| aarijk |
Hi guys,
So my steering wheel vibrates from about 60mph up to 70-75 mph. It's ok during braking, just normal cruising and light acceleration at that speed give it some light jitters. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance. |
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| highmath |
With just about any vehicle, going over 65mph will cause a little vibration in the wheel b/c of downforce and drag at traveling at high speed.
Did this problem just starting to occur? |
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| theseans |
| 9 out of 10 times, this is a simply a wheel being out of balance. Vehicle alighnment should also be checked. |
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| cob206 |
| I have the same problem in my 02. I just got new tires and had them road force balanced as well. Problem remains. There are a number of posts here indicating this type of issue that is not tire/balance related but no resolutions. If you find out what the cause is be sure to post. |
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| KES |
| Even though you had your tires balanced it does not mean they were done properly. The machine could be out or the kid they paid $6.50 an hour to might have missed one tire or done it incorrectly. I have had this problem in the past. Best to have them double check the balancing. |
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| vips |
I have 2007 MDX and notice same problem immediately (in the first week of buying).
Took to the dealer and they checked the balancing. Told me that everything is per spec and the balancing is done per spec as recommended by Acura.
Very strange. I am going to take it to another shop (non-dealer but very reliable) to see if they can correct the problem. |
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| richkuan |
Tire balance is only a small part that could contribute to vibration. Road force is the real major player. But you can rarely find any shop do the road force for you. And, if the shop can do it, it's pretty expersive, because it's very time consuming. I heard a local tire shop will do it for $500. Yes, $500, and you can buy a set of tires already.
I had experience chasing my vibration for couple months, the wheels were perfectly balanced, but chatter came and went all the time. I finally found out it's the road force. After done the force match, I found out there was one bad tire, replaced that, and the car drives smooth like new.
The road force machine I used is Hunter GSP9700. |
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| cob206 |
quote:
Originally posted by richkuan
Tire balance is only a small part that could contribute to vibration. Road force is the real major player. But you can rarely find any shop do the road force for you. And, if the shop can do it, it's pretty expersive, because it's very time consuming. I heard a local tire shop will do it for $500. Yes, $500, and you can buy a set of tires already.
I had experience chasing my vibration for couple months, the wheels were perfectly balanced, but chatter came and went all the time. I finally found out it's the road force. After done the force match, I found out there was one bad tire, replaced that, and the car drives smooth like new.
The road force machine I used is Hunter GSP9700.
So my shop uses a Hunter Road Force balance machine and charged me $80. You make it sound much more involved. Can you elaborate on this $500 service that exposed your bad tire? I suspect I have a bad tire (or two) and I'm tempted to buy new ones but I'm afraid I'll still have the same issue. |
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| G. COLTON |
quote:
Originally posted by theseans
9 out of 10 times, this is a simply a wheel being out of balance. Vehicle alighnment should also be checked.
Agree with this post and the suceeding one that says recheck. Not all shops are equal when it comes to balancing tires.
These days it is difficult to find a shop that balances on the vehicle. It is less critical now to do an on the vehicle balance with all vehicles having disc brakes. However, there still can be an out of balance even with modern cars. The wheel/tire combination is not the only rotating mass.
Also as mentioned it can be a tire problem. Most tire problems will not show up on a balance machine.
G |
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| richkuan |
quote:
Originally posted by cob206
So my shop uses a Hunter Road Force balance machine and charged me $80. You make it sound much more involved. Can you elaborate on this $500 service that exposed your bad tire? I suspect I have a bad tire (or two) and I'm tempted to buy new ones but I'm afraid I'll still have the same issue.
Well, depends on what is done. If the shop really go thru the whole roadforce control process, called "matchmaker", and do everything right as specified in the manual, and if everything goes smoothly, it should take more than 3 hours for all 4 or 5 tires. Not to mention if any tire has first harmonic or second harmonic vibration issue (and I really doubt how many shop techs knows how to analyze and correct that), or the roadforce can't be reduced to within spec by matching process, it will take much more time to fix it.
So, I am not sure if your shop take the same full procedure as I mentioned here (matchmaker), if it is (I doubt it) and they do everything right, I would say it's an incredible good deal. I didn't pay $500 because I have access to a private club with full service shop and I did it myself. But I checked with a local shop for the price to see how much I saved, that's the price they quoted me. |
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| cob206 |
quote:
Originally posted by richkuan
Well, depends on what is done. If the shop really go thru the whole roadforce control process, called "matchmaker", and do everything right as specified in the manual, and if everything goes smoothly, it should take more than 3 hours for all 4 or 5 tires. Not to mention if any tire has first harmonic or second harmonic vibration issue (and I really doubt how many shop techs knows how to analyze and correct that), or the roadforce can't be reduced to within spec by matching process, it will take much more time to fix it.
So, I am not sure if your shop take the same full procedure as I mentioned here (matchmaker), if it is (I doubt it) and they do everything right, I would say it's an incredible good deal. I didn't pay $500 because I have access to a private club with full service shop and I did it myself. But I checked with a local shop for the price to see how much I saved, that's the price they quoted me.
Yeah, I doubt they did all that. Nevertheless, they bragged about how accurate this machine was and I walk away with a high frquency vibration that starts at about 65MPH. The re-did the balance and nothing changed. They are cheaper tires that I put on, Khumo Solous, as we were considering selling the vehicle. I would just feel better about selling it knowing I fixed the vibration. I'm just not sure short of putting 4 new tires on it how I can. If that doesn't work, then what? :confused:
Thanks for the info. |
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| cp_ssrebba |
quote:
Originally posted by KES
Even though you had your tires balanced it does not mean they were done properly.
True.
last year, I purchased four goodyear SilentArmors costing $840 including balance and alignment from Just Tires . as soon as i took it to a highway i could feel the vibration at 60-75mph. the handle was shaking about a half inch. i took it back and they rebalanced the tires saying the balance was off before. still the handle shakes about quarter inch. since my previous tires were doing the same i thought it could be my car doing it.
well... wrong. after about six months later, i took it to an acura dealer for a oil change and asked them to check why it is vibrating as well. they rebalanced the tire and my handle doesnt shake or vibrate anymore. im a happy person again. :)
better stop going 80s tho...:) |
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| richkuan |
quote:
Originally posted by cp_ssrebba
True.
last year, I purchased four goodyear SilentArmors costing $840 including balance and alignment from Just Tires . as soon as i took it to a highway i could feel the vibration at 60-75mph. the handle was shaking about a half inch. i took it back and they rebalanced the tires saying the balance was off before. still the handle shakes about quarter inch. since my previous tires were doing the same i thought it could be my car doing it.
well... wrong. after about six months later, i took it to an acura dealer for a oil change and asked them to check why it is vibrating as well. they rebalanced the tire and my handle doesnt shake or vibrate anymore. im a happy person again. :)
better stop going 80s tho...:)
That's why I stopped to let anyone touches my car. I am the only one that maintain my own cars. There are too many things that can go wrong, it's just that you don't know or you don't feel it. The machine itself needs calibration from time to time. The fixture that attaches the wheel to the machine can be out of shape. The fixture may not be tight enough to hold the wheels. The tire itself can be bad (hard points, out of round, twisted band), etc., etc. I doubt how many of the tire shop techs really know about this. |
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| richkuan |
quote:
Originally posted by cob206
Yeah, I doubt they did all that. Nevertheless, they bragged about how accurate this machine was and I walk away with a high frquency vibration that starts at about 65MPH. The re-did the balance and nothing changed. They are cheaper tires that I put on, Khumo Solous, as we were considering selling the vehicle. I would just feel better about selling it knowing I fixed the vibration. I'm just not sure short of putting 4 new tires on it how I can. If that doesn't work, then what? :confused:
Thanks for the info.
The machine might be the best, but the people that use it determine the outcome. And, it's your luck who works on it..... |
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| dj-mdx2 |
quote:
Originally posted by richkuan
That's why I stopped to let anyone touches my car. I am the only one that maintain my own cars. There are too many things that can go wrong, it's just that you don't know or you don't feel it. The machine itself needs calibration from time to time. The fixture that attaches the wheel to the machine can be out of shape. The fixture may not be tight enough to hold the wheels. The tire itself can be bad (hard points, out of round, twisted band), etc., etc. I doubt how many of the tire shop techs really know about this.
Are you saying you have all the necessary machines and tools to fully service your car, including balancing? If so, kudos to you. I wouldn't invest that much in any car unless it was part of my business. |
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| richkuan |
quote:
Originally posted by dj-mdx2
Are you saying you have all the necessary machines and tools to fully service your car, including balancing? If so, kudos to you. I wouldn't invest that much in any car unless it was part of my business.
No, no, no, I don't buy those equipment. I am just a member of a private club and they have a full service garage. Which I can virtually do 95% of all auto maintenance jobs. And I got 4 vehicles in my house. If I don't diy, I can't hardly afford being robbed by the dealers. |
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| Redwingz |
Can anyone state how much the dealer charges for an alignment and balancing... I've been have the vibration problem for a couple of weeks now even at low speeds and need to to get this fixed ASAP.
Thanks |
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| jake103 |
| :confused: I've had same problem. Car shakes at 70 MPH. Since about 20K miles (now has 45K). Can feel it through steering wheel, mostly. Have had car aligned (twice). Tires balanced/rotated (4 times). Bought new tires - did not fix the problem! Now dealer is going to check transmission. Would like to know if it's correctable before car goes out of warranty (50K). Anybody got any ideas? Anybody? |
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| cob206 |
quote:
Originally posted by jake103
:confused: I've had same problem. Car shakes at 70 MPH. Since about 20K miles (now has 45K). Can feel it through steering wheel, mostly. Have had car aligned (twice). Tires balanced/rotated (4 times). Bought new tires - did not fix the problem! Now dealer is going to check transmission. Would like to know if it's correctable before car goes out of warranty (50K). Anybody got any ideas? Anybody?
Frustrating, isn't it?
Keep pressuring the dealer to figure it out and fix it. You've reported the problem prior to your warranty expiring so that should not be an issue.
To eliminate tires/wheels being the issue, make them put a set from a demo/pre-owned car on their lot that rides fine on the highway on your car. I did have a tire guy tell me that the Acura wheels were very tough to balance correctly (for whatever reason).
Seems a lot of folks here have seen this problem but no real solution has ever been posted. For me, I had a minor vibration that started at 70MPH with new tires on the car. It wasn't the worst thing in the world but was annoying after I had just put new tires on it. Having them rebalanced by a different shop lessened the vibration, but it was still noticable. I didn't pursue it further as I ended up selling the vehicle.
Let us know how you make out. |
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| vips |
Try to get the rims and tire replaced with another car on the lot that does not have this problem.
I have 2007 MDX and the problem went away swapping of rims and tires with another new car. I noticed problem at 1K mile itself, so it was easier to get it from a new car on the lot. |
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| Ozzy |
| I had the same problem, quick fix... just take your MDX to get a 4-wheel alignment. |
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