Is it normal that lower profile tires are prone to more vibration, that transfers to more steering wheel vibration? After I have upgraded to a set of low profile rim/tire combo, my steering wheel seems to vibrates a bit (most of the time) and I had the front pair balanaced by the installer already. If I leave the vibration long enough, am I messing up my tie rod ends? I am not talking about very obvious/volent type, but very subdue and minor kind. Thanks for your help.

 

Is it possible that the rims you put on need hub rings?

I had that happen awhile ago with a car and the vibration was fixed as soon as the correct hubcentric rings where put on.

The other thing that can contribute is that some tires are more or less prone to tramling (grabbing the imperfections in the road) which can be sort of a vibration feeling in the steering. Going wider can increase tramlining as can some tire patterns.

Lastly, check the tire pressure, couldn't hurt :smile:

 

Sounds like somethings wrong. Could be the tires/wheels were not balanced effectively and/or you need a better wheel alignment. These things may have been done by your installer (you did say they did an alignment), but there are degrees of effectiveness or quality of the job. There are different wheel alignment machines that produce different results. I don't know of the different ones, but do know there are some. There are also different ways to do the tire/wheel balancing. You definitely want high quality results. This will cause premature wear on suspension parts, so you want to get it right. :smile:

 

Keep in mind that some installer's balancing machines aren't calibrated or accurate enough to give lower profile tires the correct balance.

On my volvo I had 215/45/17 tires, even with the right hubring it still vibrated like hell. After 2 failed balancing from the installer I went to a place with a hunter balancing machine and everything is fixed.

 

profile probably doesn't matter too much. my old corolla's
wheels were replaced once and they vibrated over 60mph pretty bad...
it had some baloon tires (high profile tires) too. Just needed a little
balance and issue fixed.

 

Lower profile tires should be OK.

Look for other reasons for not being in balance.

Check rims for any weights that might have fallen off- or rebalance at a different location/shop.

Check the tires for any flaws/out of roundness.

Did you change to studs recently?- make sure all nuts are of the same type- are you using any wheel locks- they must be of the same weight as your other nuts.

Checking for centering rings is a good idea- these are common on aftermarket wheels with a wheel hub bore larger than the stock MINI size of 56.1mm. You might have not known you need the centering rings for balance and proper location of the wheel on the hub.

An easy test is to mount a set of different wheels on your car and drive around to see if the vibration has gone away. If so then the problem lies in your wheels/tires. Next you can replace front and rear wheels in pairs to narrow down which wheel is giving you the vibration.

 

Thanks for everyone's suggestion. My rims have the proper centering rings and when I purchased the set from Tirerack, they also provided with the proper wheel lugs and locks. I have not gone to comparing the weight of lugs and the locks yet. One thing that I should do is to have alignment done on the car since I have not gotten it ever on this ride. I will also inquire about the brand of the balancing machine used at the shop. All stick-on weights are still on the rims, none has fallen off. I can try putting the OEM rims back to see whether it still vibrates. Thanks for the input, I will give an update after the alignment adjustment.

 

If you got them mounted fromt tirerack, it should have been done properly, but can't hurt to re-check the balance. Maybe it's just the tires breaking-in. Give it a few more miles to see if it goes away.

 

MiniKJ,

Try removing the wheel locks and running with just the same nuts or bolts on all wheels.

 

I actually have had the set for almost a year (almost 5000 miles), and I only drive my car occasionally since I have a company ride. When they were shipped, two of the four wheels had the stick-on weight fell off due to impact I guess. That's why I took them to a recommended installer to have them re-balanced again. Anyway, the car is due for an alignment check either case.

Minihune, you think the locks would contribute such issue?

 

The locks are suspect only if you added them recently and just got the vibration. Wheel locks must be of the same weight as the nuts or bolts they replace for correct balancing. A common error is to upgrade to alloy nuts and get steel locks.

If you have driven these wheels for a long time and the locks have been on for that time then it is not likely to be the locks. Removing the locks and making all four nuts or bolts the same is easy enough though.

If you have driven on these wheels, does anyone else drive your car? Could someone have hit a pothole and damaged one or more rims? Have you taken each wheel off the car and examined the inside edges? Potholes can damage a rim and throw it out of round. Check also your strut towers for mushrooming- a bulging of the top plate of the strut tower in the front under the bonnet. A hard hit on a pothole can force the tower plate to bend. Also check for any worn or bend suspension parts- such as end links on your swaybars and lower control arms.

 

I recently replaced my 17X8 aftermarket rims with the stock 17X7 for a day at the track. A week later I replaced the wheels again (same tires), and the vibration was intolerable. I went back to the tire shop that same afternoon and they "rebalanced" them, but the vibration is still there...kind of like when I'm talking while driving, no matter what speed, I sound like I'm moving my finger up & down my adams apple real fast when talking (does that make sense?).

This morning I woke up early and obsessed some more. I recalled that when I originally had my aftermarket wheels put on (within 60 mile of new MINI ownership), there were some plastic hubcentric rings that came with them. Now I'm thinking the guys at the shop just discarded them when they replaced my stock wheels!!! I certainly didn't see them in the box when I cleaned them up for the re-install. BTW - this is the same shop that intalled the aftermarket rims originally.

Think the rings may be the problem?

 

You really don't need a dial indicator to check for out of round or poor centering, just a piece of chalk. Jack up the car and spin the tire right on the car. It's a lot more common than you'd think and more noticeable on lighter cars.
Regardless, I'd get new rings and glue them on.