I just had my 4 snow tires put on my car and then balanced at Costco, but now the steering wheel vibrates?

Question

I just had my 4 snow tires put on my car and then balanced at Costco, but now the steering wheel vibrates at 45 MPH---does the vibration mean that they were not balanced properly? Or, is there another explanation? Thank, Chris

Answer 1

The tires were not balanced properly, take it back to them and tell them to recheck it. Be sure to give all details of what you are experiencing.

Answer 2

If safety is your motive snows on all 4 corners are required. The rear tires provide all the forward thrust , 5% of the lateral force required to turn the car and only 20% of the braking forces, the fronts provide almost all the turning forces and almost all of your braking forces. If all you care about is getting the car to move in the snow, use 2 snows on the rear, but if you want the car to perform well in all directions 4 snows are needed and highly recommended by me. To weigh in (pardon the pun) on the addition of weight to the rear of the car in order to gain traction, this will help initially but hurt you later, adding weight to the rear of the car will increase the polar moment at the rear. This will make fish tails occur more often and be more severe when they happen. This is why snows are the best solution, and do not add weight. Any decent car with 4 good snows has no trouble moving through snow to the depth of the underbody. Driving on snow covered roads with good snow tires is similar to driving a wet road with an all season tire. The difference between the best all season tire and the best snow tire is night and day in the snow, night and day in the rain, in favor of the snow tire. Dry roads will wear out a snow tire very fast and when the temperature is warm at all, they are dangerous to drive hard as they will come apart from the heat.

Answer 3

Try taking it to a car wash first, and wash out inside of the wheels. It might be snow. While there look for signs of a wheel weight that is missing. If you have ran over a curb, or hit something with your tire it could cause to to seperate.

Answer 4

Another possibility is that the tires are not round. If the balance checks out, have the roundness (radial) and runout (axial) checked.

Also - are your wheels free of snow and ice? Snow and ice build up effects the balance.

Answer 5

I brought all new tyres from a garage and the steering wheel started to vibrate I took the car back to the garage and the guy said he didn't think it mattered! so defiantly go back and check they have actually done the work.

Answer 6

It appears the tires are not balanced or are out of round. Take it back to the shop.

Answer 7

Have them checked at Costco. If its not the steering it could be that your car needs to be aliened.

Answer 8

Sounds like either the tires are not balanced or one of the tires had a broken or bad belt in it. I had a belt break in one of mine and it shook when I reach about 30mph.

Answer 9

What kind of vehicle? Unless it's a 4x4, you don't need 4 snow tires.

Answer 10

Get them rechecked to make sure they have the lugnuts tightened. It sounds like one of the tires might not be on all the way.