01vic

ok, so i took my car in to the local dealer today for the second time about wheel vibrations... This is actually the 4th time ive had the car in for the vibrations, but the place i took it to before (goodyear) told me i needed a new wheel, so i went to honda to get one (14 inch stock steelies)... they tell me that i dont need a wheel and that they balanced the problem out of the one that i thought was bent... ok honda, thanks! yea right, the vibrations continued.. ... i took it back today and they road force balance my two front wheels and come back with some sad news: BOTH of my front snow tires are RUINED because of a blown strut that ive had since this summer... what?! they tell me that a "domino effect" has caused the tires to wear unevenly and contine to wear even more unevenly because of a blown/leaking strut... i thought toe was the only thing that ruins tires?!?!? not camber!!

are they liars or not...

familycar

iTrader: (4)

camber also causes the tire to wear unevenly. it actually makes it wear to the inside of the tire. if you car is under warranty i would tell honda i dont wanted a wheel that has to be takenn in every month or so to be balanced., i would make them replace the wheel that is not balancing correctly. and yes a blown strut can cause premature and uneven tire wear

01vic

thanks for the straight forward reply

no warranty, so i guess i just have to live with it untill summer when i get new shocks and get snow tires off...

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

thats an old trick they use to get you to buy new shocks. Have you verified that the shocks are actually leaking? or you just believe what they say. Vibration is usually caused by a balance issue (believe it or not, alot of places do not know how to balance correctly). this can lead you to believe its not a balance issue when in reality it is. If you are positive the balance is fine, vibration can also be caused by a bent rim (you can never fix a bent rim to make it ride like new), or the uneven wear pattern in the tire. Some shop told me my stock firestones wore down so quick (at 20k miles!) because my shocks were bad. first of all, the shocks were fine especially after only 20k, and second the tires died because they are pos firestone from honda. i now have 45k miles on the car and over 20k since i replaced the tires with real bridgestones and installed springs with camber kit and alignment. there is no vibration and the tires still look brand new. they are feeding you lies.

tinman

Hondas can be sensitive to balance. I had to re-balance my tires twice to get them right. But it has to be balanced to the finest setting, not "good enough".

The struts could be bad, but you would see fluid leaking from the top of the strut. If the tire is then also out of balance, it will "hop", especially on the freeway. This will cause it to wear in flat spots, something like an octagon. Just run your hand over the tires. If it does not feel round, you'll know. Then the struts are not doing their job.

Rims don't bend by themselves. You either hit a HUGE pothole, or a curb. If you didn't, don't buy new wheels.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

they actually had to use gram weight to balance mine

01vic

it could be the tire "hopping" problem, thats basically how they explained it to me... they told me that the tires are the problem, and their worn unevenly and that they cant balance out the vibrations.. goodyear told me that the wheel was bent and they cant balance out the vibration...

i believe them that the strut is blown, they are the second dealer to tell me that, i guess i should check anyway though..


ugh, one thing breaks and a million other things go wrong... i guess once i get this all figured out i need to rotate and balance more often.....

01vic

i hate stuff like this, i dont have the money to throw into this econo box right now, and i can forget about buying my new gauge cluster

timing belt and clutch are due for a change soon too.... yay for owning a car

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

tell them to put the two worst tires in the rear. that helped mine alot.

eyegiant

iTrader: (8)

[QUOTE=01vic]ok, so i took my car in to the local dealer today for the second time about wheel vibrations... This is actually the 4th time ive had the car in for the vibrations, but the place i took it to before (goodyear) told me i needed a new wheel, so i went to honda to get one (14 inch stock steelies)... they tell me that i dont need a wheel and that they balanced the problem out of the one that i thought was bent... ok honda, thanks! yea right, the vibrations continued.. ... i took it back today and they road force balance my two front wheels and come back with some sad news: BOTH of my front snow tires are RUINED because of a blown strut that ive had since this summer... what?! they tell me that a "domino effect" has caused the tires to wear unevenly and contine to wear even more unevenly because of a blown/leaking strut... i thought toe was the only thing that ruins tires?!?!? not camber!!

are they liars or not...[/QUOT

actually it can cause by both toe and camber, more with camber.

eyegiant

iTrader: (8)

Take It To A Tire Shop To Balance It Out, Cause Honda Dealerships Just Like To Give You The Run Around.

tfnaaf

iTrader: (2)

To clear up some MISS information on a few of the above post...

Toe is the BIGGEST alignment angle in tire wear, Followed by Camber both positive AND negative, Caster doesn't directly effect tire wear but is more of a stability angle. As for struts Struts CAN fail with as little as 1 mile on them, yes ONE mile. Just because they aren't leaking don't mean they ain't bad. Struts CAN cause tire wear but usually the ride is SO BAD that its very evident that they are bad. As far as the vibration.... Its possible to have a balanced tire/wheel even when its bent... This don't mean that it will be a smoother ride just that its balanced off the car. I have one snow wheel on my car that is VISIBLY bent and balanced and is on the right rear of my car and is BARLEY noticeable. And what Honda is telling you is a possible scenario. I would suggest taking it to a shop and make sure you ask them to zero balance it and to look for abnormalities in the tire/wheel that may cause a vibration, and if one is to be found as bent and you don't want to replace it move it to the back. As for the tire wear that MAY be the cause of the "vibration" its true that once a wear pattern begins its near impossible to stop that pattern. Usually when this TYPE of wear pattern begins it will cause the tire to go out of balance , but after balancing it will have no "Vibrations" But will ride rough and sometimes can be audible.

gmcuajo

Maybe they aren't liars beacause they don't know this.

01+ Civic "Manufacturer" Steering DEFECT

http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=246517

01vic

tfnaaf: what is "zero balancing" and whys it different from a normal balance? is that when they keep balancing untill its perfect and not just "good enough"?

thanks for all the input everyone, i still feel like honda is giving me some crap though... i mean, the ride height of my car has not changed because of the blown shock, so i dont see how that could effect tire wear unless the tire wass bouncing down the road in some odd way because of lack of suspension resistance...

whatever, i will take it back to goodyear (since the balances there are free) and tell them to check for wear and zero balance these thangs untill they are perfect and see what happens

tinman

zero balancing is done with the machine set to it's finest setting.
Most shops will balance till it's "close". This is good enough for most cars, and takes less time for the lazy SOB running the machine. But on some cars you really have to work for that proper balance. My 02 is one of them.