I have been doing some reading under the search: tire wobble; and have found some interesting problems/ solutions. Some have wobble because their rims are bent or so they think. Some blame tires, U joints, brakes, hubs/spindles, rotors and so on. Well I'm having this problem; I have new brakes, newer rotors, newer lower ball joints, New tires ( FireHawk wide Ovals) and new rims ( Factory Reproductions Zr-1s ) I had them mounted and balanced at our auto hobby shop. I watched while a trusting older man tood his time and used the correct weights. I watched them spin on the balancer and they spun with no wobble what so ever. Now I take them home install them on my 92' with 90K on it and PRESTO, SUPER WOBBLE. I go over 65 and its ridiculous, the whole darn car shakes. Its coming from everywhere! This vibration was not as bad with my old rims and tires.

SO... I jacked up the whole car on jack stands and spun the fronts. Both fronts wobbled quite a bit. Not just the tire the WHOLE thing. Next the rear...I put it in gear and let them spin. MORE WOBBLE, the whole wheel! I checked out the half shaft and there was some wobble there, but I can be sure if thats caused from the wheel wobble or if its the shaft/ U joints making the wheel wobble. Either way everything wobbles. WOBBLE WOBBLE WOBBLE!

Is this a mounting issue. Are my new wheels not matting to my hubs correctly? I'm really unsure what to do next. If any of you have any success stories that would help out please share. Thanks.

 

This is where I'd look first.

 

I had some bad vibration problems with my 84 on stock rims. I bought new tires and had the local tire guy mount and install them. He tells me all the rims are bent because they wobble on his spin balancer. You know the balancer with the one center hub a universal fit type of deal. I then took it to a local wheel repair shop with the good Hunter balancer. It grabs the wheels trough the bolt holes. It also will read out defects in the rim. He said those rims are very strong and really are not subject to many problems with being bent. The front tires were off five oz. on the left front and 4 1/2 oz. on the right front alone. He also stated that the rims were closer to factory specs than required. When I talked to the first guy he didn't remember anything about the rims being bent.

 

If the first guy did not have the wheels properly mounted on the balancer, and if the balancer was not calibrated then the balance was bogus. Also, make sure the mating surface on the hubs is clean and smooth. I see a rebalance (new word) in your near future.

 

Check to see if the tires are out-of-round. Very possible. I had a situation many years ago with a set of new tires at Sears for my 71 VW Beetle. After they were mounted & balanced & paid for, I drove out the door and the car rocked back and forth, up and down like it had 4 cams instead of tires. I drove right back into the shop. They remounted the tires on the rims & rebalanced them. Same problem! When they put the car back on the lift the second time, I spun the tires and could see that they were all out-of-round by over an inch. The sales manager said that they could only bubble balance them, he offered to pay for having them spun balanced at a shop of my choice. I declined, because you can't balance an out-of-round tire and all 4 were out-of-round. So, they put on another brand tire, and no problems. I also had the same problem last year with a set of Dunlaps for my Olds.

 

At 90K miles you may also have other issues. On my '96 I had to replace the rear wheel bearings and rebuild all the rear strut rods by replacing the bushings. After the rear suspension rebuild I had a 4 wheel alignment done. The car runs on rails now and my wobble is gone.

Larry

 

check to see that there is no rust buildup on your hubs, One of my more beneficial exercises was to rid the rust on the hubs under and on top of the disc.
I used sand paper and scotchbrite and a rotary wire wheel to eliminate the more stubborn deposits.
Try using blue dykem to coat the hubs, and see if the wheels fit over them or sit crazy.
Measure the center of the wheel hub opening, and measure the wheel hub. there should be about .010-.015 clearance so that the lugnut taper centers the wheel.
Wobble indicates the wheel isn't sitting flush on the disc. oh, and my car has 137,000 miles on it so that crack about a 90,000 mile car with issues doesn't apply

 

I no how you feel, mine was doing the wobble but not the car, the steering wheel.
Last month i had to replace a rear diff seal and found a loose striped bolt on my torque beam now the wobble is not there.

One thing if you put the wheels on yourself cross tighten them and dont tighten them when they are on the ground but you may already no that.
good luck

 

Find a Hunter roadforce wheel balancer in your area. Do a search on the internet to find one. Best wheel balancer ever!