Low Speed Tire Vibration-NonVFR

Can anyone help? I recently had my dealership replace my 08 Mazda CX-9 OE tires (Bridgestone Dueler H/L 400's) with (Goodyear Eagle RS-A's). 40,000 miles and they were shot. Tires are size 245/50 R20, not that it matters.

Since replacing them with the Goodyears I have been experencing a low speed vibration between 25-40 mph but noticable all the way down to stop. Kinda feels like I'm riding around on knobby tires or driving over rumble strips.

I've taken it back three times to the dealer. Two enlinement and balancing jobs and the problem still persist. Though the mechanic claims to not really notice it enough.
Tires are balanced, steering enlinement is good, and the front and rear suspension are tight.

So it's got to be the tires, right? Trouble is I cant find anything online even mentioning this problem. Not with new allseason tires at least.

I've even tried adjusting the tire pressure. Door jam sticker states 34psi and tire states max psi of 44. I checked the pressure and found all 4 at 34psi so I added 6psi to each tire and took for a test drive.
Vibration still there but now it's kinda shifted between 30-45 and the ride is more stiff.

Any ideas?

 

Some tread patterns / tire constuction(e.g. Belts) are lke that. That I had a similar issue on my ford explorer when i tried BFGoodrich tires. I had a terrible vibration felt like the tires were way out of balance. I could feel it p to aout 45 MPH. I took it back and they swapped them out for Michelins. I just had to pay the difference in price. Issue went away. Funny thing is BFGoodrich is owned by Michelin North America.

 

Have you tried to swap the fronts with the rears?

 

Play around with your tyre pressure. If they are a block type pattern and a little under inflated the leading edge of the trailing block can cause this as it sits higher then the tail edge of the preceding block.

 

I agree with BP. Some tires just won't balance to perfection. I put $1300.00 worth of tires on my truck about 2 years ago, and took it back at least 4 times for balancing and it came back the same as it went in each time. No issues have developed in the two years since. I have full confidence in the place I went to. They have been doing tires for me since I moved here in 1989, so that is probably8 sets of tires or so on I don't remember how many different cars and trucks. But I have to say, I am surprised to hear of this on a car tire.

 

it could also be a brake rotor issue as well, but unlikely since it happened the same time the tires were changed. They could of over torqued one lug nut and warped it or cracked it. Since a lot of vehicles "push" their brakes, they are always barely touching the pad. If the tire thing doesn't pan out, something else to look at.

 

Its not likely that an alignment would cause a vibration, unless tie rods, ball joints, or something else were messed up.

Tires, even when new, are not always perfect. Slipped belts inside the tire may not be noticeable to the eye, and will even balance properly, but once they are under a load you can feel the vibration.

As Randy said, this is really unusual on a car. If you were talking about a big ass 4X4 with Mud & Snow or Off road tires, I could understand.

Where is the vibration? Whole vehicle? Front? Rear? Usually the fronts will put a shimmy in the steering wheel. Rears can be felt in the seat of your pants or back.

When you say properly balanced - and I don't know if you have tape weights or the traditional "clip ons" - make sure that any weights (either inside or outside) are right next to one another. Meaning, if there is one wight somewhere on the outside of the wheel, and then another weight that is say 6 inches away (but still on the outside of the wheel), it is NOT properly balanced. There should never be a gap between weights. No exceptions.

Rotating the tires may narrow it down to where the potential problem is.

If it was my vehicle, I'd have those tires removed entirely and replaced. The mechanic doesn't drive the vehicle every day, so while he says its normal, you KNOW that its not. Not trying to be a dick, but any shop worth a damn should have no problem in providing you with complete satisfaction and replacing those tires.

Messing with the tire pressure is not going to make much of a difference, and actually isn't recommended unless there was a huge difference between what the car and tire show. Just like our bikes, manufacturers put this there for a reason. Increasing pressure signifcantly will have an adverse affect on the suspension an other parts. My 6000lb truck calls for 36lbs in the tires. I also tow my boat with it. My most recent set of tires has a max inflation of 55lbs. I used to keep it at 36, but now run it at 38. I have 20K miles on these tires, and have at least another 20K to go. They are wearing perfectly. (For a relatively heavy truck that tows, hauls and commutes back roads filled with potholes, I'll gladly take 40K a set).

 

bad belt in the tire will cause this, the vibration will seem to go away the faster you drive. You feel the vibe from a damaged belt from 45 mph and under, the slower you go the worse it gets.

 

I should add that I was in and out every day for a week trying to get the tires balanced right and nothing ever worked. Them the decision to swap was offered.

 

Wow, thanks for all the advise.

Pliskin, I believe the vibration is coming from all four but I don't notice anything funny about the steering. Over the course of the winter I noticed a pull to the left so I brought it in for an alignment. They performed the service and rotated my tires. This is when I noticed the vibration again. I went back two days later and reminded them of the history:

7/16/10: 4 new Goodyear Eagle RS-A's installed and balanced. I also requested a 4wheel alignment be done. When I picked it up that evening I noticed that all four rims had been badly scratched in a circle patern about 4" in from the outer edge. I brought it to the techs attention, they admitted fault and scheduled for me to drop off the truck a week later to have the rims refinished.

Note: between the pick-up and rim refinishing I did not notice anything wrong with the tires.

7/20/10: Dropped off for rim refinishing.
7/23/10: Picked up, rims looked brand new. On my 3-4 mile drive home I noticed a low speed vibration coming from the tires .

7/27/10: Went back to complain about vibration coming from tires. tech claimed he could not duplicate but noted no safety concerns. I told them I would be back when I had time to take tech for test ride.

8/12/10: Went back and took tech for test ride. Tech admited he was driving faster then I was and this is why he didn't notice. As I drove around a one block distance the tech noticed the vibration. Tech balanced all four tires. Retested and stated vibration was gone. I picked up later and did not notice vibration.

As stated earlier over the course of the winter months the steering began to pull to the left so I brought it back in for an alignment check.

2/22/11: They performed an alignment service and rotated my tires. When I picked it up that evening I noticed the vibration was back.

2/24/11: Returned to complain about the low speed vibration again. At my suggestion tech balanced all four tires and we road tested. Vibration still there but not very noticible to the tech.

I have yet to return. I plan on going back this week or next with all my receipts which clearly show a problem since installing new tires or worse, since they F'd up my rims.

Question: Could there be a problem due to the refinishing? I only ask because I didn't notice a problem before they painted them. I asked this very question to the tech because I wondered if someone took a short-cut and didn't rebalance the rims and painted over the wheel weights. He assured me this was not the case and infact he was the one who removed the tires and weights prior to dropping them off at the shop for refinishing.

At this point I'm loosing confidence in my Mazda dealership's service department and I'm considering going to a tire specialist to have them checked out.

To make matters worse, I just picked up two flat tires this weekend. I have the worst luck with tires.
Friday night I picked up a lag screw in my front right tire driving through the Toyota parking lot. Saturday moring had it plugged. Saturday night, in a totaly different part of town, I picked up another lag screw in my back left tire. WTFO?? Couldn't get that fixed till this morning cause nothing in Worcester is open on Sundays.

 

Please take no offence here Chris but some people are just meant to take the bus. You think you might be one of those people?

 

hey - you got a bike, why aren't you riding that?

Anyway, as a current and previous Toyota owner, hopefully you are not thinking about one of them. Unless it's older. Like a T100 or the indestructible Toyota Hi-Lux (the older small trucks). I've had my 4 Runner for almost 3 years, 28k miles, and had more issues with quality than all of my other, even used, Toyotas put together. So far, I've worn through 1 set of the rubber floor mats, almost thru the 2nd set, the HVAC display replaced (went dim) and as for the built in Tom-Tom, well, let's just say I'll never own another one again. And my seat is ripped to shreds. Toyota dealer says it's the way I get in and out, not a warranty issue. No, it's cheap leather. Guy who repaired my seat (not Toyota!) said that it was cheap, thin leather and that it would happen again. And it did. It's got plenty of get up & go, but everything else.... sheesh.

 

Try to ask them to replace with a different brand like BP said........

 

I vote for different tire brand too. I'm as impressed with Goodyear cage tires as I am with Dunlop bike tires. The main problem I've seen is really soft sidewalls.