HELP!! New Front Tyre's Causes Steering Vibration..

[AdiWhit]

Apologies for the long thread, appreciate any help....

I have a 2010 997.2 C4s with turbo II alloys (which came fitted with Michelin Sport's from Germany) and have covered nearly 16,000 miles over the last 20 months, as its my daily drive.

I recently had 2 new rear Michelin Sport tyre's fitted at my local OPC, all went well, however the trouble started when I replaced the front tyre's a month later (also Michelin Sport's). For 16,000 miles the steering has been 100% perfect with of course the usual road feedback, now I have a vibration from 55 mph upwards!!

The OPC have so far been very obliging and as the car is still under approved warranty they have re-balanced the wheels, also provided 2 new tyres's (from the original tyres's fitted 3 weeks ago) and they completed a full 4 wheel geometry alignment, but the problem is still there.

How can replacing 2 front tyre's be such a problem[]? The car is going back in again on Friday, as this is totally unacceptable on a car of this pedigree.

Has anyone had any similar experiences, and if so are you able to share the root cause, or even any suggestions. I will of course keep you updated as to the progress.

I was tempted just to ask them to put my old tyre's back on (which had 3mm remaining)!!!

Thanks

 

[Darrens997]

Hi might be worth asking if you can try another front wheel and tyre Maybe swap one then the other that way you will find out which wheel is causing the vibration. Darren

 

[Motorhead]

Normally you'd be able to drive through a wheel balance-related problem. Has the PC looked elsewhere - suspension joints, driveshafts, etc. - for a potential source?

Jeff

 

[AdiWhit]

Thanks both
I'm taking in Friday, will keep you both posted.

 

[MarlowCrew]

Really hope you get the answer on Friday and I look forward to your update.
My limited experience of the 997 leads me to believe it is highly sensitive to tyre choice. Replacing Michelins (the tyre fitters’ choice) with Michelins sounds like the ultimate tyre choice risk mitigation strategy, so it will be interesting to hear what the actual cause of the vibration is.

 

[AdiWhit]

Hi All
Sorry for the delay in posting an update.
So the car went in to the OPC on Friday last week, I left it with them all day, here's what they did...
1. They replaced all 4 wheels with donor wheels, these were identical 19" turbo II rims, all with worn Michelin Pilots (about 3/4mm of tread).
2. On the test drive the car was absolutely bang on, no wheel vibrations and the car felt planted to the road, perfect
3. Then the rear two donor wheels were replaced with my original rims and tyres, the car was just as good, with the same results as above.
4. Two front donor wheels were replaced with my rims and tyre's, vibration returned!
5. All wheels checked - no buckles or any defects to the alloys
6. All wheels re balanced - all returned (zero) on the calibration

As the day was nearly over, I took receipt of the car and drove it home, the vibration is still there, on and off around 65 MPH, you can drive through it but then it feels like the whole car has a slight vibration as you go beyond 80mph (on a private track of course).

The technician stated that if the problem persists the next steps would be as follows:
- Swap the tyres from donor wheels and re-test (both sets)
- Replace the tyre's one at at time and re-test

Im somewhat baffled as the only differences between the donor wheels and mine are:

Donor Wheels My Wheels
997.2 Turbo II 997.2 Turbo II
Original Michelin Sport Tyre's 3/4mm NEW Michelin Sport Tyre's 7mm
Original Wheel Balancing Weights New Black Balancing Weights From OPS Dealer

I will be returning the car to complete the final tests if it continues, however I'm now thinking it might be the tyre's and them going out of shape at high speed, so may look at swapping them to Pirelli, any thoughts?[8|]

Will keep you updated....

 

[Motorhead]

It sounds as though your PC are doing all the logical things. If the wheels are free of obvious defects and are seating properly on the hubs, everything appears to point to the replacement tyres themselves, although I note that you said that even these have been replaced by a completely different pair.

If all else fails, you could try getting the wheels road force balanced elsewhere: http://www.balancemycar.co.uk/

Jeff

 

[Lancerlot]

Very occasionally a rogue tyre comes out of the factory. Your best bet is to substitute a new tyre to the front, each side in turn and once identified, return the faulty one to the supplier for a full refund.
Good luck.
Regards,
Clive

 

[AdiWhit]

As its the last day of the year, thought I would post an update with the ongoing vibration issue.

Over the past couple of months I have had to replace various tyres at the OPC due to punctures , however the problem with the steering vibration has never gone away.

On the last visit earlier this month, the OPC swapped all my Michelin's for a set of Pirelli's from an approved GTS on the forecourt to see if that would resolve the issue, however its still there!

So after a discussion with the service manager expressing my disappointment , the OPC are taking the car in next month and have said that they wont return it until the issue is fixed []

After reading numerous posts and researching across the web, im now beginning to think its either:

1. Track Rods
2. Ball Joints
3. Some sort of shock absorber problem
4. Or... a fault with the alloy wheels (which is what the OPC previously said it might be)

I'll keep you all posted in the New Year ....

 

[C2dweller]

We very often find that larger wheels are susceptible to flat spots. These will balance fine, but on a road test can exhibit the symptoms you describe. I've found that a normal tyre fitter will not spot a flat spot. We physically spin the wheels on the car and check them during a service ... about 1 in 5 cars we check have a flat spot on at least one wheel.

Very early on you said that a different set of wheels removed the problem - so I would think this discounts any suspension steering related issues on the car.

Thanks, Lee

 

[Matt Seabrook]

If all else fails, you could try getting the wheels road force balanced elsewhere: http://www.balancemycar.co.uk/

Jeff

If you are still having issues I would advise checking out the above like. A Hunter GSP9700 is much more than just a balancer.

 

[dhossack]

Hi,
I had a similar issue some time back and had the front wheels balanced 7 times at the same garage without success. I suggested to the garage that they checked the settings/calibration of their wheel balancing machine. They did and it was well out. Wheels balanced for the 8th time with no issues thereafter.
Just a thought.
D.

 

[adiwuk]

It's been a while since I updated this thread but wanted to give you all an update and thank you for your suggestions.

My OPC has swapped the tyres to a set of Pirelli's from a GTS, which didn't really cure the problem. a couple of weeks later (January 2016) they replaced the front wheels with new Turbo II alloys, this has reduced the vibration but I can still feel it slightly in both the steering and the seat......

So today I'm taking it to "Ninemeister" over near Manchester to have the wheels balanced on the Hunter Road force, I will keep you updated.

 

[adiwuk]

MY FINAL POST TO THIS THREAD[] The problem is fixed.

Booked in at Ninemeister @ Warrington yesterday to have a full Hunter Road Force (HRF) balance done on all wheels. Had a chat with Colin the proprietor who couldn't have been more helpful and had a tour of the workshops and new sales area.

Simply put all my vibration issues are now solved!!!!

All my rims showed as perfect with no lateral or radial movement, the front balancing was adjusted slightly, the rear wheels were under weighted by 15 grams. The (HRF) showed that the offside rear had "force variation" to around 90 newtons, the standard limit usually being 40 newtons I'm told. Normally they would move the tyre on the rim to offset it with a variation on the alloy, however as my rims were so true that was not possible, so rather than get a new set of perfect tires for the rear, I decided to run them for a while as I can hardly notice it and its worth me waiting to get a full set of tyres fitted now that I know what the issue is.

Ninemeister have said they will give me a competitive price when i need a full set and I will get a full HRF test done on them all when they are fitted.

Thanks all on this thread and for the suggestion to use the Hunter System, why don't the OPC's make a investment and get one of these machines..... Something so simple can ruin the driving experience of a Porsche..... "Rant over" []

www.ninemeister.com

 

[JCX]

Does this balance the wheels on the car as opposed to off the car?

 

[Motorhead]

The Hunter rig balances the wheels off the car.

Good to hear that at last the OP has solved the problem to his satifaction....and I've just noticed that I suggested this in a post 7 months ago.!

Jeff

 

[JCX]

So if they balance the wheels off the car, how is it different?