Anybody knowledgeable about wheel balancing ?

[lgooch]

I have had my wheels balanced three times now and I still get a slight vibration at motorway speeds which I can feel through the steering and pedals.

I seem to have weights stuck all over my wheels. On one side I have weights in three positions and in one part weights stuck on top of weights. Is this right ?

The car is a 2012 a3 black edition with 18" rotors on them.

Anyone help with some advice on where to take it in the Manchester Area ?

 

[jojo]

Never seen weights on top of weights, it's not uncommon to have so many weights if you have asked it to be balanced so many times, but I agree, I would not be happy. Have you tried switching the wheels front to rear to eliminate the car?

 

[lgooch]

I think that's what I am going to do next. Don't know whether to get the balancing done again and switch front to rear, just switch front to rear or just have balancing checked and try again.

The wheel in question has been kerbed by the wife so on two minds whether to let N8 refurb it and have him check balancing at the same time.

It is doing my head in

 

[lgooch]

Check them out. These are all on one wheel





Can't be right surely

 

[jojo]

That weight on top of the weight in the first pic is well weird!

 

[hades-]

are they oem wheels ?

the next time you take it in to be ballanced get them to remove all the weights clean up and redo them

looks to me like that have spun it up and just added weight

 

[lgooch]

are they oem wheels ?

the next time you take it in to be ballanced get them to remove all the weights clean up and redo them

looks to me like that have spun it up and just added weight

Yes they are standard OEM 18" rotors on an A3 black edition

Forget these muppets at National Tyres. If I had known they had stuck so many weights on it I would have questioned it.

Looks like I will be going elsewhere and getting someone with experience to do it.

 

[Chillout]

I had loads of weights on my wheels it was like I was doing a rally it was better before I had them balanced then I went to kwik fit and I spoke to the fitter he removed loads of weights and only fitted a few grams worth it was like driving on a super smooth track after kwik fit

 

[@udi A3]

strip them all off and start over, a bad dent in the wheel or tyre could cause this vibration and be why they struggle to balance

 

[azman]

if the car has been over a severe pothole it could slightly buckle the rim, this was the case with mine.
mine also had weights on weights lol.

 

[lgooch]

if the car has been over a severe pothole it could slightly buckle the rim, this was the case with mine.
mine also had weights on weights lol.

Was this on an 18" rotor ? Mine has started to do it since I had new tyres fitted.

 

[johnnythepie]

There is nothing to say that you dont have a duff tyre.I had it once a couple of years ago with a conti sport contact2.Brand new and faulty.As jojo said, swap them front to back to see if there is a differance for starters

 

[666markyboy]

I had this problem a few years back on a set of wheels i didn't know the history of.... the wheels wern't buckled as such but had flat spots on them ... took them to a proper wheel place and he pointed it out .... said if you imagine your wheel has become like a 50 pence peice it's fine a slower speeds but when you get up high on the motorway it starts to vibrate on the flat spots and no ammount of balancing would fix it...

 

[jojo]

There is nothing to say that you dont have a duff tyre.I had it once a couple of years ago with a conti sport contact2.Brand new and faulty.As jojo said, swap them front to back to see if there is a differance for starters

Now that you mentioned it John, my mum had a dodgy Conti, and the fitter blamed it on a buckled rim. I managed to source a free steel and swopped the tyre over, same thing, but because we had covered 500 miles, they wouldn't warranty the tire, so I switched it to the rear. Even branded new tyres have issues, which I find strange!

 

[lgooch]

Little update

Been back and had the fronts balanced. The guy said that the nearside had been counterbalanced which he would not recommend.
Anyway all redone and took it on a test drive up the M60. It is worse than when it was before and rather than the up and down vibration I now have the typical wheel wobble.

Marveloous !!!!!!

Took it back and asked them to swap front to rear and I have to go back later as they were busy - Thats service for you. I fetl like saying give me the jack and I will do it myself !!

I broached the subject of a duff tyre and they dont want to know. They basically just said how do you know your alloy is not buckled.

If the wheel swap doesnt work, then it going to Audi and I dont want it back until its sorted as I now hate driving it.

 

[hades-]

where did you go to have it done ?

if you have a buckle the fitter should see it on the machine

 

[lgooch]

Local national tyres in Manchester.

He said he couldnt see anything wrong with the tyres but not sure how you can see a buckle of a wheel when the tyre is on it.

However I am clearly no expert. I hust hope swapping them around works, but I am concerned about the rear of the car vibrating after this.

 

[hades-]

when the wheel is on the machine you can see any buckle or out of shape tyre

if you was near sheffield id chuck them on for you and have a look

 

[lgooch]

I am off to the office tomorrow in Rotherham. Woudl you take a look if I brought it to you ?

The tyre place wont let me see the wheel spinning with the guard off - Health and Safety and all. They wont even let anyone drive the car into the wheel bay in case my foot slips and I smash their garage up !

I am off to get them stuck on the rears in a few mins so I will report back when I have had a run up the motorway.

 

[lgooch]

Wheels swapped. Problem gone away so either a duff tyre or a buckled rim. Not sure which

Do I change the tyres at £ 140 each or get the wheels checked out by a specialist. BTW Audi want 600 quid for a new rim ! Ouch

Going to have to get something sorted but can't really tell on the back as the ride is jittery on the Black Edition anyway

 

[jojo]

It would be safe to drive it with the buckle wheel/dodgy tyre on the rear for now, just don't over do it on the speed, as the vibration will damage something in the long run. I recommend you find somewhere that would rotate the tyre on the rim 180 degrees and rebalance, this sometimes works, and cheaper than replacing the tyre itself!

A bent/buckled wheel is easy to see by eye by any decent tyre fitter.

 

[hades-]

change tyre from bad wheel to good wheel see where it goes
then you know if its a buckle or bad tyre

 

[lgooch]

Theres the problem. You dont get a spare wheel nowadays. Not even a space saver as I would have just chucked the spare wheel and eliminated the problem wheel that way.

Its fine for the minute and I need service in 300 miles so I am just going to give Audi the problem to sort.

 

[hades-]

i ment swap the tyre from bad weel to 1 you know is good
yhen you will know if its tyre or wheel
audi will prob charge an hours labour to check.

 

[lgooch]

Drove down the M1 this morning to head office and the car felt crap. Dropped it into a local tyre place near work and left it with them

He come back and said that all 4 wheels are out of balance. The ones done yesterday were 40 and 60 grams out. WTF ! He has balanced all 4 wheels and I am now back to normal.

The last time I am using any national tyres branches as they either use defective balancing machines, can't balance tyres for toffee or they can't handle this type of alloy wheel on their machines.

 

[jojo]

So all sorted then? ****** cowboys!

 

[lgooch]

Yup !