Vibrating Steering Wheel

[bghikes]

My steering wheel has been vibrating around 70-75 mph since I put new BF Goodrich Traction T/A tire on it. The alignment has been checked by my local Toyota dealer and the tire shop (Sears). Sears has balanced the tires twice since the purchase with no success in alleviating the problem. Toyota says it’s the balancing; Sears just keeps rebalancing the tires. Not sure about the mileage on the tires but it can’t be more than ~4K. Anyone every have the same problem? Not sure who is not being 100% truthful to me. Thanks for your comments.

bghikes

[98xlt]

did you have any vibration with the old tires?

I'm thinking you have problem tires. I had a set of new Goodyears on my explorer that never could be balanced right. I put up with it for about 22K miles and then switched to Michelin and haven't had a problem since.

Do you have a friend or dealer who'd be willing to let you try a set of known "good" tires already on rims you could try on your front end for a spin on the freeway. That would tell you alot.

[03StepsideGA]

Another way of finding out if the problem is balance related is trying to drive through the vibration. A balance problem usually occurs, at highway speeds, in a 10-15 MPH range. If you can drive through the vibration, it is probably a poor job of mounting or balancing. I would take the car to an independent tire shop in your area. Most independent shops are more interested in taking care of your problem than are chain stores, such as Sears. My guess is that the tires need to be road force balanced.