Strigoi

The vibration that my car had got worse and felt like a bad tire finally. I took it to my friend's shop today after not driving it most of the week due to this. We get it up in the air and find this.








I got really lucky that the tire didn't blow out. It was the left front which has had a small leak at the valve stem and the tire was run low quite a bit (I tired to stay on top of it). The last pic is of a smaller bubble that was also on it. The tires are Nitto NT555's.

We also ran the car while on the lift and both rear tires were wobbly as well, which I believe was causing the more minor vibration that I had. We swapped the Monoblocks back on and it rides great now (comparatively). The tires on the MB's are cheap Riken Raptors and ****ing suck. I'm replacing them in a week or so.

Finally got around to doing plug wires and that seemed to clear up the misfire that the car had at idle. Once I get new tires and have it smogged, it will be ready to go up for sale.

Schweinhund

Good thing you found that! Don't buy Yokos. Mine are a year old and howling like a wolf.

snooozie

Wow...you are lucky you didnot get a blowout while driving it!!!

BlownV8

I've had no luck with Nitto tires. I've run the NT555's and they were horrible - no traction and rode like a brick. Nitto NT420s were also less than stellar. They were very, very, very loud and wore unevenly. Wet and dry traction were good though.

The Riken Raptors are made by Michelin. They perform much like the Michelin Pilot all season.

Strigoi

I had no idea they were made by Michelin. They're old and getting replaced, plus they are quite noisy.

503C43 ////AMG

Riken Raptors may be made by Michelin but they are garbage!

snooozie

Get a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus.....they are a little pricey but they are great tires and last a long time.

armaniE55

+ I bought Yokos for the front boy they are f ing loud. Thought I had a bad wheel bearing again. But nope it's the tires. Never again.

OP - Glad you found it before you had a blow out going fast

Safety first check those tires boys

Schweinhund

+1 on that- no more Yokos.

Strigoi

The car is going up for sale within the next few weeks so I'm not dropping a lot on tires. I bought the car in May 2011 and have already spent around $4,300 on it.

It will need rear brakes within the next few thousand miles, but aside from that there is nothing that will need to be taken care of anytime soon. According to the cluster, the next service is still 6,100 miles away.

JDenhamCLK320

Hmmmm. I've been having probs with the Yokos S Drives. Bad vib at 50-60. Almost like a flat spot drone sound :-/ took it to discount tires 2 times already I'm guessing it's the ****ty Yokos ?? Did y'all experiment any vibes at those speeds ??

Schweinhund

Mines got a roughness at 15MPH and noisy on the freeway. Almost certain its the Yokos.

JDenhamCLK320

Mine are pretty rough too. Do u have the S Drives ??

Strigoi

Just to update.

Got new tires and the car still has a vibration that's there from about 38-50mph.

I took it to my friend's shop today to have him change out the center bearing and support. I've had them sitting around for a few months but we thought the original one was fine. Turns out that was the cause of the vibration I've had that's been bugging me for about 10,000 miles now. The car finally drives/rides like it should, nice and smooth.

cudaized

cool. Glad you got rid of the vibration.

Schweinhund

Yes, but it turns out I had a bent rim on the inner lip. Enough to cup the tire. But the others were pretty much worn out after 12 months. Not impressed. Had the lip repaired, went with Michelin Sport

Schweinhund

Wow. Double causes. Good thing you stuck with it. It's nice to have these cars running like they should.

desired_speeds

Mine has a sight vibration when its cold. It's so slight it hasn't really bothered me, but I bet its either the flex joints or the center bearing support also. Was it hard to change everything out?

Strigoi

My friend did it for me (he works at an indy). It took about an hour and a half total. That included us messing around and he lost one of the nuts for the heat shield that bolts under the car, which took awhile to find. He's also done it before so he knew what he was doing.

I definitely wouldn't want to do it with the car only on jackstands. It's also helpful to have something to support the exhaust so it's not just hanging.

armaniE55

I am also having the same exact issue. Thank you for reporting back. Taking care of this issue next weekend along with the ball joints and I also picked up MB camber bolts that offer a little more adjustment for alignment and lastly changing out the lower control arm bushings as well... Good times !

Armani