Wheel shake problem

736 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by skotwon, Dec 22, 2003

shawn54c

Discussion Starter · Dec 17, 2003

Okay ive been dealing with this for a few weeks and since i went to japan for another 2 weeks i havent had time to look deeper into it.
so i mounted a set of ws-50 blizzaks on my IS back in november during our first snowfall, ive got a set of 16 inch champion sport alloy rims on there as well.

the set was purchased from a former IS owner who used them over one winter. so they sat there from last winter to this winter.

when i put them on i started noticing a slight shaking of my steering wheel which didnt seem to be wholly dependant upon speed. so i got my tires balanced. nothing. then some of the people from the local scca that i race with suggested out of round tires or bent rims, so i brought the car to my friends place (subaru tech at the big subaru dealership here) and we got it up on the lift and didnt find anything wrong. also that day when he drove it the car experienced minimal shake.

well i got back from japan and it's still doing it. today i noticed that it felt like it started in the rear tires and moved to the front (i could feel the vibration in my seat once i got on the highway and then after aminute or so i didnt really feel that anymore, but the steering wheel got it's noticable shaking. my father is a long time mechanicb (30 years) and im going home on saturday so we are going to his work and going to do my 15k mile service there and check out this tire issue.

any suggestions or ideas of what it might be? also do you guys think it's safe to drive about 300 miles like this? i checked the lugs this morning and they were all tight so i dont forsee problems like that.
im just alittle worried and dont know exactly what to do.
thanks
shawn

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simont

· #2 · Dec 17, 2003

If the wheels sat for any period of time the tires could have slight flat spots ie.out of round. I used to have the same problem with a TR6 that I only drove occasionally the tires eventually deleloped flat spots and did exactly what you are describing no matter how much we balanced them.
Hope this helps

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shawn54c

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 18, 2003

hmm,
im not sure about the flat spots, when they werent being used they were stored stacked in a pile so i wouldnt think thatd cause a flatspot in the radial direction but maybe a sag in the sides.
thanks for the suggestion though

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ali1983khan

· #4 · Dec 18, 2003

winter tires ride like crap when on dry roads

feels like it's kinda low on air.....

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AltezzaBoy03

· #5 · Dec 19, 2003

after my first lexus service (5,000), ive been getting shaking or vibrating steering wheel problems...
at about 50-60, it shakes

so i told them, rotated the tires again, problem went away...

after a few weeks later, it came back but the shake was very little...
im at 14,000 miles now and i dont notice it anymore...

these are on stock potenza re92s btw on stock rims

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skotwon

· #6 · Dec 22, 2003

it could be bent rims. you cant always see a bent rim if its a long sweeping one. the other thing is take your wheels to a shop that has a good tire balancer. the new Hunter machines are awsome you can measure "road force" with them that will tell you about the hard spots in your tires and if your tires out of round. (plus it shows the bent areas if any) the higher the raod force the more shimmy/shakes. road foce reading of 15 lbs and less is good. over 20 youll feel it for sure. with that same machine it will tell you the high and low sopts and you can make them down and then spin the tire on the wheel and match up the marks and drop of road force. my dealership is newer so we got all the brand new cool shiz. help this helps
skot

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