Vibration In Steering After New Wheels, Tires, Rotors

2010stangirl

New Member
Aug 19, 2009
9
0
2
Kentucky
Hello all...I have a 2010 GT with 31K miles and recently installed a new 19" staggared wheel and tire package from American Muscle. Around that same time I also put on new drilled/slotted rotors. I have had a noticable vibration in the steering, which can also be felt from the passenger seat, worse at highway speed. Ive had the wheels road force balanced a few times, one of which they couldn't balance within the normal range. They also inspected each wheel and tire and found no abnormalities. They recommended replacing the tire on the wheel that couldn't be balanced (passenger rear), so AM sent a new tire and when installed and rebalanced the wheel is still not balanced in the normal range and the vibration is still there. I took the car back to the shop and was told by a different tech that vibration in steering would be coming from the front, so he match mounted and rebalanced the front wheels and tires and the vibration is still there. My husband visually checked the rotors and the rear are worn pretty unevenly, as in some slots are much more worn than others. Does this mean the rear rotors are warped? We did not replace the pads on the car when the new rotors were installed since the old pads still had life in them. We have already recycled the old rotors, otherwise we would just put the stock ones back on to see if the vibrstion still exists. This is SO frustrating.
 
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I have seen before where warped rear rotors caused vibration in the front of the car and by the sound of it, your rear ones are warped if they are wearing unevenly. I also have never replaced rotors without replacing the pads. If it were me, I would try new rear rotors and pads.
 
Ok, guys, I replaced all rotors with Powerstop and did the rear first, but the vibration still persisted. I took it to Discount Tire and they determined that the "new" tires on my car were manufactured in 2009 and the right front and left rear were irregular and need replacement. New tires are shipping soon from AM Muscle free of charge. These are Pirelli tires btw. Thanks for the feedback!
 
I would imagine that any sort of vibration anywhere on the car can work its way up into the steering wheel. New Pirellis should not be doing this unless the belts are jacked. What do they mean when they say "irregular"?

This is why you upgrade one thing at a time if possible. Too many things to reverse engineer.
 
Well, 2 tires were replaced and vibration still existed, so shop (2nd one at this point) found a slight bend in driver side front wheel; American Muscle replaced wheel and after installation, vibration still there. I took it to our local Ford dealer and they found a warped rear driver side wheel. I contacted American Muscle again and at this point they will not send me another wheel replacement! I was furious! With no other option, I had to buy a new wheel from them and I'm planning to have the dealer install it tomorrow.
 
Wow.. Would have went with the rotors for sure, had this same issue with a prior vehicle and anything over 65mph the vibration would be awful and if I hit the brakes steering started going nuts. I also have had trouble with wheels received when ordered in the past being damaged and bent, sorry to hear you had to dish out additional funds to correct the problem. Let us know if this resolved the problem!