Hello all,
I am new to the site, however I have been reading your post for a few days now. Very helpful. With that in mind I hope someone can help me. I just bought an 05 Roadster Limited with 15,000 miles. I am enjoying the car but when I get to 70-75 mph there is a distinct vibration that seems to run through the car?? I have had it in for balancing and alignment, so that is not the problem. Also has new Conti All Season tires on it.
Any ideas or similar problems out there??

 

Unfortunetly, tryin to diagnosis vibration issues is sometimes like catching a piece of straw in a hurricane. Tires and wheels would be my first guess. If you feel confident that your wheel and alignment shop have done their job properly, then I would probably move on to the drive train. Wheel bearings, differential, drive shaft etc. It maybe helpful to put the rear of the car up on a set of jack stands, putting the car in gear and running up the RPM's a bit.
Good luck in your quest !

Just my Dos Centavos !

 

mlt,
Welcome to the forum.
I don't have a answer other than what has already been mentioned but I'm sure you will get is resolved. Enjoy , Gary

 

i get the same problem at around 55mph.. ive had the wheels balanced twice and my alignment just done. i really believe its a bearing now.. so we shall see. ill let you know when i get it figured out! til then good luck!

 

Thanks for the tips. I am headed to the dealer I bought it from to see if they figured something out. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I will let you know.

 

I'm not making fun of anyone here, and not trying to be offensive, but if you are a "large" person and the alignment is done without you in the car, when you sit in the cockpit you can throw the alignment off.

May need to get aligned while sitting in the car. Offer it to the auto technicians so they don't have an awkward situation. Nothing worse then saying "Your car is messed up because you're too fat."

I am rather "portly" myself weighin in @ 255lbs. before anyone starts getting their panties in a bunch.

@ that weight in a 3000lb car is almost 10%

 

not sure if the alignment will do it

but a Tire Belt being broke might, drive shaft, wheel weights thrown off
Mine SHIMMY'S around 80ish but have new tires to put on soon...
if it dont do it at all speeds , i would think it might be the Tires

 

alignments and wheel bearings will not correct a vibration.

who is doing your wheel balancing? usually the local tire shops are horrible at this job. I plan on making a home made wheel balancer just for this reason, not sure how accurate it will be, but I'm curious to thier computer balancer accuracy, or should I say operators ability.

Does the vibration only occur on a certain freeway or street you drive on contiunuously?

 

The vibration/shimmy happens on all roads. The guy who balanced my tires is suppose to be great, so I felt confident in the balance?? I am 5'11" and thin, so hopefully I am not throwing off the alignment

 

well, I'm stumped. wheel balance is the usual cause for vibration at high speeds. and you've taken care of alignment as well...

Might be a flat-spot on one of the tires from slamming the brakes. sounds far-fetched,especially on a car with ABS, but i had a slight flat-spot on an ABS equipped '92 S600 that would only become noticable at higher speeds.

Where do you feel the vibration? through the entire car overall, or is it more pronounced through the steering wheel?

 

It feels like it starts in the front and rolls to the back of the car. Do not notice it in the steering wheel. I got a call from the service department and they told me their guy drove it for 15 minutes and did not notice anything They said I could come over and ride with someone to see if it could be duplicated. So, I jumped in my loaner mini fan and headed over. The service manager came out, (working there a week) and went with me. He has been in the auto business for many years as a mechanic and tire guy and he teaches auto mechanics at a local college. Plus he owns a sportscar! Anyway, long story...he noticed the vibration as soon as he got it to speed, said it was coming from the rearend. Assured me that they would take the proper steps to fix the problem. I am going to think positive and believe they will get it taken care of. I am ready to put the top down and ride. The sun is finally coming out again

 

If not your tires or wheels check the bushings.

 

Okay, so the latest is they have narrowed it down to the right rear tire or wheel. Had it checked out at the tire store and they determined it is a bent rim. I am not sure if the dealership where I bought the car is going to give me a new one. Trying to say that the tire shop bent the wheel We shall see!

 

Might sound silly but are you using wheel spacers?
I had a hard time getting rid of a vibration with them.
Unfortunetly I have a small bent in a front wheel that feels awefull. I need to dismount it and take it to be fixed.

 

I'm having the same problem here. It feels like the vibration starts in front and pulsates to the rear, like a wave running through the car, every other second or so at highway speeds.

A little background... this is my third xf and I have experience this problem in both of my first and second xfs, and unfortunately now the third In both first and second xfs, it was tire related and I was running OEM recommended Conti's. The tire place rotated the tires (only left to right and vice versa) took care of the problem.

HOWEVER, I can't confirm if they dismounted the tires to make sure the tire manufacturer's recommended spin direction was complied with... so, I DO NOT RECOMMEND trying to do a left to right swap on your own. I'm merely hoping to help with the diagnose before tons of money/time is wasted.

On the xf that I have now, I'm not sure what I will do yet... the best option I can see is making sure the tire pressures are up to spec. If problem continues, I'll get a tire place do dismount and rotate left to right. By the way, on the current xf, I'm running Conti's on the fronts and Kumho's on the rear. Rears are brand new with 4k miles or so.

Good luck to us...
-Az4R1

 

I would not give up on the balance.

I had the same issue and got the tires balanced. still was doing it so I went back to Goodyear and they said the tires were out of balance again!!!!!! Then it was still doing it!!!!!! Went back a third time and it was still not balanced correctly. Finally it was fixed after three times to get my car to stop shaking.

Im not sure if these tires are harder to balance then others or there just idiots.

 

also check for bruised (bulged) sidewalls... I know that the Xfire I got a few weeks ago needs one tire for the left, and the right has a slight dent on the inside... a "Good" tire person will tell you about the damage on tires when you have them spin balanced... also, either of these can cause vibration issues... funny thing... the guy that sold the car tried to tell me that A. he did not feel the vibration, B. it was the road... all cars do that, and C. that (get this) "if the vibration is over 50 MPH, spin balancing won't fix this... because the machine won't go that fast..." I was like WHA??? I have STATICALLY balanced wheels for DC-10's and 747's... and they don't vibrate at almost 200MPH! :P

anyway, belts, bruises and uneven wear are signs that the tire is damaged... and yeah, can cause vibration... as can bent rims etc... alignment will generally not, if it is the cause it will frequently show as wear... look at the charts at a tire place...

Seannon

 

This maybe a problem related to the Continental tire ! I have the same issue with an intermittent vibration at about the same MPH. Its very subtle but noticeable and as explained before it's like a wave that runs thru the car from front to back. Very hard to trace.
Has anyone had the same issue, switched brands of tires and the issue go away ?

 

Balancing is usually the culprit, however, have your tires been matched to your wheels? Before spin balancing especially with new tires and/or wheels, they should be matched to each other to assure any high or low spot or out of round is compensated for. A new tire generally has a yellow piece of tape indicating a reference spot and wheels should also have a mark. If the tires and wheels don't match, there is about a 3 to 4 inch window the tire can be moved on the wheel. Then balancing should be done. I prefer a hunter machine, but an old pro can do a PDG job on a static balancer.

FROM TIRE RACK: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=17
Tire and wheel manufacturers continually develop new manufacturing methods to enhance the uniformity of their products because radial runout, lateral runout, force variation and imbalance can affect a vehicle's ride quality.
Match mounting tires on wheels is a process where a tire's installed position on the wheel is specifically selected to help minimize the final combination's force variation and/or imbalance. One match mounting procedure aligns the tire's measured high point of radial force variation with the measured low point of the wheel's radial runout. The other simply aligns the tire's lightest spot with the wheel's heaviest spot.
Original Equipment (OE) tire suppliers are required to mark the tire's "high point" while OE wheel manufacturers mark the wheel's "low point." This helps the vehicle manufacturer match mount combinations that maximize new car ride quality while reducing the amount of balancing weight.
Today, many vehicle manufacturers specify the use of a temporary tag applied to tires and wheels that are removed before the vehicle is put into service. Unfortunately, this means that there are no permanent marks to reference later.
There was a time when the valve stem hole on standard wheels indicated the optimum place to which the tire should be match mounted. However, with the advent of styled, steel wheels and aluminum alloy wheels, the stem position evolved into an aesthetic issue rather than being a uniformity indicator. Add to this the probability of wheels retaining their original runout after thousands of miles of use and you can understand that simply mounting the tire so the colored dot is at the valve stem is no longer required practice.
We have found that the only way to accurately match mount replacement tires on used original or new aftermarket wheels is to use Hunter tire balancers which have the ability to measure wheel runout and tire force variations under load before the tire and wheel are installed on the vehicle. Using these machines, a colored dot might be positioned anywhere on the wheel relative to each wheel's runout measurement. In the end, the markers have little, if any, relevance when replacement tires are installed.

Hope this helps Check your WINTER tire pressures too....
John P

 

Stogey... unfortunately, I have experience this problem with Conti's first two times, and now with Kumho's.
The Kumho's were no problem for the first 4k miles, then I'm pulsating
-Az4R1