Vibration issues after rim/tire replacement

[marcw]

Last week I busted my passenger rear tire and rim while driving over a pothole. I got the car back today with a new wheel and tire and now the car has two issues. The car vibrates and pulls to the right. The vibration can be felt in the driver seat, the steering wheel, and the manual shifter. The vibration is subtle, but definitely noticeable. The car no longer goes straight but pulls to the side of the new wheel/tire during normal driving as well as braking. When I came home I gave the keys to my wife and told her to drive to Starbucks get herself a coffee. I didn't tell her anything else. She called me from Starbucks telling me that the car vibrates and pulls to the right. Great so it's not just in my head. There really is something wrong.

Now I didn't think I hit the pothole with my front tire since it was in a curve and I only heard one 'thump' when my rear tire hit it. I'm already scheduled to bring the car back into the dealer next week. So what could be the issue here? Since the car is pulling to the side the new tire is on I'm assuming the alignment is out of whack now. I would have thought that the car would pull towards the driver side as those tires are broken in and should have more grip than the brand new rubber on the passenger side. Visually the front tire and wheel look fine. I think I'm going to ask them to pull it off anyway and run it through a balancer to make sure it is running round.

What else could be causing this vibration? Bent control arm? Suspension? Axle? My car is a 35i with sport package so has the M adjustable suspension and the optional 19 inch wheels still on the OEM Bridgestone RFT's.

Anyone with the 19" wheels and OEM RFT's be careful out there or a pothole can really ruin your day.

Thanks,
-Marc

[teagueAMX]

I'm sure it's nothing major. Likely an alignment, out of balance issue or possible damaged tire. When a car vibrates like that you can feel it everywhere, especially in the shifter.

Just for a reality check have you wife drive the car at the speed it vibrates. You cruse next to her in another car and watch the wheels to see what it's doing.

One thing I'd like to know for sure that they didn't repair my wheel, but in fact it is a new one. It's also possible that the new wheel is warped or the tire is damaged but I wouldn't jump to that conclusion until I took care of the alignment and out of balance issues first.

[marcw]

New wheel is definitely new! The tire and wheel insurance tried to find a used style 296 but were unsuccessful so authorized a new one. Paid $850 for the insurance, new tire and wheel would have been $1100 so I'm glad I got the insurance for these 19" wheels! My policy is good for 5 years and has no limit. At these prices I hope they don't go out of business before my policy runs out.

If I had to guess I'd guess the front tire and or rim got damaged as well. Nothing looks wrong, but putting it on a balancer should tell the truth.

[ttuner]

get an alignment and the wheel re-balanced.

take it back to where you had your wheel mounted.

[teagueAMX]

Originally Posted by marcw

New wheel is definitely new! The tire and wheel insurance tried to find a used style 296 but were unsuccessful so authorized a new one. Paid $850 for the insurance, new tire and wheel would have been $1100 so I'm glad I got the insurance for these 19" wheels! Insurance is good for 5 years and has no limit. At these prices I hope they don't go out of business before my policy runs out.

If I had to guess I'd guess the front tire and or rim got damaged as well. Nothing looks wrong, but putting it on a balancer should tell the truth.

Likely not the last you'll use the insurance.

Yeah, I picked up on the "new" but wanted to make sure. Sometimes people will say they got a "new" used car.

Cheers

[marcw]

Will do. I've already scheduled another appointment for next week. Their service department doesn't work on weekends.

Originally Posted by ttuner

get an alignment and the wheel re-balanced.

take it back to where you had your wheel mounted.

[Rafale]

Did you ask them who balance the wheel? I am not sure your dealer has the equipment to do the tire mounting and balancing. They must have outsourced it somewhere.
To summarize what I wrote you on another post:
The car pulling in one direction should be corrected by an alignment.
The vibration is either another wheel or that same wheel being out of round or not being balanced properly.
Although it is unlikely, if your alignment is way out of range, you should also check for suspension damage to see if something was bent.

[Silver-Bolt]

The pulling to the right is an alignment problem. That could be a simple adjustment or possibly something bent. No way to tell without getting on an alignment rack. Do that asap. If it is pulling you are wearing your tires prematurely.

The vibration is likely either an out of balance wheel/tire or the belts in the tire have separated. Look at the wheel and see if you can tell how much lead they used to balance the wheel. Most OEM's have a tolerance that is acceptable. Typically it's around 2oz. If there is more than 2oz they need to rotate the tire 180 degrees on the rim. That usually cures the problem. If that does not have them dismount the tire and sin the wheel and check for runout and if the wheel will balance without a tire. If the runout is good and it balances you have a defective tire.

[marcw]

No I didn't. I assumed that the dealer balanced the tire. The other dealer in town has a Hunter GSP9700 with the latest lateral force measurement option so I wasn't even thinking that this dealer might 'outsource' the balancing of the tire.

Originally Posted by Rafale

Did you ask them who balance the wheel? I am not sure your dealer has the equipment to do the tire mounting and balancing. They must have outsourced it somewhere.
To summarize what I wrote you on another post:
The car pulling in one direction should be corrected by an alignment.
The vibration is either another wheel or that same wheel being out of round or not being balanced properly.
Although it is unlikely, if your alignment is way out of range, you should also check for suspension damage to see if something was bent.

[marcw]

There is only one weight on the new wheel. The other rear wheel has also only one weight. My weights up front are 4 passenger side and 5 on the driver side.

Originally Posted by Silver-Bolt

The pulling to the right is an alignment problem. That could be a simple adjustment or possibly something bent. No way to tell without getting on an alignment rack. Do that asap. If it is pulling you are wearing your tires prematurely.

The vibration is likely either an out of balance wheel/tire or the belts in the tire have separated. Look at the wheel and see if you can tell how much lead they used to balance the wheel. Most OEM's have a tolerance that is acceptable. Typically it's around 2oz. If there is more than 2oz they need to rotate the tire 180 degrees on the rim. That usually cures the problem. If that does not have them dismount the tire and sin the wheel and check for runout and if the wheel will balance without a tire. If the runout is good and it balances you have a defective tire.

[marcw]

I took the car to an independent tire shop this morning to have them checkout the wheels and get them balanced. I asked them to balance all four tires. 5 minutes later the guy comes out of the shop into the waiting room area and says you gotta come with me. He shows me my front wheel which is clearly bend at the inner lip. I guess the dealer never bothered to even take a look at it. Ohh the tire and wheel insurance is really going to love me.

-Marc

[Dr Stig 2]

Originally Posted by marcw

I took the car to an independent tire shop this morning to have them checkout the wheels and get them balanced. I asked them to balance all four tires. 5 minutes later the guy comes out of the shop into the waiting room area and says you gotta come with me. He shows me my front wheel which is clearly bend at the inner lip. I guess the dealer never bothered to even take a look at it. Ohh the tire and wheel insurance is really going to love me.

-Marc

Marcw - you have the 296 rims...

I'd love to know if this is a 296 issue or a general 19" issue of being easy to damage...
How would we compile the data... Do you think the insurer would release his claims stats on rim type?

[marcw]

I think this is a combination of a 19" cast alloy wheel and very low profile tire with a sidewall as hard as concrete. When hitting a pothole going 40 mph tremendous forces are put upon the wheel. Given the tires low profile and hard sidewall it can't absorb all the energy, so the energy is transferred to the rim which in turn bends. I wonder if a forged wheel would hold up better to these kinds of forces.

Getting anything from the insurance is probably a non-starter. I mean they wanted the wheel 'repaired'. Uhmm yeah OK. Then when they were told that that is near impossible they tried to find a used Style 296 wheel. Uhmm again, no way. So on the 3rd day they finally relinquished and coughed up the money. And now I'm gonna come back and ask for another rim.

So far I only know of Rolf's cracked wheels. Mine aren't cracked, but bend. I guess we could start a running tap on the forum for people with 19" wheels. Put me down for two so far.

Originally Posted by Dr Stig 2

Marcw - you have the 296 rims...

I'd love to know if this is a 296 issue or a general 19" issue of being easy to damage...
How would we compile the data... Do you think the insurer would release his claims stats on rim type?

[Mr. ///M3 RD]

Originally Posted by marcw

I think this is a combination of a 19" cast alloy wheel and very low profile tire with a sidewall as hard as concrete. When hitting a pothole going 40 mph tremendous forces are put upon the wheel. Given the tires low profile and hard sidewall it can't absorb all the energy, so the energy is transferred to the rim which in turn bends. I wonder if a forged wheel would hold up better to these kinds of forces.

Getting anything from the insurance is probably a non-starter. I mean they wanted the wheel 'repaired'. Uhmm yeah OK. Then when they were told that that is near impossible they tried to find a used Style 296 wheel. Uhmm again, no way. So on the 3rd day they finally relinquished and coughed up the money. And now I'm gonna come back and ask for another rim.

So far I only know of Rolf's cracked wheels. Mine aren't cracked, but bend. I guess we could start a running tap on the forum for people with 19" wheels. Put me down for two so far.

I will know tomorrow (Monday) what my situation will be. I do support a post on this and other forums perhaps a Poll would be best to ask questions like ...

Subject: Calling all Z4 E89 Drivers with 19" Wheels

A) Did you ever have a bend wheel issue?

B) Did you ever have a cracked wheel issue?

C) Did you ever have a RFT issue?

Please vote A, B or C and provide details in the Thread.

I would get it going only I don't know how to set up a Poll thread Someone

PS. Re the question from Dr. Stig ... tell the Insurance about "UK Watchdog"

This one here ... UK Watchdog on Cracked Wheels

Also this one here as a Follow up

The way things are going we will soon have plenty of wheels to start our own Orchestra in North America