If the steering wheel can physically shake your hand at 60MPH, it's too much IMO. I have 2 known-to-be-bent wheels that have less weight than 21, and around that 15 mark.

I had one set of wheels and tires with zero vibration. Put these wheels and brand new tires on, vibration is present. I have both bent wheels moved from front to back, vibration is gone.

If it wasn't for the fact that prior to the new tires there was no vibration, I would say almost definitively that the wheels were bent.

 

The vibration in the steering wheel has never been a warped rotor type shimmy. The vibration increases and decreases with driving speed and road conditions.

I took the long way home from work this evening and took a smooth highway for about 15 minutes; I noted the following: 1) at 60 mph, there is a felt vibration similar to a shimmy, with no visible shimmy in the wheel, 2) at 65 mph, a slight vibration is felt in the drivers seat cushion, 3) at 70 mph, the vibration is more noticeable, but nothing that is really obvious when looking at the wheel, 4) at 75 mph, the same vibe is present in the steering wheel, and a definite shimmy in the drivers seat cushion can be felt.

Unfortunately, the highway is about 30 minutes from the tire shop, and there will only be time for about a 10 minute test drive. Hopefully, there will be enough vibe for the shop to pull, inspect, and re-balance.

 

Sounds like bent wheel or wheels.

 

I asked the shop manager about a possible bent rim, and said it was highly unlikely the previous shop would have bent a rim or rims installing the Michelin's.

 

I don't think the wheels could've been bent mounting the tires, but could have doing something else. May be something you did, may be something the shop did (cause who the hell knows what they did with them). But, the wheels alone can be spun to check for excess shake. I had mine spun before I mounted them so that I knew what I was dealing with.

 

You said you has the vibration before you got the new tires so that makes me think it's something other than the tires. To address a few of the other things from various posts: I've never seen a tire machine bend a car/truck wheel. However, I've seen it happen to a lawnmower wheel twice. Typically with the adhesive weights the individual segments are 1/4 oz each. Try getting the tires road forced to rule out the issue of the tires and wheels. We have a hunter road force balancer at my shop and it can tell you if there's a problem with either a wheel or tire.

 

There was no vibe with the OEM LTX A/S tires, I replaced them at 40,500 miles and had new LTX M/S2 tires installed at a prorated price due to shoulder cracking on the A/S tires. The M/S2 tires would vibrate in the steering wheel and column and gave a very harsh ride.

After a re-balance on a new Hunter Balancer, the M/S2 tires still gave a harsh ride, but had less total weight per wheel. Driving 60 miles per day on less than perfect roads was giving me a terrible neck and headache. The shop manager recommended the TOYO's, so I went with them. The ride is actually worse with the TOYO's. I have a set of new Michelin A/S tires waiting for me at the shop, if the manager agrees we have a bad tire or tires from TOYO. I really hope we can get this sorted out. I don't have time for this running back and forth every few days. And, I am driving to TX Friday evening, to go on a long overdue Hog Hunt.

This tire shop does not have a RF Balancer. And, the closest shop is not known for always being easy on rims. They even have a disclaimer posted on their wall. Or, there is also the Ford dealer, which is always hit or miss.

 

Remember that when Ford came out with the (then) new 2004 F-150, there were a rash of vibration issues that popped up. The cause was the new, significantly stiffer frame and overall structure. Although there were many advantages to this, one of the disadvantages was that any imbalance in a rotating mass such as the tires was transmitted through the whole truck. They really struggled for a while with the issue.

Part of the fix was a TSB that recommended Road Force Balancing. I'd keep that in mind if and when you replace the tires yet again. As I said before, they might be "balanced," but they wouldn't be "road force balanced."

 

What is road force balancing vs normal balancing?

 

Weak Google-Fu?

http://www.hunter.com/balancer/roadforce/

Or this, since Millennials apparently like pichers and vidyas...



MGD

 

I know about the vibe issue all to well, I picked it up on my '07 SCab the same way, 4 sets of tires, rear shocks, struts, 2 alignments and 2 RF balances later, I purchsed my 2011. I am looking at a few 2013's, but nothing I like well enough to attempt making a deal on. I love my truck and do not want to get rid of it, but I cant deal with this as long as I did on my '07. I actually cringed when I saw the oem Michelins cracking on the shoulders, I was dreading a repeat performance, and it has arrived.

 

Yeah . . . now I know the features of the Road Force balancer and nothing about how it compares to a regular one or why it's better. Those types of balancers are all I have seen personally because they're what my dealership has. It seems like it has the potential to be more accurate, and that's it.

 

While I'm not an expert, let me try to explain. Tires - like any manufactured product - are not all exactly the same. Each one is every so slightly different due to all sorts of factors. These differences are the result of inherent variations in the manufacturing process. That's why one has tolerances on any process that one strives to stay within. Out of tolerance = defect. One of the tolerances on a tire (and wheel I might add) is balance. Out of balance = thump - thump.

Many years ago, we used to use a simple "bubble balancer" to "balance" tires. All this did was take a static wheel & tire and attempt to get all of the weight centered. Although it was better than nothing, it didn't duplicate the conditions when the tire was spinning.

Enter "dynamic balancing." This method actually spun the tire / wheel to see where if and / or where it shook. Based on that, the computer told the tech where to add weight. This was a big step forward, but still not perfect.

Since "balance" is only one of many possible defects, and since things were still shaking with even dynamic balanced tires, something else was needed.

Enter "road force" balancing. This method spins the tire / wheel (like dynamic balancing), but forces it against a drum. This allows the machine to pick up certain other defects that might be invisible to even the best dynamic balancers. This is why older balancers just aren't good enough with the new stiffer vehicle structures - which tend to transmit even minor vibrations right to the occupants.

The Hunter Road Force machines show you how much and where to place weights for proper dynamic balance. They also give you a "road force number." The greater this number, the less likely you are to have a perfectly smooth ride - even of the "dynamic balance" is perfect.

As I said before, my son is a ASE & Lexus Certified Technician and he's seen many tires balance perfectly, but have a high road force number and come back for shakes. (Lexus has their own - very low - tolerance limit for road force numbers.) What do you do when you can't get a low enough road force number? Get another tire (or sometimes wheel) and start over again.

Hope that helps.

 

Thank you very much, 2stroked. That was the info I couldn't seem to find altogether to compare. I didn't even know about the bubble balancers either!

 

You're welcome. Truth be told, on my very first job at age 16, I worked at Western Auto - and used a bubble balancer. State of the art back then!