nismoz Posted March 8, 2008 Posted March 8, 2008 As my title suggest, my car has vibration which is realative to the rotation speed of the wheel. Each time the wheel rotate 360 degrees, the whole car moves little up and down. I thought this was caused because the road is not completly flat. However, I started to wonder as I drive over a new road which looked perfectly straight. Even at that road, I felt up and down vibration at every 360 degree wheel rotation. It is easier to feel and stronger at lower speed (like around the stop light). It has no sound though. I am guessing that the problem is coming from the fact I haven't done any tire rotation since I bought the car until now which has 18700 (30000 km) miles in the ODO. I went to get every major services uptil now in the dealer, however, they haven't rotated or botherd asking me. This is the first car I am owning so I didn't know about wheel and tires that much. What should I do first? Goto wheel/tire store and get it balanced, checked? The level of vibration is quite strong and noticeble that I dont think it can be caused only by worn tires. What could be the cause of this? I have searched the forum and I have found one person who has similar thing happening with me (http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65979&highlight=vibration) but he didn't mention if he solved it or how he solved it. Any ideas? Maybe bent wheel although I don't see any on all wheels? Bad wheel bearings? Badly balanced wheel?
fonts Posted March 9, 2008 Posted March 9, 2008 Hmmmm. The way you are describing the problem it doesn't sound like bearing or balance. Have you looked at the wheels and tires?? Bent wheel?? Rub your hands over the tires for any noticeable "wows". It is rare but sometimes you can dislodge a belt ... especially on our wonderful Ontario roads. Good luck.
RaGe Posted March 9, 2008 Posted March 9, 2008 if you build it, he will come. OTM. Sorry I didn't mean to start a war which mainly forum people is all about .
ama0787 Posted March 9, 2008 Posted March 9, 2008 Look for a knot in the side wall of the tire sometimes they occur on the inside sidewall to those are hard to spot. I had one though. Anthony
robinlsb Posted March 9, 2008 Posted March 9, 2008 Belt separation in the tread. Need new tire(s) "Belief does not make truth. Evidence makes truth. And belief does not make evidence."
SunburnNYC Posted March 9, 2008 Posted March 9, 2008 Belt separation in the tread. Need new tire(s) possible... I would say balance them first and have the inside of the wheels checked for bends... should not be expensive at all. From what you described it sounds like a balancing issue, thats where I would start.
boostsr20 Posted March 10, 2008 Posted March 10, 2008 possible... I would say balance them first and have the inside of the wheels checked for bends... should not be expensive at all. From what you described it sounds like a balancing issue, thats where I would start. Seeing as how the OP is in Canada I would say he is describing Flat Spotting. OP, Does teh roughness go away after say, 10 miles? My winter tires flatspot and are "lumpy" feeling/sound and give off a vibration until I've hit the highway for a few miles. Its known to happen to Low profile tires in cold weather (40 degrees and below)
SunburnNYC Posted March 10, 2008 Posted March 10, 2008 Seeing as how the OP is in Canada I would say he is describing Flat Spotting. OP, Does teh roughness go away after say, 10 miles? My winter tires flatspot and are "lumpy" feeling/sound and give off a vibration until I've hit the highway for a few miles. Its known to happen to Low profile tires in cold weather (40 degrees and below) good point!
nismoz Posted March 10, 2008 Author Posted March 10, 2008 Seeing as how the OP is in Canada I would say he is describing Flat Spotting. OP, Does teh roughness go away after say, 10 miles? My winter tires flatspot and are "lumpy" feeling/sound and give off a vibration until I've hit the highway for a few miles. Its known to happen to Low profile tires in cold weather (40 degrees and below) It doesn't go away after x min of driving. In fact I think I was having this issue for at least 9 months but as I said, I thought the Ontario roads were to blame... until recently when I passed over the perfect and fresh road with about walking speed and felt the vibration strongly to the point that I think drivers around me can notice my car bouncing. Thing is when I was spray painted the wheel (the paint it self is holding up very nicely for 6 months) I didn't noticied any bent spots. Which shops should I take the car too? Like balancing shops? Or Should I do the tire rotation my self to see if that helps?
nismoz Posted March 10, 2008 Author Posted March 10, 2008 Belt separation in the tread. Need new tire(s) As a tire noob, what is the usual tire changing period? Like after 18k or 30k miles? 2-3 years?
boostsr20 Posted March 10, 2008 Posted March 10, 2008 As a tire noob, what is the usual tire changing period? Like after 18k or 30k miles? 2-3 years? If you were to hit a pothole or something hard it could seperate with only 1K miles on it. Other than that you would just go by treadwear/weathering.
nismoz Posted March 10, 2008 Author Posted March 10, 2008 Belt separation in the tread. Need new tire(s) Where should I look for the seperation? The tread? they all look ok and has no crack or any sort.
nismoz Posted March 10, 2008 Author Posted March 10, 2008 If you were to hit a pothole or something hard it could seperate with only 1K miles on it. Other than that you would just go by treadwear/weathering. I don't think I have hit a pothole hard enough so that it cause seperation. The rim looks very circular all the way around without any bent or flat spot. Where else can there be a problem?
boostsr20 Posted March 10, 2008 Posted March 10, 2008 If a belt itself breaks you won't be able to visually see it. You can try rotating 2 tires at a time and see if the problem moves from front to rear. Then you'll be able to isolate it to one tire.
fonts Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 Where should I look for the seperation? The tread? they all look ok and has no crack or any sort. You will be able to see bumps on the outside sidewall ... and presumably you would have noticed this. Rub your hand on the tread of the tireand/or rub the inside sidewall all the way around. If there are any dislodged belts you will certainly be able to feel them. Does the vibration change at different speeds?? If so and there are no belt issues it is likely tire balance. Should be able to bring to any reputable shop for balancing of all 4 wheels.
Ken S Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 You might want to try and get your tires road force balanced using a Hunter GSP 9700: http://www.gsp9700.com/ I always have this done for my tires -- result is a glass-smooth ride (on smooth roads, of course!). Good luck.
nismoz Posted March 11, 2008 Author Posted March 11, 2008 You might want to try and get your tires road force balanced using a Hunter GSP 9700: http://www.gsp9700.com/ I always have this done for my tires -- result is a glass-smooth ride (on smooth roads, of course!). Good luck. Went to the link and sadly it only locates within USA.. sigh.. lol Anyways thanks for the input
nismoz Posted March 11, 2008 Author Posted March 11, 2008 You will be able to see bumps on the outside sidewall ... and presumably you would have noticed this. Rub your hand on the tread of the tireand/or rub the inside sidewall all the way around. If there are any dislodged belts you will certainly be able to feel them. Does the vibration change at different speeds?? If so and there are no belt issues it is likely tire balance. Should be able to bring to any reputable shop for balancing of all 4 wheels. Yeah the level of vibration change to the velocity. There is the vibration at each wheel rotation. At 4 km/h, the vibration is twice more frequent than 2km/h. After 60 km/h the car vibrates fast enough so that I cannot distuinguish it from the road feedback. So this will most likely be balance problem?
robinlsb Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 Yeah the level of vibration change to the velocity. There is the vibration at each wheel rotation. At 4 km/h, the vibration is twice more frequent than 2km/h. After 60 km/h the car vibrates fast enough so that I cannot distuinguish it from the road feedback. So this will most likely be balance problem? You have just described tread separation inside tread. 4kp vibration is not balance problem. "Belief does not make truth. Evidence makes truth. And belief does not make evidence."
fonts Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 You have just described tread separation inside tread. 4kp vibration is not balance problem. Agree. If the problem is felt per rotation it is most likely a belt issue. Get it checked out. Tires are not made to be driven with dislodged belts ... especially at highway speeds.
nismoz Posted March 11, 2008 Author Posted March 11, 2008 Agree. If the problem is felt per rotation it is most likely a belt issue. Get it checked out. Tires are not made to be driven with dislodged belts ... especially at highway speeds. It seems like you live in Ontario too (possibly Toronto?) Can you recomend any good shops to check this thing out? I think the defective tire is the left driver side tire. If I need to replace it, do I have to replace the others as well?
fonts Posted March 11, 2008 Posted March 11, 2008 Sorry. I'm in Sudbury so cannot recommend any local shops. You can try posting on toronto-subaru-club.com which should be helpful for this. There are a number of threads which indicate that driving on unevenly treaded tires will put undue stress on the AWD components. If 1 tire is bad and the other 3 have good tread you may consider having the one tire shaved. Good luck.
nismoz Posted March 11, 2008 Author Posted March 11, 2008 Which category of shop whould I go for? Like tire shop? or balance shop?
fonts Posted March 12, 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 Any reputable tire shop should be able to help you. They will be able to assess your tires and/or balance your wheels... assuming that is the problem.
nismoz Posted March 12, 2008 Author Posted March 12, 2008 Thanks for the input everyone especially fonts I will try to goto one of those shop and update if its fixed or not.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.