Winter Tyres / Speed Vibration ???

L

L7MNT

Member
 Central Scotland
Help/Advice please,

i have recently bought myself an 03 Z4, 45000 miles and have a couple of issues that hopefully someone will be able to help me with.

When i touch about 70/80mph i start to get a shudder/strong vibration through the car. I had my wheel balancing checked and this was okay. However, the garage pointed out that it may be because the car has winter tyres fitted all-round. Does this make sense or has anyone heard or experienced a similar problem?

The other issue i have is a minor and more annoying than anything else. The wiper mechanism makes a squeek? as the wipers return to rest position. Its definitely not the blade on the glass.

Any help would be appreciated.

Chris.
 
L7MNT, Welcome to the forum... :thumbsup:
I have been running winter tire for 6 winters and have never had an issue with shudder/strong vibration.... :o
 
Thanks WLH, i did think the tyre suggestion may have been a pitch to get me to buy 4 new tyres!
hmm sounds like it may be something serious then. not so good. :(
 
Winter tyres are still just "tyres" at the end of the day - shouldn't be a concern over balancing them, which is what it sounds like is needed.

Squeak - yup, I get this too. It's some seal/cover low down on the arm mechanism and isn't anythign to worry about. A little bit of WD40 cures it for a bit, but I believe some folk have applied a bit of grease to a certain part - couldn't say for definate which part but it's worth a search on here.

Welcome along BTW :)
 
Hi ally, got a trusty can of WD40 in the hut so will sort that wiper out shorlty, thanks! :thumbsup:

On the vibration, i have had my wheels balanced and it aint that.

Cheers.
 
Re the vibration, what brand are the tyres?

I ask because a friend bought a Pug 406 Coupe 2nd hand that came with the shittiest tyres I've ever seen, real fantastic-plastic ,ditch-finder specials. He was getting terrible vibrations despite having the wheels balanced several times. We think the quality of manufacture of the cheap tyres was to blame: they might've been ever so slightly oval. As soon as he fitted better tyres the vibration disappeared. Not a cheap solution though!

Oh, and the WD40 won't last long in curing the squeak unfortunately! But it does for a bit.
 
Hi L7MNT, welcome to the forum.

I hope this helps you eliminate another couple of possibles re your wheel vibration.

A few months back I was the owner of a Clio 182. This car had cheap winter tyres on the front. It drove well and suffered from no apparent balance/wobble issues. However, being a performance car, I chose to have two new Michelin Pilot Exalto 2s fitted. These are the tyres this particular car was fitted with when new. Immediately on driving at 70-80mph on rough or smooth roads I had a really noticeable wheel wobble/vibration to the right hand front wheel. I went back to the garage that fitted the tyres, who rebalanced them without hesitation, but still no difference! On the third visit they put the wheel back on the balancing machine spun the wheel and watched it rotate. Problem found - the rim was ever so slightly distorted/kerbed on the outer rim edge. This was quite easy to see once we were looking for a problem but had been missed twice because we were not. You are looking for the face of the wheel to appear to 'wobble' out of round (hope that makes sense :? ) Once located a local specialist repaired the rim for me at a cost of £32.

Next possibility is a 'flat' on one or more tyres. This, to be honest, is only usually a problem if you have stored/stood the car for some time. But still worth checking out. This can be looked for at the same time as a wheel fitter spins the wheel up on a balancing machine - it will show itself up in a similar way to the rim being out of round. Only difference is the wheel will look perfectly round in shape , it is the tyre that will appear to wobble on the machine.

Hope this all helps.

Oh, and watch out for the 'stick pokers' :poke:

:)
 
Tyres fiited to the car as follows:-
Front - Falken Euro Winter HS437 - 225/40/18
Rear - Dunlop SP Winter Sport - 255/35/18

You guys will know better than me if these tyres are any good, i believe they are also run flats.

Mister Frosty, thanks for your input, the wheels have been slightly kerbed from the previous owner so this may be the case, will check it out. cheers.

P.S whats a 'stick poker' sorry for the ignorance, I'm knew to this game! :wink:
 
It's the little icon on the right of the reply box (that says 'poke' when you hover over it with your curser) - it seems to be used (in jest) when someone (usually me) posts a reply without reading the full thread. Probably lots of other times too! But it is all done in good fun (erm, I hope :? )

One last thing. Run flats have a stiffer sidewall so would make an out of round wheel problem more pronounced, than say, a performance non run flat alternative.

Hope this all helps, good luck.
 
I've had my normal wheels (and tyres) off my car for 10 days whilst getting the alloys refurbed. The interim wheels and tyres are fine until i hit 80mph, then vibrations. Had the car checked out during a service. The cars fine so am assuming the problem is the current tyres.

I don't run winter tyres though... at least assume they are no as they were no good in the snow earlier this year...
 
Just to conclude from my tyre problemo.

Got wheel balancing checked at Farmer's and mechanic said balancing was fine and it may be my tyres. I was unconvinced though as i thought he just wanted to sell me some new rubber. :x

So i took it to my tried and trusted garage who told me there was three ways to balance an alloy and that he was convinced that it was balancing......Indeed he was correct. :thumbsup:

I think the run flats give a really hard and bumpy ride, so looking forward to changing to non-run flats in the spring.

Thanks all for your input. :driving:
 
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