My car vibrates on the highway with these tires for at least 10 minutes until they warm up, even when temp is 50-60 deg F. I don't get on the highway much but this seems stupid. Tires are 5 years old, 20,000 miles on them, and recently balanced at discount tire. Size is 225/60 R16 98H. I am usually a Michelin snob for my sedans and sports cars and this warm up requirement for these tires has me thinking I should have fun wearing them out.

 

For lack of other replies, I'm going to say that tires with a harder compound (and longer treadwear) might be prone to flat spotting more. However, I would also suggest that ten minutes of driving is too much to allow flat spots to even out under warm conditions, unless the car was sitting for a week or two. Which brings me to my proposal that the wheel balance was not done properly.

I've had a lot of trouble with wheel balancing. It seems to me like the Jaguar rims take more care and attention to get a proper balance. With the possibility of equipment miscalibration, lack of experience or just carelessness, I have little faith in tire shops anymore.

I've gone so far as to buy a gravity balancer. So far in my experience (and with due diligence), the gravity balance works better than most spin balances!

Your shop will probably re-do your balance if you ask them. They will start over and you'll probably find they put weights on in completely different positions. It all seems like a crap-shoot to me.

On the other hand, you can't argue with gravity! I know that a dynamic balancer is supposed to be the preferred method for a proper balance, but in reality, I don't feel it.

There are other causes of vibration, but I think it is pretty easy to tell if the tires/wheels are the problem. So far I've re-balanced 7 of my wheels. All but one was NOT balanced in it's present state, according to gravity. After my work, the wheels run essentially smooth and much better than before, even with some older tires.

 

Had similar issues, perfect balancing seems extremely difficult to achieve. Where did you buy your gravity balancer? Sounds like an interesting solution.

 

Wheels that are out of balance are not going to smooth out after ten minutes driving, but those tires are getting old, and if the compound is hard they certainly could take a set easily.
I try to avoid the term flat spotting, because I relate that to uneven wear due to brake lockup.
One of my previous cars had a pair of Dunlops that suffered the same condition.

 

thank you... curious about the gravity balancer. Big piece of equipment? Cost? Vendor to buy from??

 

I saw this device at Harbor Freight (USA, $90) but I bought a similar one from ebay for less. Its a pedestal with a bubble level in the center. The tire/wheel is placed over the centering cone horizontally. Then you place wheel weights at one spot at the edge of the rim, to center the bubble.

It is China made and not of the highest quality, but with some tweaking I got it working well. It should pay for itself in the long run, seeing that shops charge $10 each for a "lifetime" balance.

I just put 2 new tires on the six. Walmart mounted them for $5 each (carry-in) and I took care of the rest. NO vibration!

This is a low tech method so might not be acceptable to some. But in my experience, there is too much of a possibility for errors using spin balancing equipment.

 

I used a bubble level 50 years ago. It was good enough for those days. My XK8 wheels were very difficult to balance fo 75- 80 mph. Discount Tire tried a couple of times and then shifted to the Hunter Load Force machine which solved the problem.

 

My experience here: After some time without driving, I also feel some light vibration during initial highway driving. Then it tends to even out. I associate this to some tire deformation due to long time standing, and if it isso, I’m ok with it provided it gets normal after.

As for the balancing at tire shops, I simply think that “their” tolerances are not satisfactory to me and I tend to be nearby to ensure that the machine readsz ero. At least I get sure that it is as well as it can be.

 

. I have yk 580s and they do vibrate