02GLEMax

Have anyone had any problems with balancing of the 512's. I have a set on my 02 GLE and keep having the problem of a shaking steering wheel come back. I have taken it to the dealer and still have the problem a day or two later so they say it might be a alignment problem but I am thinking it is a tire problem any suggestions.

desperado_45

I have to take mine back for rebalancing I just got the car aligned about 2 months ago.

SKYRockerr

Check your air pressure, i had the same problem

make sure your air pressure is correct, rememebr its 32 COLD PSI>.. not hot!!!!!!!!!!

desperado_45

my sidewalls say i can go as high as 40 psi
But ive been running 37 up front, ill lower it a little and see what happens

Jaeger

The maximun pressure on the sidewall is NOT what you go by. Follow the Vehicle manufacturer's recommended inflation. You're going to seriously shorten your tire life by running at 37 psi all day, every day.

Jaeger

gabe22

thats my concern... i just got falken 512s the other day and the tire tech set the psi to 38 all the way around... i thought that was a bit high so ive gone to the manufacture spec of 32 psi but they look underinflated... oh and i dont seem to have any balancing problems... should i keep them at 32??

SKYRockerr

your tires are underinflated......... 38 hot air pressure minus -5 is 33 cold psi.. 33 psi cold is fine, thats what i have........ when hott i'll will go high to 38 or lower its fine

nupe500

iTrader: (13)

I've had the 512s for about 3 months and have had not problem with them balancing or otherwise. I hear that they are not "great" in snow....but we'll see.

SKYRockerr

I would think about putting on different tires for the snow ...or add weight in the trunk

Jaeger

Check the pressure first thing in the morning (assuming you haven't been driving all through the night). That's your "cold" pressure. 32 or 33 psi is fine then. Trying to guesstimate what a proper "hot" inflation should be is a non-starter because you can never know exactly how "hot" the tires are.

Jaeger

nick

iTrader: (10)

Falkens must be run on higher pressure then recomended factory ( on stock rims ) in order to achive any decent handling.

for any vibration issues with Falkens - have them balanced on Hunter Road Force machine.
I've had mine balanced on regular balancer and there was slight vibration , got them redone on the Hunter which took care of all vibration

Those tries are great in snow(Chicago) and in rain
I'm using them as my winter wheels(stock Se rims)

Nick.

Link112

iTrader: (6)

Is the shake right around 70 mph? Mine do the same thing. I have had them re balanced 3 times in the last 6 months and still getting the shakes, but they are not too bad right now. I did read somewhere that it might have something to do with the bearings. I am going to try dropping the pressure to see if it helps. With these 512's I have found them to respond better with a little more air in them. PA roads suck too so it could just be that.

02GLEMax

Yes it does seem to shake mainly building up to hwy speeds and kinda calms down for about awhile while driving but still there. It didn't do it before I put these tires on and the roadforce was normal. I have had them rebalanced and it always comes back after about 40 miles and I am hearing a kinda of roaring sound kinda like a 4wd does with mud tires on certain roads.

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

At my local tire shop, they've started using Nitrogen instead of air... you can tell the cars w/nitrogen cuz they got the green valve caps.
But I doubt that's your problem. If you bought the tires from the place you got them installed, I'd ask for another set. Could be tire defect.
Jae

02GLEMax

I am taking it to the dealer today to fiqure out exactly what it is and i have spoken with falken and they told me to take it to a falken dealer if the tire is the problem. I ordered these tires online so I can't take it back to them but it is starting to become a pain. All I want is smoothness lol

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

just got my 512's and i have a shake from like 62-70... but after that and before that they ride smooth. tire place claims its normal.

dalred

Are you running these tires on factory wheels or aftermarket? Going from one tire to another and then noticing something is not unusal as tires ave different characteristics. The roaring noise is not unusal as well as all season tires do that more tham others and also depends upon structure and siwewall stiffness. If you have aftermarket wheels, do you have the hub rings installed on them?

Ammi

iTrader: (26)

You are the first one I've heard having problems w/ 512s. No problem here

MajBlue2k2

Yep same problem here. Two days ago I had Illumina's, Eibach Springs, Eibach alignment kit, Power Shot rotors, Hawk pads, Falken 235/40/18's mounted and balanced to EVO Lightning's, and a 4 wheel allignment done.

As for the wheels, ride, and drop...Love it! As for the shaking at speeds 60-70mph hate it! Not really sure what to make of it. Next week I think I'm going to take it in again to have every thing looked over.

PSI wise I think the tech set the pressure to 33 cold. I will give it a test tomorrow morning. I will say there is a sloshiness in steering response where I have felt this in the past with underinflated tires but I will say this something's not quite right.

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

The tread on the 512 look like they need to be pumped way up. After driving my friend's car, which suggests 29psi on stock 15", I threw his all the way up to 36 front and 34 rear. That produced the tread wear I wanted. otherwise, it was cupping.

I run my NanKang's at 44 front, 40 rear. Anything less has too much roll-over on hard turns.

Jae

02GLEMax

I took it to the dealer and they confirmed that something wasn't right in the tires since they checked everything that could make it shake and nothing seemed to help. I bought my tires through edgeracing so I hope that I can take them to any Falken dealer and have the tires replaced. As far as handling these tires are great but the shake is a pain.

02GLEMax

I am running the factory GLE rim and psi at 32 had no problem before I put these tires on.

MajBlue2k2

Let me know how it goes. I bought my tires at Edgeracing as well and want to know if they give a hard time since I'm running into the same shake as you. Over the weekend I bumped up the tires to 34/35 from 31/32 and most of the shake went away in the steering wheel but now it's more noticeable in the floor boards.

nick

iTrader: (10)

good luck with that !!! - buying tires on the net saves you few bucks , but when problems arise - there is nowhere to go - local vendors wash their hands

Nick.

02GLEMax

I actually took my car to Sears of all places and they inspected the tires and put some weights on the inner side of the back of the wheel and i drove off without a shake at any speed. I have had the tires rebalanced 8 times before and always had a problem. As of now I will take it back to Sears before I would the dealer.

desperado_45

The wheel weights should be on the inside of the tire or in the inside of the rim; which I think is my problem they put a different type of weight on the inside of the rim its about 1" wide as opposed to the factory weight which was narrower, but im going back in today. I noticed that when I dropped the PSI to 32 from 37 I got a little more shake; Ill have to try 34 PSI

Weasel

iTrader: (2)

This is why I paid a little more to buy them at Sears, I've had enough of dealing with online merchants when there's a problem.

GimmeTorq

I got the same vibration but I'm pretty sure is balancing. I had vibration also with one of the original tires after it was fixed and re-balanced at my tire shop. It seems my tire place has two ways of doing the balancing and one seems to be better than the other.

I'm running 32 psi in my Falkens and it seems ok, but I prefer a smoother ride over sharper handling during my daily commute.

02GLEMax

The shop I took it to the first 5 times had the same machines but I believe if you don't have enough knowledge other then getting it to zero then you will have problems. The 512 aren't the best riding tire but for the money they aren't that bad. I don't think I will ever order anything offline again just due to the fact that you can't take it back to them if there is a problem.

vqman

what a gimmic...well, I'd imagine it's only a gimmic, because air is like 72% nitrogen and 20 or 22% oxygen and then you have maybe 6%argon and some other miscelanious gasses (CO, CO2, methane, helium...)


EDIT: I found out that race cars use pure nitrogen because of the impurities in air cause the tires to not be balanced as good as pure nitrogen does.
(those impuritites being stuff I mentioned, other gasses) Well, while a 240mph Indy car might need perfect balance in their tires, I think for the regular Joe plain old air is just fine.

-vq

02GLEMax

After about 50 miles of driving don't seem to have any problems with the tire balance. Hate it took two months to get it right

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

Gimmick or no, at least they didn't raise the price when they switched over. BTW, the tires shops I'm refering to are CostCo. I know 3 CostCo's around my area that use Nitrogen... they got a big banner at the register too, and all the cars come out with lil green valve caps. Cute!

Jae

vqman

well at least they didn't raise the price...but I guarantee there are a few rice boys that think they have to go to Costco to get tires because they use Nitrogen...I guess it's a smooth marketing move by CostCo...

-vq

desperado_45

Well I went back on the shake and they had both pass. side tires 1/2 ounce off with the weights. So they added 1/2 ounce to each and most of the shake is gone, there is still a little shake so I will raise my PSI to 34 and see what happens.

02GLEMax

I had the same problem and it kept getting worse over time. I don't know what Sears did but I fell nothing at all except for the road

CTmax02

iTrader: (3)

Hi I seem to have the same problem too. I had them balanced like 4 times and its still there. I'm running 235/45/17 on stock 17's with 32psi.I have the shake 60+mph when i hit 80mph its still there but not as bad. Should I bump it up to 35psi?

phx_maxx

I had the 512 on my Maxima SE for 1 week. Got them installed at Discount Tires. As soon as I went on the freeway, the 512 started shaking. After stopping, noticed that the driver side tires were in the wrong direction. Took it back to Discount for balancing and correct the directions. Still was shaking. Went to Falken website and got some info on the color dots on the tires and dots on OEM rim. Figured it might be due to that. Also talked to a rep and he suggested I get them balance on the RoadForce machine. Back to Discount. Installer lined up the wrong dots <darn>, and RoadForced. One tire was out of spec. Ordered a new tire. After installation, still shaking. At this point the manager suggested we get a different set. So went with the Nitto NT-450. Anything was better than the 512 at this point. Insisted on the RoadForce balance. Even tho the Nitto were at a slightly higher price and RoadForce was quoted as extra cost, manager just called it even. NO SHAKING on the Nittos.

02GLEMax

I finally ended up getting the shakes out of mine but don't think I will buy the falkens again just due to the headache I had to go through and still have a roaring sound while driving but no shakes at all. I am going to take it back and have a alignment redone due to the car feels as if it is pulling some but overall I guess I am satisfied.

Creature

I just had these put on our '02 SE this morning. Wife's report is that they drive great and are much smoother and quieter than the Potenzas, but I don't think she got it up to 70 on her way home. However, we had the shake at 68-72 mph for the last 5-7K on the Potenzas, so I'll be interested to see if it's still there.

02GLEMax

When I first had mine installed i remember a slight shake but nothing bad but as time went on it got to the point where i didn't like to drive the car. I don't have any shakes now but i noticed I fell more road feel which i guess is good but for the money tire is hard to beat.