Just purchased Bridgestone Potenza tires,balanced, front end alignment, steering wheel started shaking, moved the front tires to the back, but the back rides rough now, feels like car shakes. Any suggestions - is it just that type of tire ? I had Michelin tires before, didn't have the problem before I put the Bridgestone on. Mechanic says I have a bent wheel - why now I did not have the shaking until the new tires. Thanks for any help. Going back to shop again tomorrow.

 

Since the vibration began with the new tires, I would suspect a balancing problem. I'd ask the tire shop to rebalance them.

 

x2.
Unless the wheel was bent in the shop by the tech, it would have been vibrating before as well.

 

So you didn't have this problem until you had the tires replaced?

They may have done something to it if they gave it a test drive.

 

WTF are you talking about? there is no way possible the tech would have bent wheels mounting tires, thats just retarded.

ask them to balance them again and use the road force feature if they have it, if that doesnt work make sure your wheels are straight and ask them to calibrate their machine. there is no reason you should have to pay money elsewhere to get the job done right that you already paid for.

bent wheels make sense but if the tech noticed it why did he not place the bent wheel in the rear where you would not feel it/or not as much if placed in the front

 

I got a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S a couple of years ago and thought they were unbalanceable. I had the installer rebalance them more than once and had an expen$ive Road Force balance. Subsequently, the car was aligned at the dealer, aligned at a private shop, the transmission replaced (so the tech was working near the front suspension.) After that I had the shocks replaced (at A&H in Warminster PA) (not for the vibration; it was just time) and it turned out that it wasn't the tires. The ball joints had started to fail, apparently coincident with installation of the new tires (or maybe the tires pushed them over the edge, being so much stickier than the OEM Michelins?) It's funny that nobody noticed the ball joints in all that time, and ball joints are apparently a TL weak point...

Re-reading your posting, it probably isn't ball joints. It really could be a bent wheel after all. You don't say which Michelins you previously had, but if they were OEM MXMV4, ANY other tire you can find will likely have a stiffer sidewall and could cause problems to show up that the MXMV4s masked.

Also, I actually did have a visibly bent wheel that didn't cause problems with MXMV4s but did with the Pilot Sports...

 

Maybe the wheel was dropped or something?

 

whoa dude get off your high horse here buddy...he was simply makin a suggestion since the OP DID ASK for suggestions or opinions...and like he mentioned, what if the tech dropped the wheel and wont admit to it, then what?

 

the most that will happen if you drop a wheel is a scratch or two. im just trying to save someone the embarrassment of going back to the shop and making a stupid accusation. just be polite, ask them to rebalance and request to see them on the balancer to make sure they are all straight and balanced and while the car is in the air have them check the lower ball joints with a 12" prybar, they should have no play at all

 

ANC297's response is both logical and possible. I watched a "tech" struggling to dismount a tire for me at a large chain tire store only to have him hand me my wheel with a huge bend in the rim. The manager then told me what I had just watched wasn't possible on their equipment. I had to talk with a different manager to get it repaired. If you've got something to contribute you really don't have to be so condescending about it.

 

just speaking from experience. ive mounted and dismounted literally hundreds of tires the past few years and have never bent a rim or could even see how its possible to do so with any of the many tire machines ive used

 

I haven't bent any either, nor has anyone here at the shop, but this doofus kid at discount managed to do it. It was a standard rim clamp changer, 16" wheel and 70 or 75 series tire. It should have been a piece of cake. Even though I watched from 20' away, I couldn't tell you exactly what he did, but like I said he was definitely struggling.