking it is the volks and current tires that are giving me grief. i hope the wheel balancing and/or fixing and bents will be the solution...

You didn't have the vibration before you bent the front wheel. So it is obvious that either the wheel and/or the tire is bad. The tire can be pinched and deformed when you hit the pothole or the wheel is still slightly bent and/or out of round.

I've been to the repair shop that repaired your wheel. I didn't see any machine there to repair the roundness of the wheel. I suspect that he might have just repaired the dent on the lips.

As many have recommended, just spin it on the balance machine and you should be able to tell... it only cost about $15 per wheel...
 
You didn't have the vibration before you bent the front wheel. So it is obvious that either the wheel and/or the tire is bad. The tire can be pinched and deformed when you hit the pothole or the wheel is still slightly bent and/or out of round.

I've been to the repair shop that repaired your wheel. I didn't see any machine there to repair the roundness of the wheel. I suspect that he might have just repaired the dent on the lips.

As many have recommended, just spin it on the balance machine and you should be able to tell... it only cost about $15 per wheel...
thanks nis, and you are right. i didn't see a machine there that makes it perfect, just the manual one i saw him put the rim on and he tested it with his eyes while spinning it with his hands... =P hopefully city tire service can detect it and fix the problem... thanks for ur input
 
thanks nis, and you are right. i didn't see a machine there that makes it perfect, just the manual one i saw him put the rim on and he tested it with his eyes while spinning it with his hands... =P hopefully city tire service can detect it and fix the problem... thanks for ur input

Did you fix the problem?
 
I just took my RAV4 to Costco today, for the same type of problem. They put new tires on it 1,000 miles ago and recently I felt a little shake at higher speeds. It was hard to tell if it was the wheels or the road but I got tired of wondering. I asked them to check the balance of the front wheels, and redo them if they needed it. I thought one might have thrown a weight. Ended up that one was off a little bit and they rebalanced it. I haven't had it on the freeway yet to see if the slight shake is gone.
 
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