I've been having this issues since I bought the car back in June of this year, a 04 TL - for some reason, the tires never seems to balance perfectly regardless of how many times I've tried (3 so far).

It seems to be that it will be balanced for a certain temperature range - i.e. whatever ambient is at the time of balancing. Last Friday I had it done at the dealer and it drove much better when I left and over the weekend, warm and sunny weather.

Tonight it got a bit chilly and when I was driving home from work, I got mildly strong vibrations which seem to come from the from the front right and very noticeable in the cabin/steering column. This seems to be worst at 75mph.

As the tire temps rose with me driving, the vibrations subsided a bit and 75mph became fairly stable, but now 68 and 83mph had mild vribations. I'm thinking about taking it back to the dealer again to have them check but I'd like to hear your thoughts first

 

What type and size tires are on the car?
(Hopefully not Bridgestone Turanza EL-42s!)

Is the dealership using the Road Force balancer?

It could be that the tires are out-of-round or unbalanceable (i.e. bad set)- try moving the fronts to the rear and vice-versa to decrease vibration?

My vehicles' tires- on the TL and every car I've ever had- could always be balanced and were steady from 1 to 1XX mph, regardless of temperature.

 

The tires are Falken Ziex 912s, standard sized for our car. Not sure what balancer they're using but the tech did mention that one of them seemed to have a slight "flat spot" which he thinks is from being parked for too long on the lot.

 

My friend had a similar issue, with a similar car: '04 TL. One of his front axles where loose...I don't know how that could happen, but it did, so he got it fixed, and now: no vibration!

 

Seriously? WTH... not to mention all the rattling in our cars makes this all the more annoying. Although I would venture to guess that's not my issue as mine seems to follow temperature (tire pressure)

 

How long are you parked at work for? The tires could be "flat-spotting" and the cold would make it even worse. This could be why it goes away somewhat after the tires warm up.

 

8-10 hours

 

Flat spotting would account for the slight vibration when cold, but once the tire is up to temp there should be no problem. Need to check the tire for any out of round condition and the wheel for axial and lateral runout. If all seems good, have them balanced on a Hunter Road Force machine. Best money you'll ever spend................If it's done correctly.
http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm

 

Ah ok - thank you so much

 

My 2006 TL is not driven regularly. The tires tend to flat spot and when the car is first driven after sitting for a few days, the ride characteristics are similar to driving with out-of-balance tires. After a few miles, my tires warm up, the flat spots go away and the ride is back to normal. I find that in lower temperatures, it takes a longer drive for the flat spots to smooth out. Could flat spotting be the phenomenon you are experiencing?

 

Yes it is, but still doesn't explain why it's out of balance even after it's warmed up - this is the main issue I'm concerned about. I just had them balanced last Friday and it drove well that day, but seems to be getting worse.