o_nate

Well, I spent about two hours yesterday digging my car out of an enormous snowdrift. Got it out on the highway today, and as soon as the speed starting creeping up above 40, I felt a very noticeable vibration coming from the rear of the car. It kind of freaked me out, since I couldn't imagine what might be causing it. So I pulled over at a gas station, checked the air pressure - it was fine. Then I noticed that there was quite a bit of snow packed inside the alloy wheels. So I knocked all the snow loose, got back in the car and drove away, and the vibration stopped. Weird. I'm surprised that the weight of the snow in there was enough to cause that much vibration. But I guess at high rotational speeds, a little off-center weight can cause a lot of vibration. Anyone else ever experienced this?

Dan Martin

It happens to me fairly often in the winter with any car I've had.

o_nate

I didn't know it was a common thing - as I've never owned a car in a snowy climate before. It's nice to know I'm not the only one.

hondatrain

Exact same thing happened to me today on my way to work. It freaked me out because I thought it was a flat. I called and asked my dad what it could be and he told me about snow being in the wheels. I have never heard of such a thing, but, I went outside, and low and behold, passenger side wheels had a little snow in them. cleared it out, and the car drove fine.

dom

Damn, that was happening to me yesterday only the vibration felt like it was coming from the front. The vibartion started at about 60 MPH. Never even thought to check that, thanks.

Then again I don't have the Alloys on.

iamhomin

Believe it or not, I was crazy enough to drive the past Saturday night on Route 80. Of course my car skid here and there, spun here and there, and of course had to muscle through piles of snow. I don't know what I was thinking , but the following day, my steering wheel was vibrating each time I hit over 40mph, and my alignment was heavily off. Could it be the after effect of driving in harsh conditions?

Maybe it's because I also have snow inside the alloy rims? I don't know. I didn't bother knocking it off, but hopefully that's the reason for most of the problems that just appeared.

osubuckeye98

Ice and snow collecting inside the wheels will cause imbalance, especially since it is not even. Basically the wheel becomes unbalanced since it is now carrying extra weight in certain areas.

This has been the case for all the cars I have owned/driven in the winter during heavy snow/ice conditions. I just took a trip up to Detroit to see the auto show this weekend; same exact thing happened in the Malibu I rented.

Clearing the ice and snow away is all you need to do.

dom

Ok, I thought it was the snow that was causing this for me too but its not the case. The car is free of snow and the damn vibration was happening again today. It begins at about 100Km and feels like its coming from the front left tire. Feels like a unbalanced tire

Any ideas?

cruzingsilver

Have the same problem (even after I knocked the snow out) and have had it for the past month or so. I do a lot of highway driving, so I'm thinking the constant wheel shaking, the first time snow got stuck, caused some permanent alignment damanage since I didn't remove the snow?? Do you think its possible??

michaelbolton

I had the same thing happen to me, it started shaking at 45 mph and up. I cleared out the snow/ice from in the wheels and that fixed the problem. Seems like a lot of us Jersey ppl had that problem due to the heavy snow/wind combination....Wish I had a garage!

Viking

Maybe the snow knocked off the balancing weights?

osubuckeye98

Check the inside of the rim, often times a layer of ice will form inside around the wheel. Even after you knock lose any visible ice and snow it will still be there. If that still doesn't do it then perhaps the balance wieghts did get knocked loose.

slo007

Can you please not write in orange? It's hard to read. Thanks!

slo007

One of mine is missing. I think it got dizzy from all the spinning and went home.

sauceman

Do you still have that problem?

If so, take it off, and clean the inside well, it may well be some accumulated dirt that's causing an imbalance.

OrrScores

Thanks for posting this. I had a shimmy or two over the past few weeks, both on days after major snowstorms. I tried to blame it on ruts in the roads from snow plows, but that wasn't it. This makes perfect sense.

dom

Totally forgot aout this thread. Since I drove home that evening, everything was fine, no vibration whatsoever