Stealth vibration

[Shiniquiet]

OK, here’s my story. I have a 2002 Cruiser with about 85,000 miles. Everything is going fine, until Friday, that is. Last Friday I had new tires put on the front, “directional” tires (whatever that means.) Around town, below 40, everything is fine. However, once over 50 or so there’s a vibration but the vibs are only when I’m not on the accelerator. Sometime ago the tie rod ends went and were replaced. The vibration was similar to that so that’s what I thought the problem was. I took it to my local mechanic today; a guy who I think is pretty sharp. He took it for a ride and also felt the vibs. He checked the front end and everything was tight. Alignment is ok. He looked at the motor mounts and they seemed to be ok. He called around but nobody ever heard of such a thing. So, what up? Any ideas would be gratefully received.

[bobs turbo pt]

right after you had tires put on ?? maybe one is not balanced right ??

[Hooligan]

"Directional" tires are made to be mounted one way only. Normally they have a arrow or a molded direction saying rotate this way. Possibly one of the tires were mounted backwards.

[soonercruiser]

What type of tires?
"Directional tires" may be "high performance tires" that tend to grip more. So, I had to get used to the tires gripping every bump and seam in the highway, and the vibration & humming from the grooving they put in the highways around here in order to increse traction during heavy rains.
But agree...first double check the the tires are mounted so they rotate in the directions of the arrrows on the side walls.(when you are driving forward)

[quicksilverdon]

I have Michelin hydroedge, which are directional, but not hyper-performance, and no problems, so that's not the issue.
I'd go back to where you got them and have them re-balanced - seems your mechanic checked everything else.

[Shiniquiet]

The beat goes on, so to speak

Yesterday, Wednesday, I went back to where I bought the tires. Their reactions was that they won't do anything unti I get 500 miles on the tires. Their story is that it takes that long for the belts to "seat," or something like that. After the 500 they will rebalance the wheels.

Has anybody ever heard of anything like this? Is there truth to this or are they blowing smoke?

[infernocruisr01]

The belts or the beads should have seated by now the weight of the car should have seated them and after driving 10-15 miles. I think the tire shop is blowing smoke. I use to install tires and never had heard that before. And that shop has poor customer service.

[umaxman]

Their are blowing smoke .."belts seated in" go back and ask them to explain that to you with out a grin on their face they are full of it

[quicksilverdon]

I'm an old fart, and I've never heard of that.
I have gone right back to places several times after buying tires and say I have a vibration, and they always rebalance - free - and I've never gotten a hard time.
They're stalling you, hoping you'll get used to it or forget. Since they're lying, you can lie and say you called the tire manufacturer and they said no such thing............

[comPuTer]

I want to echo what the others have said. They have dark brown eyes (that's a polite way of saying they are full of *&$#).

The way I see it:

1) They mounted one of your single directional tires incorrectly going the wrong direction
2) OR one of your wheels is not correctly balanced. I always go with static balancing because I can't stand those ugly weights on the rim of the wheel. One of my wheels is hard to balance but a veteran tire person can make it right. I had to return and deal directly with the manager but he got it right.
3) OR there is a defect in one or more of the tires. If the vibration is more towards the front, rotating front to back should reduce or eliminate the problem and pretty much proves to everyone what the cause is. That's easy for them to do and they should do it willingly.