What went wrong ?

[RMPM01]

On my way to L.A. from Chicago with 700lbs load ( it sure felt like 1700lbs ) in my CV, I felt little vibration on my steering wheel. Slowly it was gating worse, but still OK to drive as I was getting close to L.A.

As soon as I got unloaded, I drove up to Firestone for a checkup and a tire balance (thinking that one of the weights might of fell off ) Check up was done and so was balancing.

I spend one night at my lovely TA and then started heading home. After driving 20 miles in traffic I finally started pick up speed, 50, 55, 60, and then vibration on my steering wheel and then the whole front end on my CV started, much more than before I did balancing. I actually stopped to check if my wheels weren't lose. I decided to continue driving, Las Vegas was my next stop.

After a good night sleep, in the morning I went to Firestone near the LV strip and started complaining about my balancing not being done correctly. They took it for a test drive and could not find anything wrong with it " oh, its just bad roads around here" After I took one of their Tech for a test drive, just then he agreed with me " yes, I can feel the vibration"

They did balancing on all of my four tires, promising that it will work and vibration will stop since who ever did balancing before, did not do it correctly.

Well guess what, vibrations did not stop. At this point I was just tired and wanted to go home, so I started to slowly drive east. I called my two mechanics from Chicago and with out actually inspecting and driving my CV its hard to diagnose a problem.

This problem started progressing, and I needed to do something, I had still 1500 to go!! So I decided to do tire rotation in a small town in UT, hoping that my rear tires would make a difference. They did not, looked like all of my four tires were damaged. BUT WHY?? I did my shocks, bolt joins and alignment six months ago and then bought new tires.

Finally got home after driving 60/65mph the whole way. The same day when I got home, I took my CV to my mechanic, and he seen nothing wrong with my front end.

My new 2012 Michelin tires that I got from craigslist are now garbage. Nothing wrong with my front end, could of been my alignment not set up correctly? I dont know. All I know I need all four tires replaced.

Did anyone experienced something similar?

 

[Turtle]

Sounds like ball joints, or a loose rack. The latter did my tires in on my Ford.

 

[zorry]

Did you ever see a Ford that didn't need ball joints at some point ?

 

[RMPM01]

THX guys, I did all of my ball joints six months ago, and my mechanic just checked yesterday, they are fine.

This's got to be an easy fix, but who ever I talk too cant seam to figure it out.

 

[jjoerger]

After driving out west for 6 weeks we took our straight truck into our local shop for some alignment and tire work.
We had one bent rim, one cupping tire, one loose spring hanger, 2 loose you bolts and 14 other loose bolts. The alignment was way out.
While out there we lost 6 bolts out of our front bumper and 2 out of our grill.
Our shocks took a beating and we will be replacing those next.
The west coast roads are getting really bad.

 

[zorry]

I highly recommend you stay on the 95 corridor. Boston to Miami.

 

[purgoose10]

On my way to L.A. from Chicago with 700lbs load ( it sure felt like 1700lbs ) in my CV, I felt little vibration on my steering wheel. Slowly it was gating worse, but still OK to drive as I was getting close to L.A.

As soon as I got unloaded, I drove up to Firestone for a checkup and a tire balance (thinking that one of the weights might of fell off ) Check up was done and so was balancing.

I spend one night at my lovely TA and then started heading home. After driving 20 miles in traffic I finally started pick up speed, 50, 55, 60, and then vibration on my steering wheel and then the whole front end on my CV started, much more than before I did balancing. I actually stopped to check if my wheels weren't lose. I decided to continue driving, Las Vegas was my next stop.

After a good night sleep, in the morning I went to Firestone near the LV strip and started complaining about my balancing not being done correctly. They took it for a test drive and could not find anything wrong with it " oh, its just bad roads around here" After I took one of their Tech for a test drive, just then he agreed with me " yes, I can feel the vibration"

They did balancing on all of my four tires, promising that it will work and vibration will stop since who ever did balancing before, did not do it correctly.

Well guess what, vibrations did not stop. At this point I was just tired and wanted to go home, so I started to slowly drive east. I called my two mechanics from Chicago and with out actually inspecting and driving my CV its hard to diagnose a problem.

This problem started progressing, and I needed to do something, I had still 1500 to go!! So I decided to do tire rotation in a small town in UT, hoping that my rear tires would make a difference. They did not, looked like all of my four tires were damaged. BUT WHY?? I did my shocks, bolt joins and alignment six months ago and then bought new tires.

Finally got home after driving 60/65mph the whole way. The same day when I got home, I took my CV to my mechanic, and he seen nothing wrong with my front end.

My new 2012 Michelin tires that I got from craigslist are now garbage. Nothing wrong with my front end, could of been my alignment not set up correctly? I dont know. All I know I need all four tires replaced.

Did anyone experienced something similar?

Sometimes (depending on how old the tires are) tires get broken in on a vehicle and can't be used on another. Something about seperation of the steel belts. If they are not all position tires that happens. All newer tires now are all position but you could have gotten an older set that's been sitting in a garage somewhere. I would contact the tire manufacturers tech service, give them the tire numbers and see what they say.

I might ad that you generally won't feel a vibration like that until the tires heat up. That might be why the previous owner sold them.

 

[Turtle]

THX guys, I did all of my ball joints six months ago, and my mechanic just checked yesterday, they are fine.

This's got to be an easy fix, but who ever I talk too cant seam to figure it out.

Have them check the ball joints between the pitman arm and the steering linkage. Also the radius arm bushes. It's in there somewhere.

 

[zorry]

Is that anywhere near the drag queen ? ( reference to PTI miscue in another thread.)

 

[usafk9]

Is that anywhere near the drag queen ? ( reference to PTI miscue in another thread.)

Yes....it's right behind.

 

[Moot]

Did the new Michelins come mounted? Did any tire dude remove the suspect tire(s) from the rim(s) and have a look at the inside of the tire(s)? Have you ever put a liquid tire sealant, such as that green Slime stuff in one or more of these tires? Please don't ask me how I am familiar with green Slime and front end vibration.

 

[scottm4211]

Dry rot. ..

 

[Brisco]

Had the same issue with one of my Dodge Duallys..............

Started happening right after I put new Tires on it..........

IF the problems still persists AFTER all the Ball Joints, Steering Components, Toe Ins-Outs, Shocks, ETC, all check out good.....AND....the Tires are perfectly balanced WHEN the machine is Calibrated Correctly, then it sounds like you have a set of Tires that are "Out Of Round". (Google Out Of Round Tires)

When I put a set of new Goodyears on my 2004 Dually, I was in Hell the very next day running my 3PL Auto Parts Route. Truck shook and rattled that whole 600 mile - 11 Hour Day. Next morning I was back at Discount raising ALL sorts of Hell. The Manager pulled the truck in.......had his main Tire Tech rebalance all the tires....and off I went again. Same thing......went back again....this time they Re-Calibrated the Machine.........Balanced all the tires again........and off I went again. A couple of days go by.....the ride is better.......but NOT as comfortable as new tires should have been. A week later I'm back in the same boat...... So, back to Discount. Guys pulled truck back in....Re-Calibrated a different machine....and started balancing again. I was out there with them this time. After a couple of spins......and me verifying that the Balance was good......I noticed the tire was also "Bouncing" while spinning. It's not that the Machine or Tire was actually Bouncing........it had the appearance that the tire was bouncing while spinning on the machine. You had to stand a good 10-15 feet back to see it.

After we noticed that..........we tested ALL 6 Tires......and sure enough.....ALL 6 were out of round...AS WELL as the 3 other similar Goodyear tires he had left at that store. The Manager then pulled 6 MICHELINS off the shelf.....replaced all those Goodyears....and at No Extra Charge.....and I never had another issue like that again.

A good reputable tire shop might have a "Truing" machine that will shave the tires evenly for about $10 a tire. My bet.....this is what it is......and this is why you found a Nice set of New Michelins cheap on Craigslist.

Good Luck!!

 

[RMPM01]

Thank you guys,

I will drop of my cv to my Ford guy tomorrow I will mention every idea on here just to help him out a bit. I will let you know what happened.

I wounder if it could be a axle?

 

[guido4475]

On my way to L.A. from Chicago with 700lbs load ( it sure felt like 1700lbs ) in my CV, I felt little vibration on my steering wheel. Slowly it was gating worse, but still OK to drive as I was getting close to L.A.

As soon as I got unloaded, I drove up to Firestone for a checkup and a tire balance (thinking that one of the weights might of fell off ) Check up was done and so was balancing.

I spend one night at my lovely TA and then started heading home. After driving 20 miles in traffic I finally started pick up speed, 50, 55, 60, and then vibration on my steering wheel and then the whole front end on my CV started, much more than before I did balancing. I actually stopped to check if my wheels weren't lose. I decided to continue driving, Las Vegas was my next stop.

After a good night sleep, in the morning I went to Firestone near the LV strip and started complaining about my balancing not being done correctly. They took it for a test drive and could not find anything wrong with it " oh, its just bad roads around here" After I took one of their Tech for a test drive, just then he agreed with me " yes, I can feel the vibration"

They did balancing on all of my four tires, promising that it will work and vibration will stop since who ever did balancing before, did not do it correctly.

Well guess what, vibrations did not stop. At this point I was just tired and wanted to go home, so I started to slowly drive east. I called my two mechanics from Chicago and with out actually inspecting and driving my CV its hard to diagnose a problem.

This problem started progressing, and I needed to do something, I had still 1500 to go!! So I decided to do tire rotation in a small town in UT, hoping that my rear tires would make a difference. They did not, looked like all of my four tires were damaged. BUT WHY?? I did my shocks, bolt joins and alignment six months ago and then bought new tires.

Finally got home after driving 60/65mph the whole way. The same day when I got home, I took my CV to my mechanic, and he seen nothing wrong with my front end.

My new 2012 Michelin tires that I got from craigslist are now garbage. Nothing wrong with my front end, could of been my alignment not set up correctly? I dont know. All I know I need all four tires replaced.

Did anyone experienced something similar?

I really wonder if you ended up buying defective tires to begin with, and that's why they were on Craigslist to begin with. Ya never know. Personally, I am not a big fan of Michelins to begin with. I had my trouble with them the year before last. I love my Firestone Transforce A/T's.

 

[RMPM01]

I really wonder if you ended up buying defective tires to begin with, and that's why they were on Craigslist to begin with. Ya never know. Personally, I am not a big fan of Michelins to begin with. I had my trouble with them the year before last. I love my Firestone Transforce A/T's.

Right, but they were fine for 5- 6 months, till that L.A. run

 

[RMPM01]

OK, drove up to my local tire shop, and the guy called me over to see how balancing tires is done.

When my wheel was turning on that machine I've noticed that my tire is not complete round, more like the shape of an egg !!!!!

 

[21cExp]

OK, drove up to my local tire shop, and the guy called me over to see how balancing tires is done.

When my wheel was turning on that machine I've noticed that my tire is not complete round, more like the shape of an egg !!!!!

Sounds like those Craigslist Michelins were on Craigslist for a reason. Maybe factory seconds that they knew would go out of round or that they'd had a mess of complaints on for a certain batch. Who knows. Sorry you ended up with bad ones.

 

[billg27]

Won't a good Michelin tire dealer still prorate the bad tire and give you a heavy discount on a replacement? The warranty shouldn't matter where you purchased them from. I'd try that first or call Michelin Tire directly. I'm assuming that there is still an almost new amount of tread left on them.

 

[xiggi]

Won't a good Michelin tire dealer still prorate the bad tire and give you a heavy discount on a replacement? The warranty shouldn't matter where you purchased them from. I'd try that first or call Michelin Tire directly. I'm assuming that there is still an almost new amount of tread left on them.

Why should they offer anything on a Craigslist purchase. That's a buyer beware situation.