Would 30lbs of road force imbalance cause wheel shake?

[5OhSilver]

I had a friend put my wheels on his balance machine for butt and seat shake at 80mph. They balanced great but one had 31lbs of road force imbalance and the other only had 1. Is this considered significant and probably the cause of the wheel shake I'm feeling?

285/30/20 Michelin Pilot Super Sports

Sponsored

 

[ModularKid21]

I had a friend put my wheels on his balance machine for butt and seat shake at 80mph. They balanced great but one had 31lbs of road force imbalance and the other only had 1. Is this considered significant and probably the cause of the wheel shake I'm feeling?

285/30/20 Michelin Pilot Super Sports

Absolutely. From the tire machines I’ve used, they usually state 25lbs to be the maximum acceptable weight for passenger car tires. LT tires being higher obviously. I’ve worked on many cars where they had less than 25lbs road force and you can feel vibrations through the vehicle at speeds at, and often times below 80mph. The size of the wheel/tire can also affect that. Usually I can get them to balance out if they’re at or slightly below 25lbs. For 30lbs, I’d try and get that replaced under warranty. As long as it’s in the tire and not the wheel (bent wheels will cause road force imbalance as well) I’d try and get another tire

edit; as I forgot to mention

Another thing you could do before trying to have the tire replaced is force matching the tire/wheel. The tire machine will measure the high and low, heavy and light spots of the tire and wheel. Then it’ll have you mount the tire to the wheel matching those spots to minimize the imbalance. That would help reduce the road force imbalance but it won’t get rid of it. It might get you down to 20lbs or so, depending on how bad it is

 

[5OhSilver]

Absolutely. From the tire machines I’ve used, they usually state 25lbs to be the maximum acceptable weight for passenger car tires. LT tires being higher obviously. I’ve worked on many cars where they had less than 25lbs road force and you can feel vibrations through the vehicle at speeds at, and often times below 80mph. The size of the wheel/tire can also affect that. Usually I can get them to balance out if they’re at or slightly below 25lbs. For 30lbs, I’d try and get that replaced under warranty. As long as it’s in the tire and not the wheel (bent wheels will cause road force imbalance as well) I’d try and get another tire

edit; as I forgot to mention

Another thing you could do before trying to have the tire replaced is force matching the tire/wheel. The tire machine will measure the high and low, heavy and light spots of the tire and wheel. Then it’ll have you mount the tire to the wheel matching those spots to minimize the imbalance. That would help reduce the road force imbalance but it won’t get rid of it. It might get you down to 20lbs or so, depending on how bad it is

This is exactly what we ended up doing. We got the road force down to 15lbs and the shake is still there slightly but it's wayyyyy better. I figure ill just ride it out this way and stay below 80mph. The tires are out of warranty and still have plenty of life left as the previous owner kept the car in the garage.

Sponsored