Dodgy tyre or wheel balancing issue?

[gdr]

Last year I fitted a set of A039s on my previous Exige and had serious steering vibration from them. Several attempts to balance (Westhill Service Stn, normally very good) with no joy, so I came to the conclusion that there must be one of the front tyres faulty, perhaps slightly out of round or something. After a couple of hundred miles incl a very wet and slow KH afternoon changed out for set of R888, vibration gone, but I held onto the 39s as virtually brand new. Now I have a set of very worn A048s on new car so would be logical to fit the A039s for winter if it wasn't for this vibration.

Is there a chance that the imbalance problem might just go away when I refit tyres on the rims?
Should I replace 1 (or both) fronts with new A039s regardless? (Couldn't really tell which was giving the vibration, both appeared OK on the balancing machine).
Or just get another set of A048s which have never given me problems (or indeed R888).

Any thoughts.

[David]

Some tyres just seem difficult to balance. I've had similar problems, albeit with cheaper brands, over the years. From a dynamic point of view, sorting a poorly balanced (constructed) tyre with weights is always going to be a bit of a compromise and there are limits to what can be achieved. Shame you didn't return the tyre at the time, but they may work better when fitted onto different wheels or, at worst, fit them on the rear of the car.

[Bob vanM]

it could be a tyre question or a mounting/balancing thing.
noted that it is not an untrue rim since your new tyre is ok.

when you put the tyres on the rim again, on the balancing machine, then look at the tire; if it is hight or left-right untrue then you should be able to see that.
mount again with more soap and higher initial pressure to seat the tyre properly on the rim.
it could also be that the surface they use to clamp the wheel on the balancing machine is not right, you should be able to see the wheel wobble .

if the tire is perfectly round then it should be solved with weights.
if it needs a lot of weight ( say 60 grams or more) then you could try to mount again and turn the tyre 1/2 or 1/4 on the rim. that might make a difference.

hope this helps

[gdr]

Thanks guys. Quite possibly tyre not mounted true first time around, so will try again. Seems shame to waste tyre with loads of tread, and I've left it too long to have any hope of a refund.

[yrrab]

hi i had a similar experience a few years back and had my tyres balanced 5 seperate times at different tyre fitters with no effect.
i then tried drivers in charing cross glasgow that had a new wheel balancer called "Haweka perfect-centre balancing" which sorted the problem right away.
if you know anywere near you with this type of balanceer id take it to them for a try.

[Jamie84]

I had the wobble with 48s , now I have cheaper yokos on and still have a wobble but its different , more frequent vibration at a different speed.

Just learned to live with it , I presume it doesnt do ajny damage ?

[Bob vanM]

......... I presume it doesnt do any damage ?

with the vibration it does give bigger stress to balljoints, steering rack, steering rod ends, wheelbearings and everything that is between tyres and steering wheel.
so best have a look what the cause is ;
that can be anything from tyre (balancing/mounting), rim, flange, wheelbearing, balljoint or even dirt between wheel and flange .

don't want to scare you, but most Elises go around without wobbly wheels, so there must be something 'different' with your car

have fun checking

[Bob vanM]

on SELOC there was this link to the Yokohama website about Tyre mounting and matching.
interesting stuff

http://www.yokohamatire.com/customer_se ... nting.aspx

[gdr]

Bob,
That is good info, will take along to my tyre fitter. Remember discussing the Yoko coloured dots with him. I recall that he knew what the yellow mark was for (weight) but not the red (uniformity). I have always wondered what the notch mark on the wheel was for.