I have a shake in my steering wheel at about 65mph. I have had new tires put on and they have been balanced. Could it need rebalancing? Different tires..I put on ContiTouringContact CW95, they are speed rated to 168mph??
Does anyone else have steering wheel shake or slight vibrations in their car?? Mine is an 05 roadster limited?? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
This is a very short version of a very long story.

 

In the old days, a shake at 55 mph usually meant front tires need balancing, but usually it would go away by 65 mph. A shake at 70 mph use to mean rear tires need balancing. I don't know if that old mechanic's tale would apply to the new cars of today. You could have a friend ride near you at 65 mph and see if the tires are running true or if they are bouncing ever so slightly. You can also drag your hand across the tread and see if you experience the same resistance in both directions. If you don't, if may be an alignment problem. Is there any "cupping" on the very edges of your front tires?

The better thing to do is have the tires balanced and see what happens, if you don't mind the cost. If that doesn't work then a trip to a good front end shop may be required.

Bob

 

i would go back to the installer and tell them. also, i just had my wheels changed and didn't use a hubcentric adapter and i had the shacks until i got the adapters. are you using factory wheels?

 

Some stores only balance the tires statically, that is when you simply let the wheel and tire freely roatate until the heavy spot settles to the bottom and you add weight to compensate. Dynamic balancing involves spinning the tire and wheel at high speed to find out if there's any imbalance and adding weight to compensate for up & down and side to side. I'm sure someone could explain it better but I would ask how the wheel and tire were balanced.

Another accurate way is to balance the wheel and tire while mounted on the car by using a portable motor to spin the wheel. That method not only takes into consideration the wheel and tire but also the brake rotor assembly. With this method the balance is lost if you remove the wheel and tire and change the location or orientation.

Good luck and let us know what they did when you find out.

 

Thanks for the help. I am taking it to the tire store this afternoon for rebalancing. I will have them check for cupping. Also, what do the hubcentric adapters do??

 

A hubcentric adapter is only needed for aftermarket wheels.

Each car has different hubs for each spindle, but each aftermarket manufacturer makes a generic wheel for a whole lot of cars. Which means that for a generic wheel to work with a specific car, there must be an adapter.

Without the adapter, the wheel could bolt off-center on the spindle and that's never good.