2003 Toyota RAV4, approx 130K. I’m desperate for some help. A month ago I put a new set of Goodyear tires on my RAV. I drive on the highway 35-40 miles each way to and from work every day. Immediately after the new tires go on, I notice a vibration from the steering wheel at highway speed, above…

Could be a bad tire, or could be a bad balancing job - a lot of tire techs are terrible at figuring out how to balance a wheel properly. Also, some vehicle/tire combos just don’t do well without road force balancing (which would also reveal a bad tire, if you have one).

Has this shop tried road-force balancing (which is a fancier type of balancing that requires special equipment that they might or might not have)? If so, then a replacement tire is the next step here. If not, then that’s worth a try, but I think it should be at their expense.

So I should find a place with road force balancing, and get that done? And that will reveal a bad tire if there is one?

I would make it their problem. If they want to find a shop that does road force balancing, fine, otherwise they have to replace the tire causing the problem. They could claim the shop you used caused some kind of problem. Don’t give them an ‘out’.

If RFB doesn’t eliminate the problem, then you undoubtedly have a defective tire (or two). Defective tires should be replaced at no cost to you, under the terms of the tire manufacturer’s warranty. If the indy tire shop does not agree to cover the cost of the RFB in addition to replacing the def…

One of the tires/wheels on the rear is the problem, that’s why the vibration moved from the steering wheel to the seat of your pants. Move one tire back to front on one side of the car at a time and that should isolate the one tire that is the culprit. The tire could be defective. The balance of …

I had a similar problem with our 2003 Toyota 4Runner after I had new tires installed. The vibration would start about 50 mph but after 60 mph it wasn’t as bad. The tire shop “indexed” the tire by turning it 90 degrees on the rim and rebalancing the tire. This solved the problem. Years ago, I ha…

From my own experience, another thing to look for: a slightly bent rim (“slightly”, because nobody has noticed it yet); and then you have you wonder who bent it, if the vibration really only started with the new tires.

Lots of good info here. One caveat I’d like to add is that if they tell you it’s a bent rim, make them show you. A bent rim will be obvious spinning the tire by hand on the balancing machine, but I’ve had a shop try to use that statement to cover up what was actually a bad tire. If they cannot show…

Vibration after new tires

Maintenance/Repairs

texases August 9, 2011, 2:19pm 3

If the tires are balanced, then one of them is bad. They proved it when they switched the tires front to back and the problem moved to the back. They need to replace one of the rear tires with a new one, see if it fixes the problem. If not, put that tire back on and replace the other one. Bad tires happen.

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Vibration after new tires

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