Ok,I have brought my car (2005 Toyota Echo) into the shop three times and they can’t figure it out. I have summer and winter tires. Last summer the summer tires were fine, the winter tires were fine, then I changed the front tires, and couldn’t remove the back tires (I hit them with a hammer and 2x4 and they didn’t come off). From that point on my car has vibrated at around 60mph, but not 100% of the time. I took the car in to the mechanic, they changed the back tire for me and balanced the front…still vibrates, they then balanced the back…still vibrates. Now they say the disk rotor is bent, and want to fix that but aren’t sure that will fix the problem. What’s going on, I changed the front tires and now the car vibrates at high speed most of the time, but not all the time.
Have you moved the tires front to rear since this started?? Are the tires being Road Force Balenced? If not it may be you have a bent rim… Have you noticed a werrrr werrr werrr sound at all?? I ask becasue You can also have a bad wheel bearing.
Are you saying you still have the winter tires on the back and the summer tires on the front? Unless all the tires are the same brand and mode, it’s possible there is enough difference in the actual size of the tires to cause the problem.
From personal experience, I put two replacement tires on my wife’s 86 Dodge Colt. The car shook violently at speeds over 40mph due to the size difference between the old and new tires (both sets were 155-75R15). A set of 4 matched tires fixed the problem.
Haven’t moved tires front to rear, I think they are being balanced in the shop. I don’t think it is a bent rim, all the tires are on rims, and I didn’t hit any of them with a hammer. I haven’t noticed a werr werr sound of a wheel bearing, but I have noticed some occassional grinding noises in the back right tire. I didn’t think wheel bearing would cause it to vibrate.
@edb1961, I did have different tires on for a couple of days, but the mechanics put my summer tires on the back and the vibrations continued.
It’s confusing, but didn’t you say you hit the tires (or did you hit the rims) to get them off!
@CapriRacer, I hit the winter rims (with a 2x4 in between) and a relatively small hammer. They didn’t budge, so I took them to the shop. The vibrating started after I did that, and continued after I changed the tires (and rims).
For future reference, if you use anti-seize compound where the wheel meets the hub, you probably won’t have the wheel stick like that.
Although I’ve never done it myself, I’ve heard that you can loosen a stuck wheel by loosening the lug nuts or bolts slightly and driving back and forth (carefully) in your driveway until the wheel gets unstuck. This might have less potential for damage than pounding with a hammer.
If you replaced the wheels then it can 100% be a bad wheel bearing, they absolutly can cause a vibration. However I would start by moving the tires front to rear first and seeing if that changes anything.
Road Force balencing is a type of balencing, it needs a special very expencive machine (around $9000). But it will tell you if you have a bent rim, a slipped belt or anything else wrong with the tire/wheel it self. If it passes this then it has to be something on the car (wheel bearings, brakes, CV joints, etc)
How come no one has mentioned the front suspension? Bushings?
OK, Jenna, you hit the WHEEL and after that you had the problem. This might be the source of the problem.
I think jennajane’s mechanic is closest to being right, but for the wrong reason. One possibility comes to mind because the winter rims were so hard to remove, there could be a buildup of rust and/or scale on the face of the rotors where the rims make contact. That will keep the rims from being mounted perfectly flush to the rotor and will resemble a bent rim. Clean the face of the rotor with red scotchbrite.
Another possibility is that the summer rims are not factory rims. If they are aftermarket rims that are not specific for this vehicle, then they might require hub adapters (hub rings) and those got lost during the winter. Without them, the wheels will be very difficult to get to run true and again will appear to be bent, even though they are not.
Yes…your car is getting even for taking a hammer & 2X4 to it! Kidding!
One of the most common vibration stories I have encountered when there is a seasonal tire change is the installer did not put the tires on the same side of the car & the owner slips a belt (where the tread is starting to separate.)
I honestly don’t think you could have damaged it with hammer & 2X4…curbs & pot holes maybe.
I have the same issue, wheels are balanced and road forced balanced, front control arms both replaced, alignment done, no wheel bearing noise and brand new brakes all around, also new tires and rims were put on for winters and it still does it. Driveshafts replaced as well. I’m a mechanic and other techs in my shop have no idea either
First, is the vehicle the same as the OP’s? A 2005 Toyota Echo? How many miles?
Is the vibration felt in the seat or through the steering wheel? If you don’t know, try to figure out which. If both, do tell us so.
The tires have been road forced? What values?
Are you sure it isn’t the road?
And lastly, you need to be aware of a peculiar human phenomenon - that people are able to extract “ghost” vibrations from the background vibrations, making them think a problem is still there when it’s part of the normal vibrations from the road. Many a person has been fooled.
As a mechanic, you should know that wheel bearings can have excess play and not make noise.
You could have worn out or broken struts.
If you haven’t had the alignment checked since hammering the rear wheels, it might be a good idea.
It’s not a mystery phenomenon, and the wheel bearings have no play, there was only one with play that made no noise and it was replaced
With no change to the vibration which is always felt in the seat and occasionally goes to the steering wheel and it does it on brand new sections or hwy the same as bumpy sections. It keeps getting worse as time goes on.
James Irwin
Ah, more info. Thanks. What vehicle i this, BTW?
Could this be a tire that is coming apart internally, perhaps a belt moving around?