New Nokian Tire Vibration
Jim Knoll
I just paid mega bucko for some Nokian M&S
tires for my 1994 Geo Prizm. There seems to be
an intermittent vibration that is speed dependent.
Up to 65mph they seem okay. But, at I approach and
drive at 70 there is a sense of vibration in the
front wheels that comes and goes as I maintain the
70 speed.
Is this a balance, tire, or car/tire problem? I plan
to double check the air pressure, plus take the car
in for tire place to check things out. Just curious
if others have had similar vibrations and what the
possible causes are?
Thanks for the help.
Craig Keener
Assuming you didn't have this before, it's probably just a static
imbalance. If you were charged for balancing have them do it over,
otherwise pay to have it done. If you're sensitive they may also need
to set the machine for a finer resolution-- normally it just rounds
up/down to the nearest quarter or half-ounce. Make sure they also
match-mounted both tires to the rim.
Finally, there's a tire defect known as Radial Force (or stiffness)
Variation that can cause such a vibration. It's not too common, but
look into it when everything else checks out.
Luck,
- Craig
--
Spam-free correspondence to: ckeener AT erols DOT com.
Mike De Quardo
jkn...@visi.com (Jim Knoll) wrote:
>I just paid mega bucko for some Nokian M&S
>tires for my 1994 Geo Prizm. There seems to be
>an intermittent vibration that is speed dependent.
>Up to 65mph they seem okay. But, at I approach and
>drive at 70 there is a sense of vibration in the
>front wheels that comes and goes as I maintain the
>70 speed.
>
>Is this a balance, tire, or car/tire problem? I plan
>to double check the air pressure, plus take the car
>in for tire place to check things out. Just curious
>if others have had similar vibrations and what the
>possible causes are?
>
>Thanks for the help.
>
>Jim
>jkn...@visi.com
>
Just want to echo what Craig mentioned. He's right on the $$. I just
upgraded some really soft OEM tires to Dunlop D60A2's. The new ones
have a much stiffer sidewall. When I first had them mounted the car
pulled to the right. I had them move the fronts to the rear and this
solved the pulling but I still had a vibation. What mostly happened
is that the stiffer sidewall made the car much more sensitive to the
transmisson of vibrations.
The solution for me was to have the tire/wheel match mounted. This
essentially involves moving the tire on the rim so that the least
amount of weight is required for balancing. After several trips back
to the tire store (NTB) and having the manager himself do the work I
now have tires that handle and perform perfectly.
Mike
Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Indy 500 1911-1995, R.I.P.
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