Hey 6ers, was hoping someone could give me some help.

Scenario:
I just had a pair of front tires installed on my 997 C4S at a local discount tire shop. The tires are Michelin Pilot Sport 235/35/19 87Y N2 rating. Stock wheels.

After installation, I noticed the steering wheel now vibrates after 50mph. I took it back to the shop and they rebalanced the tires. The steering wheel still shakes under the same conditions.

I took it back again today, and now they are saying that on a test drive the steering wheel shakes when braking also, which might indicate a bent rotor? I call BS because a week before took my car in for annual service and the multi-point inspection came back with no issues except worn tires.

They asked me to bring it in again to balance tires, but at this point, I am not even sure I want to take it back to the same place.

Question is, what do you think it could be? If it is the balancing, what should I look for in a shop that would be equipped to handle this for me? Is there anything special about balancing tires on these cars that I should be aware of?

I appreciate the help.

 

Sounds like they weren't balanced right... Or you have a bent rim.... If the shaking is under hard braking it could be the rotors, I'd either get them to balance the wheels again, or go somewhere else to have it done. Any decent tire shop should be able to do it.

 

Sounds like a wheel balance issue. Ask if they have a road force balancing machine. This will be able to detect if there is a possible defect in the tire or a bent wheel

 

Any chance that you have spacers on the front? I imagine you would have mentioned them if you did. If you do have spacers and they aren't both hub-centric and wheel-centric, then this could explain how the wheel show proper balance off the car but are out of balance on the car.

 

No spacers on the car. Car has the OEM aerokit package and OEM painted sport classic wheels. But this is helpful information.

Thanks for this tip. I know for a fact that they don't have a road force machine, only a basic digital balancer. But now that you mentioned it, I will look around for a shop locally that does have it.

 

I had the same issue too. Turns out that it was the balancing. Tell them to do a "Dynamic" balance which means that they put the weights in different spots on the wheels rather than just in one spot.

 

Same here turned out to be balancing.

 

I just had this issue after mounting my new HREs. I felt a slight vibration in the steering wheel on the freeway.Took it back,and it was the right front out of balance only .50 which was the problem.

 

Did they use a spin balance kind of machine when you brought it in the first time and the second time? The shop I took it to doesn't have a road force balancer.

 

Sounds like a balancing issue to me. I would take it to another shop.

 

Take the car to someone who knows how to balance performance tires - using Hunter equipment to road force balance the wheels. Suggest you go to Wheel Enhancement in Culver City - they know what they are doing. It's a little drive from irvine but well worth it.

 

They need to road force balance and also check the tires for round and a potential slipped belt.

 

Sorry to revived an old thread. I had my new rims & tires mounted at NTB and now my steering wheel shakes around 50mph & up. I'd took it back & told them to re-balance but it still shakes. The car was running smooth before I took the stock rims off so that rules out any other issues. The new rim have a hole in the inside & that's where they put the TPMS. The outer hole is for the valve stem obviously. Could that have something to do with the off balance? Should I take it somewhere else that knows how to balance performance tires?

tia

 

What kind of wheels and tires did you install? Have them road force balance the tires. Sometimes a tire can have excessive road force which means it has a heavy spot, shifted belt, or not truly round. A tire that fails road force will always vibrate. What type of rims? You have to make sure the center wheel bore matches the hub size. If there is a gap on vehicles that use wheel bolts, it will always vibrate as well.

 

The wheel are Victor Equipment Kronen. It's made specifically for Porsches & it fits snuggly. I bought new tires to go with the wheel, Bridgestone potenza s-04 pole position