Vibration at 65 to 70mph when driving

If when you drive at higher speeds you feel vibration through the steering wheel of your car, this can be due to the front wheels being out of balance.  If you feel vibration through the seat of the car, then that is often the rear wheels out of balance.

Wheels can go out of balance  due to either the wheel rim itself having more metal one one side than the other, or the most common cause whish is the tyre itself having more rubber on one side than the other.  Tyres are produced in a mould that is flat, the rubber is then pulled round and joined this join can thicker than the rest of the tyre causing a weight difference. When a tyre fitter puts a tyre on a wheel he has to balance the whole wheel assembly on a balancing machine.  this indicates where the heavy spot is and shows where to put weights to counter-balance the error.  On steel wheels clip on weights are hammered on and the points indicated by the balancing machine.  With alloy wheels we use stick on weights on the inside of the wheel rim, as clip on weights can damage the paint of alloy wheels causing corrosion.

Last week I had a customer who had just bought a used Mercedes, the previous owner had fitted aftermarket larger wheels and tyres.  But when the new owner drove the car at 70mph he felt a lot of vibration through the steering wheel. Rather than just re-balance the front wheels, he asked us at Hometyre to balance all four wheels.

I first checked the front wheels, one was 135g out of balance,the other was 80g out of balance.  most people will feel vibration when a wheel is 20g out, so these were excessively out. I added the correct weights where appropriate and rechecked each wheel to ensure they were at 0g.  I then checked the rear wheels, both were 30g out of balance, so again I corrected the imbalance.  Once I knew they were all correct, I fitted the wheels back on the car.  the owner took the car for a quick test drive and was happy with the results.

Should you have vibration problems with your car , give us a call at Hometyre and book your car in for a balancing check.  For more information on balancing click here.