yelmvette

I needs some help diagnosing a vibration in the front of my vette. When I reach certain speeds (45 MPH and faster) I feel a wobbling vibration coming from the front end. I have gone through the entire car making sure nothing was loose. I even put a wrench on every nut and bolt just to make certain they weren’t loose. When I make sharp turns at low speeds it feels like the front end is almost hopping and now it looks like a pitbull has been using my front tires for a chew toys. Any suggestions?

photo 4 by stevenmplante, on Flickr

photo 3 by stevenmplante, on Flickr

photo 2 by stevenmplante, on Flickr

nitrousfish

It's time to replace them...the cracks in the tread tells me they are dry rotting.

They may have started seperating,causing the vibration.

Have a good alignment guy go over it after new tires as well to look for rotten bushings,etc.

Ozarkwoods

By the marks on your tires you have a clearance issue, all the gouges and chunks are the same angle and location on your tread. Front spring possible is damaged. I would take the wheel off and look on the inside fender well for what the tire is hitting.

bearphoto

Your slow speed turns where the front end is hoping is tire scrub and its due to the very wide tires and happens at cold temps. Its normal and no issue. as for the tires missing chunks, I agree with someone elses post that the tires are hitting inside the fenderwell? What is the age of the tires?

lastcowboy

J Christensen

Good observations.

QCVette

I think it is just your tires are getting too old and failing. They have dry rot cracking visible.

I don't think they are hitting the inner fenders. Usually they would hit at the corners, but this is not there. It also looks like there are two areas (bands) about the same distance on both sides of the tire center line where you have rubber chunks missing. It is unlikely that the stock sizes hit the fender, but to hit it in two separate spots not at the corners is very unlikely.

Just a guess, but I suspect that the tire is separating and maybe a belt is coming loose. The two bands of chunks missing might be at the two edges of the tread belt.

An alignment is cheap insurance, but it doesn't look like you have unusual wear from a bad alignment, so it may not be needed.

You need new tires.

Good luck.

epshaw

Those "one way" pop up spike things in some parking grages and subdivisions will take chunks out of tires even going the correct way. Might try to recal if you regularly cross any of those.

cclive

The missing chunks were an issue on some of the early Michelin Pilot Sport All Season tires...it looks like that is what these tires are. You might check with the tire store that you bought them from.


I believe the vibration is from balance though.

yelmvette

I haven’t made any modifications to my vette other than putting the black gumby rims with Michelin PS2 runflats on but they are stock size. No adjustments to shocks or have I tried to lower it in any way. I had a front end alignment done and they told me that everything looked normal and only made minimal adjustments. I have never heard or felt the tires hit the fender and I wouldn't see why they would if everything is stock without modification. Well I guess it’s time for new tires and rims! I have had these tires on for almost three years and I've put just about 30,000 miles on them. Thanks everyone for your input.

Ludedude

The tires are definitely dry-rotted and need to be replaced regardless of anything else.

Strange wear and vibrations can come from a variety of issues including belt separation, poor alignment, worn bushings and bad shocks. I'd replace the tires ASAP, get a good alignment and see how that works out.

Tide Will Roll!

I thought the pic was a Michelin AS tire.

yelmvette

Is it normal for tires to dry rot like this after just three years? It's my daily driver and gets parked in the garage.

yelmvette

Good catch, they are AS! I had PS2 previously.

truckplay

http://www.pfadtracing.com/blog/wp-c...-alignment.pdf

compare your settings to these. I have found that Michelin A/S do wear like this on a C6.

Gearhead Jim

You could be experiencing "chunking", where small pieces of rubber simply come off the tread under extreme use. Have you been doing autocross/HPDE/crazy street driving, on those tires?

yelmvette

I haven't been doing any extreme or crazy street driving but I usually run down the autobahn at 100+ MPH on a regular basis.

cclive

That shouldn't do it...the A/S chunked from extreme cornering.

AORoads

It could be "old" tires. Next set you get, check the date code on each tire. Also, if there actually was/were issues with A/S you may be able to get at least a partial credit toward new tires, altho you are in a different country. Still, Michelin is an international company.

Tell us how it all turns out.