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I can't figure this one out. I had my wheels balanced a few months ago and the steering wheel has been very smooth. I removed my wheels last week, inspected something, reinstalled them, and the steering wheel vibrated intermittently but in a regular pattern at 70+ mph. Since then, I've tried nearly every possible way of reinstalling them:

• Cleaned the hub and spacers
• Repositioned the wheel lock so it's opposite of the valve stem
• Added anti-seize to the hub and spacers
• Torqued the wheels on the ground
• Torqued the wheels when slightly touching the ground
• Torqued the wheels 2 steps: 40 ft lbs, then 88 ft lbs
• Torqued the wheels completely in the air with the brakes held
• Ensured when hand-tightening, the wheels are completely flat and being held with my feet

All of them will produce intermittent steering wheel vibration, some worse than others. Most of them are at highway speeds.

The control arms, end links, and tie rods all only have 30k miles or less. I measured the temperature of the disks and they're both basically identical at 138F in city/highway driving, so that rules out a sticky caliper. I do have wheel spacers, and I've verified they're seated completely flush.

It seems like when a shop reinstalls the wheels the steering wheel never vibrates. Am I doing something wrong here? I've never encountered something like this before.

[porsche959]

Increase that Torque to 95lbs - all 20 lugs

[porsche959]

Also have you tried removing the spacers to see if it’s a wheel issue? Could be that a wheel weight fell off or something

[PichaDis11]

No mention tightening bolts in star pattern?

[rick100]

Like someone said . Have u tried removing the spacers?

Also, did you put the wheels back the same way they came out?. Im wondering if the wheels were put back in different order. That should not caused a problem since the wheels were balance though but maybe it has do with that

Also . My shop mentioned to me that when they balanced my wheels . They balanced them with the spacers....

Not sure how true that is or how they do it. But i had them balance at a different shop without the spacers. Was getting a smll vibration at 70mph the i had them balance with spacers at this other shop and its been good since

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Originally Posted by rick100

Like someone said . Have u tried removing the spacers?

Also, did you put the wheels back the same way they came out?. Im wondering if the wheels were put back in different order. That should not caused a problem since the wheels were balance though but maybe it has do with that

Also . My shop mentioned to me that when they balanced my wheels . They balanced them with the spacers....

Not sure how true that is or how they do it. But i had them balance at a different shop without the spacers. Was getting a smll vibration at 70mph the i had them balance with spacers at this other shop and its been good since

Good idea on balancing with the spacers.

I haven't tried removing the spacers yet and taking it for a drive. I'll do that tomorrow. I did install the wheels in the same order, and have been torquing them in a star pattern. I'll see if the spacers are the cause.

[porsche959]

also check air pressure on all 4 tires

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I removed the two spacers and ensured tire pressure was where it should be. Result: same highway vibrations at the same intensity. The intensity does increase with speed. I notice when going around small gradual turns on the highway, the intensity will change afterwards.

This at least rules out the spacers as the culprit. This leads me to believe they're not balanced and now I am just noticing it. I can't recall if I had been on the highway before I removed the wheels the first time.

Maybe a wheel weight fell off. Maybe they didn't do a good job balancing them. Either way, I think that's the next place I should check. I will ask them about checking the balance of the front wheels again.

[whyzee125]

I always had some intermittent vibration for the few months I had spacers too. Intermittent being sometimes after removing the wheels I would have it and sometimes I wouldn’t. They would be perfectly smooth for a month then I’d take the wheels off and do everything the same as I did the time before and now I’d have vibrations. Removing the spacers did get rid of it but I’d usually just reinstall a few times until it was gone. No idea why.

[axe127]

I would definitely have the balance checked again.

Otherwise, have you tried swapping the wheels left-to-right? Have you hit any potholes recently?

[philgli]

did you rotate left to right?

If so, they could be wearing slightly differently which causes the balancing to be negated.

I got new wheels once and put my existing tires (which ran VERY smooth) on the new wheels. they had plenty of life left. But it was too much change and the car had a pretty decent shake at a few different speeds. Amazing how sensitive this stuff is...

[rsyed07]

Check your tires for a a bubble or uneven patch. Had a slightly out of round tire on a previous car that would cause this. Best way to check is jack it up, spin the wheel and put something stationary a few mm from the wheel spinning and look for an uneven pattern of roundness.