OK Collective Hive....here's the situation:

1997 Toyota Corolla. This is my airport car, so it only goes back and forth to the airport once a week when I go to work and sits in the employee lot until I finish my trip.

I've recently had front end work done on the car and it was driving/steering very good. I went to Discount Tire (please...no comments about them if you abhor them) to have my tires rotated and balanced. The service tech said they really couldn't do it, because the tires had actually expired. I kinda knew he was gonna say that before I even drove on the lot, as they are in excess of 10 years old. They were Michelins, BTW, and yes...they did need to be replaced.

So off to their website I go and buy and set of Continental tires. I make an appointment online and when I show up, they have me set up, installed, and off the lot REALLY fast. The location I go to has ALWAYS been good with their customer service.

Here's the rub. Now when I'm on the highway, I get a vibration and steering wheel shimmy when I get above 65 mph; wasn't getting that with the Michelins, even as old as they were. And I've run the tires at varying pressures to see if that was it. Nope. Plain and simple...vibration and steering wheel shimmy above 65. So what does the hive think this could be and where should I start first?

- Front-end alignment?
- Make sure tires are balanced?
- Have my auto shop check the motor mounts?
- Some other causal factor?

Much appreciated for any guidance!! [thumbs up]

ETA:
Sorry y'all...I failed to mention that I checked the torque on the lug nuts first thing when I drove home from Discount Tire...80lbs.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: erj_pilot,

I would check to make sure all the lug nuts are torqued down to spec, then
start with verifying if they did balance, or re balance the tires, then go for the alignment.

Agreed, lug nuts first, the rebalance.

I had a car [96 Saturn SL2] do that years ago, the vibration would subside with mild acceleration. Didn't help it had fake lig nuts on the hubcaps that threaded onto the wheel nuts. Probably did keep me from losing a lug nut or 2.

The balancing needs to be checked, road-forced balanced if necessary. I think it unlikely you developed loose parts immediately after the tire replacement.

I would get them re-balanced.
Last month I had new Continentals put on by the auto shop at my wife's high school. Over 65 they made the steering wheel shake (not a lot, but noticeable). Took my truck to Costco and they balanced them, now a smooth ride.
Costco charged me $14. When I told them I didn't buy the tires from them, they said yes, but your last set you did so the $14 was the charge.

Absent something like loss lugnuts I would have them recheck the balance.

Definitely check the lug nuts. I had my tires rotated by a favorite reputable shop and they missed torquing one wheel it loosened and vibrated terribly. When I took it back in, they sheepishly admitted the oversight.

Check that all 4 tires are all the same size. Sounds crazy but it happens.

I've seen tires that have cracks, dry rot, etc., but have never had anyone say tires are expired.

My vette had the original tires installed in 1988 on the car when my buddy first acquired it in 2015 and didn't change them until 2018.

The front end work you had done was while the old tires were on the car. Those tires were worn and old. While not the primary thing, those conditions could affect your current problem.

Have them loosen and then re-torque proper pattern ("X/Cross" for 4 lug, and "Star" for 5 lug).

If they are torqued in consecutive manner, the wheel can be out of centric, or warped and both can cause out of balance/shimmy issues.

And verify balancing is correct.

There is an index on the tire (red and/or yellow dots) yellow is the "light side" and is indexed to the valve stem (heavy side of wheel), and the red dot is indexed 180 degrees (opposite) of the "high side" of the wheel (usually the wheel has a mark indicating that location using dimple from a punch, or a small pad similar to a "stick on" weight with the letter "H". Red dot has priority if both read and yellow are on the tire.

Tire shops know this, but sometimes the "FNG" does not.

Monkey paws at Discount tightened the lug nuts down from finger tight to full torque - one nut at a time.

One, if not all, of the wheels are slightly off-enter and/or have imbalanced torques.

My 04 GTO (as well as all 04-06 GTOs) were extremely susceptible to this with the tribal knowledge becoming one where the wheels lug nuts were torqued to 70 ft-lbs then to full torque (100 ft-lbs) to prevent similar issues your are seeing/feeling.

Go back and rebalance. That's happened to me a couple times at DT so went to a different one.

UPDATE:

I went back to Discount Tire this morning and had the tires re-balanced. I conducted a highway speed test bringing the car to 65, 70, and 75 mph. It was MUCH better. I asked the tech if the balance was off before they redid it and he said it was off a little bit.

I might also consider some new shocks and a front-end alignment afterward...it's been a few years since I installed new ones.

New shocks/struts make a remarkable difference in comfort and stability. They wear slowly so when they become ineffective it’s not obvious. Some vehicles need to be aligned when the struts are replaced. Glad to learn they got your vibration solved.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
New shocks/struts make a remarkable difference in comfort and stability. They wear slowly so when they become ineffective it’s not obvious.

I'd say that about cars in general which is why I absolutely loathe the "my car has 200,000 miles and it drives just like new."

My 2018 Silverado 1500 crew cab had trashed front struts at 53k miles. To a point where it was arguably unsafe to drive. About impossible to control when I crossed a somewhat uneven RR Crossing in a curve at highway speed. That’s what I get for not buying a truck with the Z-71 suspension.

If you feel it in the wheel, it is front tires. If you feel it in your seat, it is the rear tires.

No DT will admit to a failure to balance. But, it happens. My LT tires were not balanced well. In time, tires also change, and rebalancing is required.

If a tire requires a lot of weight to balance, you can most often fix this by having the tire dismounted, rotated 90 degrees with respect to the wheel, remounted, and rebalanced. The wheel is not balanced. The tire is not balanced. If these get to that unusual position where both heavy "sides" of tire and wheel are the same, it will require far too much weight. Simply rotate the tire at least 90 degrees, and as much as 120 degrees.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
UPDATE:
I might also consider some new shocks and a front-end alignment afterward...it's been a few years since I installed new ones.

push down on each corner, if it bounces back & stops on the way up, or just a little bit of the way back down, put your wallet away. It's a nearly 30 year old corolla, you can throw $100 bills at it all day long and it will still be a 30 year old corolla.

I maintain my vehicles well, but I'm a drive it until the wheels fall off, then put the wheels back on & drive it some more kinda guy.

quote:

If a tire requires a lot of weight to balance, you can most often fix this by having the tire dismounted, rotated 90 degrees with respect to the wheel, remounted, and rebalanced. The wheel is not balanced. The tire is not balanced. If these get to that unusual position where both heavy "sides" of tire and wheel are the same, it will require far too much weight. Simply rotate the tire at least 90 degrees, and as much as 120 degrees.

A good tire tech will recognize that & fix it before putting the wheel back on. Most of the time you can guess what the weight will be, slap it on, then spin the tire a bit - still gotta re-mount it to the balancer to check, but you get a feel for it. 25 years ago, if it called for more than 1/2 ounce on a smaller tire & 3/4-1 ounce on a truck tire, you moved the tire. Had some come-backs, but not many.