Katira

Hi I bought new tires for my 05 Acura December 06 and had them to the wheel alignment and balance. But as soon as I drive my car 80 plus miles an hour (on long road trips of course) my steering wheel starts to shake and car pulls to the right. I took the car to the shop where I bought my tires and had it serviced and they checked out the tires, they are fine. They did another tire balancing on the car, but it still doesn't feel right. Has anyone had this similiar problem? I live 4 hours away from an Acura dealership and I did not purchase the tires from Honda because they did not have the Pirelli Nero Zero tires I wanted. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

csmeance

Most likley it is an balance/alignment problem. Tell them to print you out the specs before and after, and to use the Hunter Roadforce Pro Machines if you go to acura. If it is not the balance/alignment, it could be that a tire is not perfectly round or it is cupped.

Katira

According to the tire shop, there is nothing wrong with the actual tires. Showed me on their computer that they were okay. I'll be near an Acura dealership in about two weeks and will have them take a long. Thanks fot your advice.

Will Y.

Sounds like a tire balance problem to me. The TL is apparently pretty sensitive to tire balancing, which is why balancing using a Hunter RoadForce is recommended. Some tire shops have these.
Rotate the tires-- place the rear ones on the front. If the problem goes away, you will have narrowed it down to the tires, rather than an alignment issue.

richrath

Katira, when I had the P-Zero Neros they were very sensitive to balancing and difficult to get right even w/road force machines. I pretty much always had a slight vibration somewhere between 75 & 85 mph even when the alignment was good and balance was freshly done.

That said, if the tires are OK have both the 4-wheel alignment checked and the wheels re-balanced by someone with a roadforce machine which "should" be more true than regular low-speed spin balancing (but there is some debate over whether RF is all marketing). If the dealership is doing this free under warranty, then go there and give them a chance. Otherwise, try to find a performance wheel/tire shop because those folks cater to cars and drivers picky about such things. It may cost a little more but the ride will be smooth! If the dealer is charging you I'd skip them entirely -- I simply don't trust them. Some are excellent but too many are full o' crap. And they're all overpriced.

In Atlanta, a chain called Butler Tire does spin-balancing, then does a 130 mph on-the-car balance with a contraption that looks kinda like a dyno. They cater to tuners and the performance market.

Katira

Maybe it's because I am a woman, and anything dealing with automotive is best left to the men attitude that bothers me. When I went to the tire shop and waited for over two hours, the mechanic pulls my car out of the parking lot, comes back five minutes later and tells me, "there's nothing wrong with the tires". So of course I asked how fast he was driving on his so called road test, "30 miles an hour". I asked him if we could go on the expressway and therefore he could feel the car pulling and the steering wheel vibrating. Okay, but I had to drive the car since we would be speeding at 65+ miles. The guy has the audacity to tell me the road tilts to the right, this is normal. Yeah, and because I'm blonde, and a woman I am just an idiot. No buddy, this wasn't happening before the new tires. To humour me, they did the tire balancing and alignment again and still I wasted 4 hours for nothing. I sincerely hope, that the Acura dealership will be able to solve this issue. I have senior citizens passing on the expressway going 85 miles an hour. That puts my TL to shame.

Katira

Katira, when I had the P-Zero Neros they were very sensitive to balancing and difficult to get right even w/road force machines. I pretty much always had a slight vibration somewhere between 75 & 85 mph even when the alignment was good and balance was freshly done.


Did you have to replace the P- zero Neros, or do you still have them?

richrath

>>Did you have to replace the P- zero Neros, or do you still have them?

I didn't repalce them until they wore out. I put about 38,000 miles on 'em! The balance issues didn't really start until mid-life of the tires, 15-20K.

Given your experience with that particular tire shop, obviously you won't be going back there. And the "blonde" problem, I can understand it but I don't have a solution for that, nor have I gone through it, being a guy. Blond guy, but still. Though, I have had tire shops tell me they can't road test balance problems at illegal speeds. If true it's probably insurance or other liability reasons.

Was this tire place a serious performance tire dealer, or the regular chains like NTB, Mr. Tire or what-have-you? You might try calling a performance tire specialist if you can find one. And if you go, maybe bring a guy friend!

Katira

Okay, I finally got to go to San Antonio, Tx. this weekend to get my car serviced. Wow, what a difference. They suggested an alignment and tire rotation. I was also informed that one of my tires exceeded the road force test and needs to be replaced. Hoping to go to the tire shop and ask for a replacement... tires are under warranty for 1 year. The only thing that bothers me is that I had to pay an extra $110 to get this issue resolved because the tire shop wasn't able to do so.

Hope everyone had a good weekend...Katira