Front wheel balance

[brian]

Has any one had problems with Kuhmo tyres?. I have just had 2 new 195/70 R14 91H tyres fitted on the front of my Stag and after 3 rebalances and and both tyres being replaced I still had major steering wheel vibration at 60+ mph the previous Continental tyres never gave a problem. The temporay repair was to put the wheels at the back of the car and fit the rear wheels that are part worn Coninental tyres to the front. I understand Coninental no longer make the size. Any suggestion what I should fit when they wear out?

[jakesmig]

I've got Yokohama 14/195/65 on mine and have no complaints, good grip in wet and good braking qualities,
John

[new to this]

ive fitted goodyear on mine

[Stevekid1]

I've had Kuhmo solus 195x70 14 on my stag for the past four years and they have been fine with no problems at all. If you have had them changed and balanced three times, can only assume they are highlighting a problem/weekness elsewhere.

[flying farmer]

Daft as it seems the problem might be the rims. I had exactly this same problem on my PI saloon fitted with Stag alloys 20 years ago. The alloys came with four mismatched but legal tyres and never gave any vibration problems until the tyres needed changing, then at 50 mph on new tyres the whole car was shaking, the nearside front wing could actualy be seen to bounce up and down at this speed.
It turned out the worse wheel had the stud holes drilled 3/16 inch off centre which meant the front suspension was moving up and down 3/8 inch with each revolution.
Out of the 5 rims only one was pefectly true, two were usable if I fitted the rims to match the runout on the rear hubs so they balanced each other out, and I had to search for a decent 4th wheel.
I found someone with a pile of about 20 stag alloys at Stoneleigh, and when I started going through them measuring the stud to centre bore distances he enquired what I was doing.
Much to his suprise I was able to show him nearly all the wheels were out of true, and I think I got through 7 or 8 rims before I found a good one.
On the set of 5 Stag alloys now in my loft (fitted a set of Minilites this year), two are ok, two are only just usable if they are centred carefully using the lateral play on the nuts before tightening, and one was only fit for a spare
I fitted the minilites as I got fed up with vibration at motorway speeds
The nuts on my old PI saloon were originals, the did not allow any sideways movement on the studs unlike the repros available today
To check if the rims are the problem simply jack up the car so the tyre just clears the ground then spin the wheel. If the tyre moves up and down try a pointer on the rim edge to see if it is the tyre or the rim.
I did have a problem with a new set of Toyo Proxes 195/50 x 15 which went flat on the bottom when the car was stood for a couple of weeeks, and would then take about 50 miles to become round again which was bloody annoying, come to that it still is as they are still fitted to my V8 Toledo, and still vibrate at speed. Must do a few burnouts and wear them out!
Neil

[confrench]

Daft as it seems the problem might be the rims. I had exactly this same problem on my PI saloon fitted with Stag alloys 20 years ago. The alloys came with four mismatched but legal tyres and never gave any vibration problems until the tyres needed changing, then at 50 mph on new tyres the whole car was shaking, the nearside front wing could actualy be seen to bounce up and down at this speed.
It turned out the worse wheel had the stud holes drilled 3/16 inch off centre which meant the front suspension was moving up and down 3/8 inch with each revolution.
Out of the 5 rims only one was pefectly true, two were usable if I fitted the rims to match the runout on the rear hubs so they balanced each other out, and I had to search for a decent 4th wheel.
I found someone with a pile of about 20 stag alloys at Stoneleigh, and when I started going through them measuring the stud to centre bore distances he enquired what I was doing.
Much to his suprise I was able to show him nearly all the wheels were out of true, and I think I got through 7 or 8 rims before I found a good one.
On the set of 5 Stag alloys now in my loft (fitted a set of Minilites this year), two are ok, two are only just usable if they are centred carefully using the lateral play on the nuts before tightening, and one was only fit for a spare
I fitted the minilites as I got fed up with vibration at motorway speeds
The nuts on my old PI saloon were originals, the did not allow any sideways movement on the studs unlike the repros available today
To check if the rims are the problem simply jack up the car so the tyre just clears the ground then spin the wheel. If the tyre moves up and down try a pointer on the rim edge to see if it is the tyre or the rim.
I did have a problem with a new set of Toyo Proxes 195/50 x 15 which went flat on the bottom when the car was stood for a couple of weeeks, and would then take about 50 miles to become round again which was bloody annoying, come to that it still is as they are still fitted to my V8 Toledo, and still vibrate at speed. Must do a few burnouts and wear them out!
Neil

I Had this problem on my alloy wheels.Best way I found to resolve it,was to use 2 of the original steel wheel nuts (which are conical)to centralise the wheel on the hub,then fit two of the proper sleeved nuts .This way makes the wheel central to the Hub

[brian]

I Had this problem on my alloy wheels.Best way I found to resolve it,was to use 2 of the original steel wheel nuts (which are conical)to centralise the wheel on the hub,then fit two of the proper sleeved nuts .This way makes the wheel central to the Hub

Thank you for the the info I will try centering the wheel next time using 2 old steel nuts 2 of the sleeved ones. As it is okay at the moment with the 2 new tyres on trhe back I will wait until the old Continentals wear out on the front.
Brian

P.S. any other ideas would be welcome

[ChasR]

Thank you for the the info I will try centering the wheel next time using 2 old steel nuts 2 of the sleeved ones. As it is okay at the moment with the 2 new tyres on trhe back I will wait until the old Continentals wear out on the front.
Brian

P.S. any other ideas would be welcome

I reckon it is also down to a wheel mounting issue. OTOH I have been back to garages in some cars where their machines just could not balance wheels at all (I assume they were broken). Once a car owned vibrated so badly I went to another garage to get my wheels balanced. As if by magic the horrific vibrations I once had went away.

FWIW I have Kumhos on my current rims which are a vibration free set of wheels .

[elvimto]

I had a bit of trouble when I went from wires to alloys. I picked up a used set of alloys over here and put on tyres never had the balance problem but in order to show the tyre shop that it was not an issue i made some tapered wheel nuts and installed the wheels to less than .040 thou run out which in not bad one rim was less than .010 thou. I did find out that the wheel nuts I used the stainless type did have a slightly smaller dia where it goes through the rim and this may have caused me some problems.

cheers Stuart