I've had a problem with vibration on the highway ever since I bought the cart last July. I had a bad wheel bearing replaced, and new tires installed, and re-balanced as it didn't fix the problem. But I think they might've only re-balanced the fronts. Could imbalanced rears cause the steering wheel to vibrate at highway speeds? I can feel it in the seat and my legs and you can see and feel it in the steering wheel. What else can cause this?

67,xxx miles on the car., 2.7T quattro

Thanks!
Jeremy

 

i was always told that if you feel the vibration in your butt, and not the steering wheel... your rear tires are out of whack, and vise versa.

did it improve at all when they balanced the fronts?

 

Not really. I feel it in both places. Feet, seat, and wheel. I've been doing some more reading on it, and apparently it's a running theme!

 

I had the same problem.
1. Had the car realigned
2. Tires rebalanced
3. Found a rim that was bent on the rear.

Finally took care of the problem...smmmmooootthhhhh now.

 

Balance the rearsand check for a bent rim. If that dosen't fix the problem have someone do a loaded balance (tire under load against a drum) to see if the tires have a problem. Also make sure the tires are round... A good tire shop would do all these if there is a problem.

I had a Hyundai Sonata (V6 auto) with a balance probem. We worked on it for over two months on Saturdays. We rebalanced all the tires at least twice, changedtwo rims, put 4 new tires on the car -one at a time, and could not fix the problem. Since the guys did everything possible - they were a good shop and wanted to fix the problem - I finallyfigured it ws a car problem and decided to live with it. After 60,000 miles Iswitched to a different brand of tire and the bounce went away. Somewhat the same thing happened with our Dodge mini van - the origional tires were Bridgestones and they were never quite right. After we balanced them a few times we just gave up. At 50,0000 miles we put Yohohama TRZ's on it and the difference was fantastic.

 

well, all 4 of the wheels on the car had been curbed when I bought the car, and from doing a carfax, I know 2 or 3 of them had already been replaced, so the guy just had a habit of curbing wheels. However, none of them are "visibly" bent. It's worth a look, though... I'll def. go have the rears balanced, too.
NH_USA, where in NH are you located? What are some of the good mechanincs/shops you use?

 

Tires always have a low spot from the manufacturing process and if the process is poorly controlled, the low spots will give you a shake no matter what you do. Have a tire shop measure the run out of the tire and if it excedds 0.030", replace the tires. Michelin has the best reputation in this area.

Bob

 

This is probably one of the problems I see most on the forums. 99% one of your rims is bent. I had the same problem as you!

 

I too vote for a bent rim.

 

You could have a bend axle with a good curb check too. Always put your worst shaped rims in the rear you shouldfeel less vibration. So try swapping fronts with the rears!