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HOW is this possible..

Old Nov 17, 2009 | 05:28 PM
  #26  
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Balancing

Originally Posted by C300Kid
I just went and looked again..each weight is only 1/4oz..meaning one front wheel has 2.4oz of weight and the other has 3.5oz..not as much as I had previously thought.

Back to square one..
Do you have lock nuts on each wheel. Sometimes they weigh more than the actual nuts. This happened on my BMW several years ago and removing the lock nuts fixed the wheel balance problem.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 01:29 AM
  #27  
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Update..

So I put this issue aside for a bit because I've been too busy to worry about it. Tonight I pulled the receipt out from Tire Place #2..the one that was supposed to have done a road force balance on a Hunter GSP9700 machine. The receipt lists "spin balance" as the work that was done, and they charged me only $40. Should I assume that they did not do a road force balance considering the low price I was charged? I'd also assume they'd list "road force balance" rather than "spin balance" on the receipt, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, I'm gonna take it back and see what they say. If they didn't do the road force balancing I'm gonna ask them to do it and only charge me whatever it cost over and above the $40 they charged me already, since I specifically asked for it from the beginning. I'm thinking it was somehow lost in translation however.

Last edited by C300Kid; Nov 30, 2009 at 02:16 AM.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 01:29 AM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Sentosa
Do you have lock nuts on each wheel. Sometimes they weigh more than the actual nuts. This happened on my BMW several years ago and removing the lock nuts fixed the wheel balance problem.
I don't think I have locking lug nuts but I'm not sure.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 01:31 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by Illusive
Are you finding that this vibration occurs at certain speeds? My only other thought that might cause this erratic behaviour is that you are hitting the natural frequency of the wheel. If a disc or cylinder such as a wheel is off balance by even a few grams, there are two natural frequencies (one low and one high) that could cause excessive vibration. In most cases, it is not noticeable as you don't generally hold that exact wheel RPM for more than a split second at a time, but in extreme cases, a small variance from the natural frequency can also yield large vibrations.
Nah, it occurs randomly. It seems to be more related to road surface rather than speed.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 02:54 AM
  #30  
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Just thinking outside the box, if it seems more related to road surface than speed, is it the exposed aggregate type of road surface where its more likely to show up? If not, what kind?

Are you hearing any noise from the front end that might be a front wheel bearing? Any changes in brakes? Checked shocks/springs/engine mounts.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 04:26 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by Carsy
This is the best advice you have received.

Go back to the tyre dealer & have them do it at no cost.
Absolutely - rotate the bad tyre on the rim - reinflate & balance. Where is the valve balance dot on that tyre compared with the others? If this does not work toss the tyre.

Finish balance the wheels on the car. Most aftermarket wheels have a 66.6mm bore. This can cause trouble. Also remember you have increased the scrub radius on the front of that car which will amplify these problems.


Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Nov 30, 2009 at 04:28 AM.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 09:41 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Glyn M Ruck
Absolutely - rotate the bad tyre on the rim - reinflate & balance. Where is the valve balance dot on that tyre compared with the others? If this does not work toss the tyre.

Finish balance the wheels on the car. Most aftermarket wheels have a 66.6mm bore. This can cause trouble. Also remember you have increased the scrub radius on the front of that car which will amplify these problems.


There is no bad tire though, The only reason I thought so was because one wheel had 14 weights on it. I looked again and they're only 1/4 ounce per weight so 14 weights is only 3.5 ounces. That's pretty normal.

Last edited by C300Kid; Nov 30, 2009 at 09:47 AM.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 09:46 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by JimPap
Just thinking outside the box, if it seems more related to road surface than speed, is it the exposed aggregate type of road surface where its more likely to show up? If not, what kind?

Are you hearing any noise from the front end that might be a front wheel bearing? Any changes in brakes? Checked shocks/springs/engine mounts.
Thinking about it more..im not sure it has to do with the kind of road im on. I mean, i'll be driving 75mph with cruise control on and it'll be silky smooth then randomly start vibrating..no change in road, no change in speed, no change in anything.

Sometimes it'll vibrate for 35 seconds and get smooth again, other times it'll vibrate the remainder of my trip.

I'm not hearing any noises but I also haven't had any of the above checked. I just assumed since it started the day I got new wheels/tires it has to be that.

I mean, I guess it's possible im just feeling amplified road feel as a result of my new tires being high performance..I can't imagine it's normal for the steering wheel to shimmy though like it does. I still think it's a balance problem.

Last edited by C300Kid; Nov 30, 2009 at 09:50 AM.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 10:20 AM
  #34  
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People can only respond to what you tell them. You might even have a minor (at present) delamination taking place on one tyre.

You need to go through this methodically. I would start with front wheels off on a balancer & check for horizontal & radial runout on the tyres AND rims & work from there.

Try putting your 17" wheels back on the front & make sure the problem goes away. I'm pretty sure it will but check. One thing ticked off the list.

Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Nov 30, 2009 at 10:25 AM.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 11:08 AM
  #35  
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What a mystery.

You wouldn't have one of those code checker to see if its something with the engine?
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 11:41 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Glyn M Ruck
People can only respond to what you tell them. You might even have a minor (at present) delamination taking place on one tyre.

You need to go through this methodically. I would start with front wheels off on a balancer & check for horizontal & radial runout on the tyres AND rims & work from there.

Try putting your 17" wheels back on the front & make sure the problem goes away. I'm pretty sure it will but check. One thing ticked off the list.
The problem is my old wheels don't have tires on them now bc they had to be dismounted to remove the tpms..so I'd have to have to pay another $100 to have them remounted and rebalanced to find out something I'm already 90% sure of.

I think my best bet is to bring it back to tire shop 2 and have them do a road force balance. If this doesn't solve it..bring it to my MB dealer and let them figure it out.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 01:08 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by C300Kid
The problem is my old wheels don't have tires on them now bc they had to be dismounted to remove the tpms..so I'd have to have to pay another $100 to have them remounted and rebalanced to find out something I'm already 90% sure of.

I think my best bet is to bring it back to tire shop 2 and have them do a road force balance. If this doesn't solve it..bring it to my MB dealer and let them figure it out.
Fine - let them check the balance but check run out of rim & tyre at the same time. This has to be a starting point.

Benz is likely to tell you to return the car to standard.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 01:10 PM
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Originally Posted by JimPap
What a mystery.

You wouldn't have one of those code checker to see if its something with the engine?
An OBDII/CAN scanner is of no use for this.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 01:45 PM
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Unless its the engine that's shaking causing the same sensation.

I'm definately not an expert in this area but it seems to me that if he held the car at 75mph via cruse control and it would on its own start shaking, then maybe its not the tires at all. Therefore, the code checker.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 03:24 PM
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Originally Posted by JimPap
Unless its the engine that's shaking causing the same sensation.

I'm definately not an expert in this area but it seems to me that if he held the car at 75mph via cruse control and it would on its own start shaking, then maybe its not the tires at all. Therefore, the code checker.
Hmm..I never even considered this. What's funny is the car used to start really rough. Like..when Id start it, it'd sound and feel like a tractor motor for a couple seconds..then smooth out. I seems to have stopped doing this, but oddly the rough starts stopped around the same time the vibrations started.

Also, thinking back..when I got the wheels balanced at the second shop, the car drove flawlessly for almost a week..then the vibrations started.

Maybe it IS engine related and it's just a fluke that it happened when I got new wheels.

There's so many things this could be..
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 03:27 PM
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Then again..I only really notice the steering wheel shaking..if it were the engine I'd think it'd be the car.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 03:36 PM
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The engine can't cause steering wheel shake.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 03:48 PM
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That's what I figured. Thanks for all the info btw..I really appreciate it.
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 03:56 PM
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Even though the spare is not the same rolling diameter as your 18" setup, swapping it in should allow you to at least narrow it down to the specific wheel/tire combo that's causing your vibration. My bet has always been on a bent/non-true wheel...

ps You've checked all the bolts to make sure they're torqued down, right?
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 08:11 PM
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They can't determine if there's a bent wheel with the road force test?
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Old Nov 30, 2009 | 11:57 PM
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They should be able to, but what if it's not grossly bent? Wheels that are not bent, but rather non-true can still be balanced via stick on weights, but if you hit that certain frequency, you'll get vibrations.
The spare tire (or borrow someone else's MB wheel/tire) is a sure way to narrow down which corner is causing you your problems. The rest is just leaving you with more questions and possible culprits. Start with a baseline and check things off one by one. Your dealer isn't going to give you the time of day unless you're going to pay for every second of labor they spend trying to diagnose the problem. First thing they'll say is: "You're running an aftermarket wheel, one that we didn't install."
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Old Dec 1, 2009 | 01:23 AM
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good to know..thanks for the info everyone. honestly i have no idea how to change the wheels out with the spare but i'll see if one of my friends can help.
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Old Dec 1, 2009 | 07:25 AM
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Once the wheel is on a Roadforce balancer - all you have to do is spin it slowly by hand with a reference point to check for wheel and tyre run out both laterally and radially if it's not obvious to the eye. If you want to get sophisticated about it you can use a dial gauge.

While rotating slowly first check against the side of the rim at the tyre bead if the rim deflects from side to side (bent) or up & down (out of round) Then do the same thing with the sidewall of the tyre - does it deflect from side to side & finally the tread - does it deflect up & down while rotating which means it's out of round & needs to be ground round or replaced.

This is really very simple - In racing I've done it 1000s of times.

Checking for delamination in the tyre is a little more difficult. You need to look for a bump in the sidewall or tread where air has entered between the construction layers of the tyre.

Good luck

Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; Dec 1, 2009 at 07:35 AM.
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Old Dec 1, 2009 | 08:30 AM
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Thought I'd read up on the Roadforce balancer.

Anyone else interested, go here http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/features/how.cfm
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Old Dec 1, 2009 | 10:02 AM
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Roadforce balancing is excellent but it can't do what a finish balance with the wheels mounted can.
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