My 03 TL has 143k miles on it and I just replaced the shocks with KYB GR-2's. I just bought a set of new Michelin MXV4 tires. This is a grand touring tire. The only reason I didn't go with a normal performance tire is because no tires were rated very high in the size 205/60/16. Are grand touring tires not meant for our TL's? Anyways when I am driving over 60 on the freeway the car will wobble from left to right and want to go to the right. It doesn't do it as severely when on the surface streets. I got all the tires balanced and I got them aligned so that is not the problem. I've heard people say that this particular tire will follow the lines on the freeway. Even when I had my old tires that were worn the car drove perfectly straight with no problems. Could this be a bad tire? Is it because grand touring tires are meant for heavier cars? Any advice you can give me would be appreciated. The other tire I am considering is the goodyear assurance comfortred which is also a touring tire. Thanks!

 

thats the stock tire
Did you get an alignment after the new shocks and tires?
shocks will change things

 

Rotate the fronts to the rear and see if you still have the problem. If so its not a tire.

 

Taking the car into my mechanic tomorrow morning. The only thing that I can think it might be besides the tires is a worn balljoint or maybe a worn tie rod end. One of the installers said that I need to replace the front balljoints to even out the camber. I'm thinking it's the tires because my old worn tires never wobbled like this and it is only noticeable on the freeway at speeds over 60 mph. You can't feel the wobble on surface streets and it drives straight like it should. Touring tires are mostly used on vans so my 03 TL just might not be heavy enough for these tires. It feels like a burst of wind is constantly shaking the car from left to right, almost like something in the suspension is loose.

 

Check with your tire installers/balancers. I know here, shops aren't required to balance your tires past the highest speed limit in the province (62 mph here). Might explain the wobble happening only over 60 mph.

 

if the installer said ball joint for camber- he found wear on the tires to indicate it and suggested the part to fix prob!!
install those or it will never set to spec on the alignment
worn ball joint lets alignment change with every bump of the road
toe out of spec can feel like wandering

touring tires- low car weight--you crack me up!

 

see the broken ball joint threads and you will get that replaced asap~
https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-tl-1999-2003-98/look-what-happen-me-my-way-home-821821/

when it fails - the car suddenly drops- fender damage...
new underwear may be required

 

Yea I'm with you on this one now if they would have been LT tires then he would have a point.

Bad thing is a reputable alignment shop (tire stores are not) would not have aligned the car with bad parts on it.

The wobble is caused by one of three things,

worn out front end parts

a bad tire as in a belt has shifted or is broke

A bent rim.

 

So I'm over buying any kind of Michelin tire. My front balljoints are completely shot. The reason the tires were wobbling at high speeds is because the wall of the tire is too firm. Instead of trying a different touring tire I am going back to my old performance tires I used to have. The reason I didn't like the Yokohama Avid Envigors was because of the uneven tire wear and how fast the tires wore. I think this had to do with the front balljoints being shot. Also the steering feels really loose compared to how it used to be. I'll also admit that I wasn't rotating the tires like I should have been every 5k miles. So I'm going to take the money I have left over from returning the Michelins and put it towards the front balljoints. Then I'm selling this beast.

 

What does that even mean? A wheel is either in balance or not, eh? I don't see how that balance should change at a higher speed.

 

I could be wrong on this but..
a small imbalance that you wouldn't feel at low speed, will be bigger at high speed (this is why so many people complain of wheel balance probs on the highway). so if the balance is at 65mph, that does not mean the tire is PERFECTLY balanced (the machine may not be precise enough for this). higher speed balancing would magnify any imbalances, allowing for a more precise and more evenly balanced tire/wheel.

 

I'm no expert on this, but my guess is it would be like what niju said. Worth a try.

 

So really they have legislated a certain required accuracy I guess? Because that's how I interpreted it as well. The thing is still out of balance even if you don't get it up to a speed where it's noticeable. I can't imagine that the rotational speed required by law when doing a balance would affect things at all, since I assume that they all use the same exact machines which would all go to the same speed (and accuracy).

 

sometimes its a slightly bent rim that causes wobble. To fix problems like this sucks, you need to spend a lot of money eliminating things...

 

A good balancing shop should tell you if the rim is bent too much to balance. Heh, that's what happened shortly after I bought my TL. I ended up paying I think $125/wheel to get them all redone.

 

bad ball joints are the cause of uneven wear, loose steering and bad feel in steering
Fix those, get it aligned and whatever tires you want
the stock micky slips can be replaced with many superior tires

Sidewalls--Im still laughing--the car has KNOWN need of ball joints, a MAJOR part of the steering!! anything else starts from that problem

there are 2 basic types of balancers,,the 55-65mph type where the wheel spins, the display lights up when low spot reaches top mark--tech adds weight told by machine
Often has to do the other side of rim too
respin and if within limits- it passes

the other type is cool technology,,good to 100+mph and finds bent rims, bad belts etc in seconds
With 4 tires it even figures which tire to install at which position for maximum straight tracking
Its called the Hunter `Road Force` Balancer
fancy rims, it uses smaller weights taped to inside center of rim- to hide them-- and many trick rims have funky edges for weights to grab so this is better

you dont have to rotate tires! that just wears out 4 at once
I dont,, and only buy 2 when needed- as the fronts wear out faster
rotation causes probs with tires internal structure as belts must go from coasting in straight line to pulling and turning loads,,may take 100 miles to smooth back out as they learn new job

 

My car was recently balanced with the Road Force balancer, however years ago when the tech found my bent wheels he was using the normal type. So an honest shop should know if a wheel is unbalanceable, regardless of which type of machine they are using.

It's my understanding that the coolest part about the Road Force balancer is that it finds the low point on the wheel and matches it to the high point on the tire (no product is perfectly circular), so the final combination will have the optimal roundness.

 

The reason your car is wobbling is NOT because of the Michelin tires, but BECAUSE of the bad ball joints.

 

It usually is the balance of the tires on the wheels. I don't blame michelin since they last pretty long and it is a quiet ride. I would think the tires were balanced wrong or there is a slight bent on your rim.

 

I'll follow up once I get the front balljoints replaced today or tomorrow and I get my other new set of tires put on. None of my rims are bent, I have had them checked out. Shocks are almost new. There's really not that big of difference between the Yokohamas and the Michelins. The money I have put into this car lately is starting to exceed the value of the car.

 

So I was right all along. I put on the Yokohama Avid Envigors today and the wobble is completely gone. It wasn't the balljoints. It was THE TIRES! Hold your applause please. The car drives just like it used to now.