Larrio

iTrader: (10)

I just got a tire rotation and balance at costco this morning. Everything seemed fine all day on the local roads. As I hit the freeway tonight, the steering wheel started vibrating. I could feel every bump in the road and front wheels seemed to be shimmying/wobbling. I took it to a local gas station and torque down all the wheels to 95 lbs, found out the tire pressure was at 30 psi so I set it to 34 psi all around. BUT as soon as I hit 45+ mph, the whole problem starts again. Massive vibration at constant speeds, feeling every bump in the road through the steering wheel, and shimmying/wobbling effect.

Any ideas?

Ramius83

This can be a few factors:

1) How bad/old are your tires? Old tires or worn out tires can cause many problems at higher speeds.

2) What type of wheels do you have? I have three slightly bent rims so no matter how well they balance them, I still have a slight vibration.

Larrio

iTrader: (10)

well, these rims/tires have never given me problems before when I rotated and balanced them at the dealer.

The tires are the stock ones that came with the car (toyos), they have 28k miles on them... plenty of tread left. Actually, rear tires that were brought up front in the rotation have more tread than the original fronts.

The rims are 16 inch and have not been bent.

tire size is 215/55/16

NYCe MaXiMa

iTrader: (9)

first thing that pops into my head is balance, bent rim or a defective tire.

So you had them rotated and balanced twice, right?
first at the dealer, when they began giving you problems, then at Costo and the problem remained?

Since you have so little miles, I doubt any other suspension parts have had time to wear or break.

I remember I had this problem on my 3rd gen and did all sorts of wheel rotation and balancing, even switched wheels and tires and the problem remained. I think I replaced the ball bearings and the tie rod ends and then it stopped


are you still under factory waranty? If so, I'd take it in and have the dealer take care of it..

Larrio

iTrader: (10)

oh, sorry for the confusion. I meant that the two times that I rotated and balanced my tires before at the 7500 miles mark were at the dealer, and there were no problems before there. But this time I decided to do it at costco cause it was only 16 bucks.... unfortunately I got what I paid for this time.

I will take it to the dealer, but it will have to wait a week till I get back home cause i'm at school. I was hoping to fix it myself until then. But thanks for the help from everyone anyways.

Lime

nooo nonono...take it back and get your money back first. Or, go to the dealership and get it done right, then show them (costoco) the bill and have them pay that.

Larrio

iTrader: (10)

will costco actually pay back the bill that I rack up at the dealer for a job that they didn't do right?

Lime

well first you need to complain to costco. if they refuse to fix the problem, then you can go after them and get them to pay the bill for the dealership. Threaten to use a lawyer too.

Larrio

iTrader: (10)

got it, thanks for the help. so unforunate that this happened. I mean, it's not that hard to balance a wheel with the equipment.. is it?