I had noticed a lot of vibration in the steering wheel & seats recently after getting new tires. Got the tires rebalanced twice. The vibration has reduced significantly in the steering wheel. But at higher speeds, 65+, vibration is heavy in the seats & slight in the steering wheel. What could it be? Tires & wheel still out of balance?

 

did you stay with the bridgestones? bc if you went with good year, i heard their noisy but treadlife is awesome

 

Its possibly your long butt hair causing the excessive vibrations

 

When you say you got them balanced, did you buy basic balancing, or road force balancing?
Tires are like a full circle of little springs. There aren't any tires that are completely perfect, so you will encounter one or more sections of the tire where the "spring constant" is different than the rest of the tire. When the tire is turning at high speeds, you will notice this as a vibration. A road force balancing machine will sense these imperfections and attempt to counteract them with weights applied to the wheels.
With that being said, I have made 2 observations over the years: 1) don't skimp and pass on the road force balancing, especially if you spend a lot of time at highway speeds. 2) Some tires are so out-of-round that they cannot be fixed by balancing. If you can't fix it with balancing, send it back and get a new tire; the online tires stores understand this condition, and shouldn't give you a problem.

 

If your seats are vibrating but the steering wheel is steady, it's a rear wheel problem. Also, keep an eye on the wheels / tires when they're balancing - do you see a shimmy in the wheel (i.e. wheel defect). How much weight are they putting on each wheel to balance? If it's a lot, could be a wheel or tire defect.

 

No, that shouldn't be the problem, chili. I tie it up in a bun every morning

I had thought it maybe had to do with the rear wheels. I never thought to check the weights. I will when I get to the car.


Thanks all for your input. You all are so very helpful. I guess I"ll have to take it back to the shop

 

Definitely take them back.

Vibration could be the driveshaft out of balance. But, it would be a HUGE coincidence that that would happen when you change the tires.

 

No no no, the long butt hair has a dampening effect...

 

There are numerious causes for the issues you're having....possible tires are
out-of-round (defective) tire store balancing unit is trash (needs to be recalibrated) I doubt it's a problem with the wheels since you didn't have
the vibration with the prior tires. If you find a bunch of weights on the wheel
make them break down the tire/wheel and turn it 180 degrees. Watch them
balance your new tires, you should be able to tell if the tire is out of round!
Hope this situation gets better!
Gary

 

Does it feel like you have a phone on vibrate?

Sometimes my seat vibrates at my right hip and feels like my phone is ringing.

 

I contacted dunlop tires and will be getting a complete refund for the tires as well as discounted prices on new tires. I decided to go with the goodyear eagle f1 a/s. Now I just have to wait for the tire shop to call me when the tires come it. Apparently Goodyear has been slow in production. The fronts will be 225/50/18 and I'm going larger on the rear 255/45/18.

Thank you everyone for such great advice. I swear, one can learn so much through this site. I now know the possible causes for feeling vibration in the seats. Thank you all for answering.

No. It's not a subtle vibration. The seat shakes harshly.

 

it could possibly be a driveshaft problem. you have three u joints for the driveshaft, sometimes it could be a bad batch where they wearout. "it happens" every so often on some g's. "what a technician told me." i have the same issue. took it to the dealer...road tested by a technician there and that is what he diagnosed it as. ill get back to you about more info, taking the car in monday.

 

Thanks for the info! Do u know if this is covered under the warranty? Does this happen to new cars also??

 

What year car do you have?

 

Its an 08