Hi
I have a C320 2002. I have recently changed my tires from some old wheels I had for 3 years to Bridgestone ER300 Turanza, ever since I got the tires I felt a vibration in the steering wheel when driving btw 60 and 70KM. At first the dealer asked me to wait until I drive 300KM distance on the wheels, once done the wheels got realigned, I have re-aligned them a few times since and I still cant get rid of that vibration. Last time, another dealer checked my wheel pressure and set them all at 30bar, the vibration were reduced by 80% but still noticeable and shifted to the range 70 to 76KM per hour speed. I asked for a refund or for the wheels to be replaced, but all I get is that the problem is mechanical and that the wheels are fine, I did not face this problem on my old wheels, the answer to that was that the new wheels change the standing position of the car so some mechanical issues that might not be apparent on the old wheels might show when using the new wheels. What do you guys think ? Am I being ridiculed ? Is there some truth behind this ? If I should check for mechanical issues what should I be looking for.
Regards

 

When on long trips, I.e. 150 KM I dont seems to feel the vibration anymore, but it is there when I turn on the car the next day though.
Regards

 

Firstly, are your new wheels the correct size for the car?? Hopefully they are. Vibration would indicate to me that they have not been balanced correctly, maybe go to another garage and ask them to balance the front 2 wheels. this will not cost very much. Also I hope they didn’t put 30 bar of pressure in them! 30 psi would be more advisable! you could check if your wheel bearings are to blame, make sure you are parked on level ground, car is in park. parking brake applied, jack up a front wheel, get hold of it with 2 hands, and pull the wheel at the top while pushing at the bottom, to see if there is any play in the bearings, if you cant feel any back and too motion, then your bearings should be fine. (hope that makes sense!)
Or find a big open space to drive in, and slowly, put full left hand lock on the wheel, and listen for any knocking noises, if none, try full right hand lock. same again.
Hopefully your wheels just need balancing.

 

Hi Psi it is , sorry about that English is not my native Language but I could have guessed that one. The size is definitively correct I am not worried about that. I will try to lock my wheels to the max left and max right and see if I hear a sound, I have had the wheels balanced "is it that machine where they add small pieces of some metal to the wheels after putting them on a machine that turns them ?" several times.
If I hear no sounds anything else I can consider ? Thanks !

 

Here's some info on the subject.

Tire Balancing - Discount Tire


Wheel Alignment and Wheel Balancing

 

Hi
Tire balancing done, wheel alignment done and tire rotation done on all 4 wheels "of course balanced tires" and vibration still there btw 60 and 70KM.
I did try the rotate steering wheel to left and right to max no clicking sounds. Please help.

 

Big Al made a good point about the front wheel bearings and I don't believe you isolated that. You stated you locked the wheels, etc. and checked if you heard any noises. I believe that more importantly is to grab the wheel (while the car is on jacks) with both hands opposite sides and wiggle the wheel. You should try to wiggle it hard in the lateral axis of the wheel rotation. Wheel bearings get hot after your drive the car. The bearings expand when the bearings get hot and you may not feel the vibration. When the bearings are cold or have been static from parked overnight, the bearing tolerance is greater. As you drive the car you will feel vibration, as the bearings heat up that tolerance increase and the vibration goes away.

You could jack each front wheel, remove the wheel yourself and grab the wheel rotor with both hands opposite of each other and wiggle the rotor.

The other suggestion is to consider is you may have large amounts of moisture in your tires or maybe one of them. You mentioned the service center added 30psi and it improved. May consider remounting the wheels and reservice with dry nitrogen. They may charge extra for the nitrogen (N2).

 

Hi
Thanks for all the comments, I did as mentioned and the wheels where fine "put on jack and try to move wheels "
OK now for the update, I did change the spark plugs and the fuel filter. And for the last 3 days there was an 98% improvement, if I did not know that there was a vibration btw 60 and 70KM I guess I would not notice at all, I will replace the engine mounts as well, I guess that should clear it.

On a separate note though, the dealer told me to use 95Octane instead of 98Octane for the car as per his recommendation the 98Octane in the country I am from is not of good quality. Any ideas about that ? I.e. the possibility of not clean 98Octane affecting the engine, and the loss of power due to the usage of 95 would it be noticeable ?