mjonesjr8

I've thought forever this had to be some kind of tire\rim issues after 2 trips for road force balance and different tires the vibration remained. It seems to be worse as speed increases but, if I pull down pretty hard on the steering wheel it seems to get much better. So now I have no clue as to what would be causing this. Holding the wheel more loosely i would swear it has a really bad tire out of balance. Any ideas?
only around 21k miles on the car.

Thanks

ps sorry if I'm beating a dead horse all the others I found searching seem to be tire/rim related.

1968swbbigblock

Normally a road force balance - done correctly- should fix this issue.
Did they check the wheel to make sure its not bent?
The only other item that pops to my head quickly is a bent rotor ( typically you would feel this much worse while braking) , a bad wheel bearing, bad tie rod ends, strut/shock that's bad.
Take it in and get the front end components checked.

buckmeister2

The fact that it has been RF balanced twice does not eliminate a balance issue. If the person, or place, doing the RF balance does a crappy job the first time, they will do the same the second.

Beyond that as a cause, the next possibility could be a non-concentric hub. I have never actually seen that issue, but have heard of it. There are only so many things that can cause steering wheel shake as speed increases. Tire, wheel, hub, worn steering components...the latter certainly should not occur in just 21K miles.

Others with more knowledge may give you better answers.

mjonesjr8

Thanks, yes I even watched them do the balance job. The weird thing to me is that it goes away when I push down on the steering wheel, could something in the steering wheel column be causing it? It has had the rack and pinion replaced at 10k miles due to leaking.

Detroit1

Bought a 2011 GS a few months ago. Noticed at least 8 of the little square weights on driver front wheel. Took it to a local shop that does road force. They rebalanced and reduced the weights to 3. Look better however had even worse shake at around 80mph. Took it back and they did it again. At that time they indicated the tire has a high spot that is barely in spec.

The tires were replaced by the previous owner . Only 8 months old with 2K miles. They are Michelin super sports from tire rack. I talked to Tire Rack and if the dealer can validate out of spec then I can get a new tire.

Before I do this I think I will find another shop and see if this is confirmed as bad tire issue or these guys don't know how to road force balance. I always thought a good shop did it right on the car and the guy I went to did not do that.

Good luck,
Jim

RagTop69

I've been noticing a bump-bump-bump when coming to a stop. Has to be a warped rotor. My '00 Z28 used to warp rotors on a regular schedule and they felt just like what I'm experiencing with the Vette. I've done some research and some experts are saying that drilled or slotted (or drilled and slotted) rotors are really not the answer. Why can't Chevy design a set of disc brakes that don't warp? I've had German, Italian and Japanese cars with discs that never had this problem.

mikeCsix

What you may be experiencing is pad deposits on the rotors, not warped rotors. Hard spots are easy to see on the rotor surface.

AORoads

You've gotten good advice above, incl. the potential for checking everything in the suspension. But, there's a couple things you haven't said: 1. did you buy this car new, and 2. are these the original wheels on the car, not aftermarket, repro, or someone else's original wheels?

If they are not, you need to pull one wheel and see if the little clip (called the tinnerman clip) is still installed on the stud(s). I assume you may not know of this, so here's a pic from "BEZ06"----

My guess is need for yet another re-balance possibly at a different shop as Dano suggests, or Tinnerman.

See Post 6 with the retainer around the nut.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...el-shakes.html

wayback

Pretty rare for a rotor to warp. Usually pad material deposits on them. Couple of good aggressive stops should clear it up.

As for the OP, go to a different shop and get a high speed road force balance. It worked for me.

jost6453

Make sure that tires are round. No more than 1 mm runout max. My Michelins measure approx .015. You could (in theory) balance a square tire, but it will drive like crap. Also, make sure rotors are balanced. Mine were 'off' from the factory but are perfect now. Absolutely no stag wheel vib where it was a problem before new tires and rotor balance.

Sledge Hammer

I had the same issue AORoads mentioned about the tinnerman clip with my old C5 with aftermarket wheels. The tire shop never heard of the issue. When I took the clips off the problem was gone.

jost6453

My Goodyear OE runflats were prone to vibration (2011 GS 6spd m). When they were shot, I went to aftermarket rims and Michelin tires. I measured each rim for runout before I installed the tires. The worst rim was approx. .015". I marked the high spot, had new tires installed with instructions to minimize runout. The worst one measured approx. .015 - .020" on the tire after mount and balance. I also removed the rotors and took them to a machine shop to have them balanced. One was off 3/4 oz. The other was 1/2 oz off. Its more work than most folks want to do .....but the car drives perfect.