Hi, I have a 2003 chavy impala ls, now i felt wobbling in the front more in the right a few weeks ago and it started getting worse ecspecialy when i would brake, i had it looked at by a mechanic who shook,twirled, yanked and examined my wheels and tires, and told me it just looked like i needed a new tire up there.So i went bought 2 new tires and had them out on. When they did it they took the rim from the right and rotated it to the left side. I drove off thinking the wobble was gone , but i still feel it. Now it feels like its on the left side not as bad but you can still feel it constantly…So I guess my question would be is the problem the rim itself then>
Usually when a vibration moves with the tire/wheel, there’s a problem with the tire/wheel.
Tester
Here’s what I don’t understand . . .
If the mechanic replaced the tires, he undoubtedly balanced the rims afterwards
If he was watching it spin on the balancer, he should have seen the rim wobbling. Sometimes it’s quite visible to the naked eye
Maybe he balanced it, but wasn’t paying attention very well . . .
Unless the rim was hit, I’d look elsewhere. Try rotating tires. If no change, it’s possibly a seizing front brake caliper. Was it shaking during braking before shaking constantly? Do you feel any shaking in the steering wheel (especially during braking)?
Switch the left front wheel with the back right and see if the wobble goes away. If it does, then you have an unbalanced or warped wheel.
I like EK Hammer’s comment
However, I might add something
When swapping an out of balance rim to the rear, the driver will no longer feel it in the steering wheel
When swapping a bad front rim to the rear, it can often still be felt.
But, as a I said earlier, spinning the rim/tire assembly on the balancer should give you lots of answers, if you look carefully
All the above advice is good. But before going elsewhere I would take the car back to the tire installer and explain the problem. Someone there should check the wheel and tell you the problem.
If they can’t diagnose the problem, they shouldn’t be installing tires.
Wobbling that gets worse when you brake sounds like maybe a combination of problems, one of which could be warped brake rotors. The other could be a bad CV joint/axle. Both problems together would cause constant wobbling that gets worse when braking.
I don’t think the tires/wheels had anything to do with it.
A mechanic could jack it up and turn the tire manually to check for sideways and out of round run-out.
With the tranny in neutral and the parking brake on, jack up both front wheels one at a time. Spin them by hand while a friend slowly applies the brakes. If the irregularity is in one of the brakes, you’ll feel it when the caliper starts to close on the disc. It’ll also give you a chance to observe the wheel to see if it’s bent, at least in a cursory manner.
This is NOT as good as removing the wheel and spinning it on a balancer and checking it, nor does it measure lateral runout (both of which the mechanic SHOULD have done).
Honestly, it sounds like the guy that did the work was just a bead-buster, a kid that just puts on tires. The mechanic probably just didn’t care, passed the work on to the bead-buster, and was happy that he’d sold a couple of tires. You may want to seek out a better shop. You might as well look for one that has a “road force balancer” while you’re at it. They’re better than a simple spin balancer, especially when diagnosing a problem, but not all shops have them.
Well i thought it was shaking in the left tire, but when he put the new ones on he also moved that right rim that the old tire was on and moved it to the left side, now im feeling it from that side…he had horrible trouble trying to get it off the rim in the first place. He stopped did the other one and went back the that one.
That ain’t right. You need a new shop. My money is on a bent rim.
A responsible tire shop will not put only two new tires on the front of a car no matter which are the driven wheels. If they do put them on the front at your insistence you will most likely have to sign a waiver .
If the wheels are anything but the old style pressed steel variety a close inspection of the mating surface might reveal a burr that could cause such a problem.