I am feeling a vibrating in the steering wheel in my SUV, particularly at high speeds (the highway). I just had front brakes replaced a month or so ago. But the tires I have were new a year and a half ago, I think. Is the vibrating a tell tale sign that I need new tires? Or is it something else? Could I rotate them and get more miles out of them?
“Could I rotate them and get more miles out of them?”
Not only could you get more life out of your tires by rotating them, you are currently subjecting the AWD mechanism of your vehicle to excess wear and tear by not rotating the tires. That is why your maintenance schedule lists tire rotation as one of the procedures every 5k or every 7.5k, or every 10k miles.
If tire rotation wasn’t important for the mechanical well-being of your AWD vehicle, it wouldn’t be listed in the maintenance schedule!
That being said, vibration in the steering wheel is not likely to be caused by failure to rotate the tires. More likely is a problem related to the balance of the tires, or perhaps to wear of the front-end components of this mystery-vintage Honda Pilot with an unknown number of odometer miles.
To me, this vehicle sounds like one that has not gotten a whole lot of required maintenance. Please correct me if I am wrong.
My suggestion is to take it to a qualified mechanic for tire rotation and all other maintenance procedures that you might have skipped. Have the tire balance checked/corrected, and have the front-end checked for worn components. Ask him to examine the tires to see if your failure to rotate them has resulted in severe wear patterns that necessitate replacing the tires.
If you do all of these things, you will likely eliminate the current problem as well as prevent future problems.
It sounds like a balance issue. Try getting them rebalanced first(easy/relatively cheap).
The Pilot is not an all-wheel drive vehicle. ??? Also, it is my husband’s vehicle but for complicated reasons he hasn’t been around to drive it lately. The maintenance has been kept up on it and actually the tires were rotated last fall, I believe. I don’t have the entire maintenance records in my head or in front of me… It isn’t that the tires have never been rotated but I was wondering, if this was a tire problem, if rotating them at this point could allow me to get more miles out of them.
go to a good alignment shop. have the vehicle inspected. if all is found good then have the tires rotated and balanced.if you have bad parts then by all means have it repaired. also have the alignment done if needed.
not all vibrations are caused by the tires.
tires that are worn irregular / scalloped / cupped do not make full contact with the road and you lose valuable traction. they should be replaced
good luck
Did the vibration start right after the brake job? If so, were the rotors replaced? If the hub was not cleaned before putting the rotors on, it could cause the vibration.