bluestar

So a couple weeks back I had my tires replaced and also put in new chrome wheels. Had this done at Discount Tires. Trouble is that I've got the "shakes" at the front rims since the tires came on. I've taken it back to Discount Tires to fix. First time, the guy said, "hey we screwed up.. it needed a slight adjustment so we fixed it". Didn't fix it... Took it back... this time another guy said... we fixed it... And again its not.

The shake comes on at 75mph to 85mph and then kinda stabilizes at 90mph+ (sorry, I am a lead foot with my cars, can't help it, lol). As long as I drive under 75, its fine. prior to replacing the tires, the car will run all the way to 100mph+ with zero shake ! So what gives ?

Now I'm thinking having the alignment checked... But I am sure its not the alignment. Could it be Discount screwed up the balancing, or could it be bald spots on the brand new tires ? BTW, the tires are Pirellis in stock size for my 1999 LS400.

pocky

iTrader: (12)

You can do either one of these or all:

Wheel Balance
Check if you need hub-centric rings for the wheels.

I say go to another shop for the work.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

the LS is really sensitive to wheel balance. find out what balancer that discount tire is using and ul find that its NOT a Hunter "Road Force" balancer. find a place that uses that machine and ur good.

bluestar

Thanks PureDrifter and Pocky for those nice suggestions. I'll take it to another shop and see if they'll get this fixed. I do believe its all in the balancing... I'll see about those hubs as well.

ATSOU

Probably need to get some hub-centric rings.

aaronjz

definitely a wheel balancing.

bluestar

So I took it in to another shop with a Hunter's machine. This shop found that the "weights" was the issue on the front rims. So they added to the weights, and re-balanced the tires. Also, Discount Tire already added the hub-centric rings to all wheels in their second balance attempt.

I insisted the shop tech take the car on a test drive. He came back and said everything was OK. Well... not quite so fast.... now the shake has simply toned down but it is still there.

An older tech in the shop came over and looked at my new shiny chrome rims. He noticed the amount of weights needed to balance the tires... He suggested I may need to go back to my factory rims cos these new lighter chrome rims are simply too light, and require too much weights. No such weights were required on the heavier factory alloy rims

So I am down to 2 choices:
1) put back my factory rims with the new Pirelli tires
or
2) switch the Pirellis to Michelins on the new rims for quieter ride...

What would you guys recommend ? I sure love my new chrome rims, and do hate the factory LS rims... yuk ! Can I ever rid myself of this shake ???

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

there is no such thing as "too light"

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

Yea. No such thing as too light. Its balance that's important because that is one of the determining factor of your shaking steering.

link13

If you guys are reasonably close to Huntington Beach, go to Shoreline Motoring on Beach Blvd. They can load balance your wheels/tires. They just did mine a few weeks ago. I drove the car to AZ and back and it's nice and smooth.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

how much was it at shoreline motoring?

Streamline

Did you buy your wheels new or used? If used, were they ever damaged or repaired?

Having the wheels balanced properly is one thing.
But having damaged wheels to begin with, is another.

I'm thinking your wheels could be dented/deformed to begin with. That could be what is causing your vibration at speed.

Either that OR Discount Tires did not put your suspension/alignment settings back in properly.

Have a reliable shop look over your current suspension/alignment settings. Once that is checked, it is time to inspect your "new" wheels.

Where in CA do you live?

bluestar

Last question answered first - I live in San Diego.

The wheels were brand spanking new from the box... sparkling chrome rims... really lovely.

I am having the Pirellis replaced with Michelins MXV4 on Saturday. The Michelins are quieter... I am not a big fan of Pirellis...

Lastly, altho' it kills me to do this, but I will have to take the car to a Lex shop this weekend for re-balancing of the rims. I hope all these changes fixes this problem. If it doesn't, then I'll simply and regretfully put back my factory rims with the Michelins, and live happily ever after and sell off my new rims on EBay...

But thanks for all of your thoughts... Truly appreciated.