Summer Tires: Balanced Three Times, Still Wobbling?

Hi.

I got four new Continental Premium Contact tires for my car's original alloy wheels.
I've had the Conti PC tires on for the last two summers, and I was very satisfied with them.

I could literally throw up right now.
At first, the car felt generally nervous, with a constant slight vibration, more in the car itself than in the steering wheel.
The colleague who gave me the rubber bands has now added more weight to them, but he glued the weights on. Since it's a colleague, I won't immediately jump in and say, "Take that crap back off, it doesn't work for me."
Overall, a bit better.

Because I wanted everything to be perfect with the new tires, I went to another colleague who runs a proper tire shop, and yesterday I had all four tires balanced again from scratch using precision weights.

Now, the vibration in the steering wheel is stronger again .

I'm really losing it...

What could that be? Especially since, in my opinion, it only started happening after I switched to summer tires.
I'm going to put the winter tires on again today, just to see if it makes a difference.

Okay, please provide the German text you would like me to translate into English. I will only provide the translation.

Perhaps you need to have them finely balanced.

How does this fine balancing work?

I've only seen it before in advertisements or flyers.

Okay, please provide the German text you would like me to translate into English. I will only provide the translation.

"Try removing the brake discs and check if they are sitting flat against the hub. In my case, it was a bit of rust that had compressed together. I then cleaned the contact surfaces on both the hub and the disc with sandpaper. When reassembling, make sure to test again to see if everything is seated properly and not wobbling before tightening the screws."
I could hardly believe it, but I ended up with a "new" car afterwards.

Regards,
Andreas

First, I will do what 98er_alh described.

Did you watch the balancing process? I learned how to do it myself because it allows you to easily detect any potential height deviations.

Finally, balance the wheel. The wheel is balanced on the vehicle to compensate for any imbalance in the rim/drive shaft, etc. However, since you didn't experience any problems with your winter tires, I suspect there won't be an issue here.

I suspect the tires might be faulty; it can happen sometimes.

The brake disc tip might be a good fit.

Recently, I've also noticed a "squeak... squeak... squeak" sound coming from my brakes when driving straight.

We had problems balancing the winter tires, but it was noticeable on the machine itself, so we caught it before putting them on the car.

Yesterday, the balancing was perfect and achieved a reading of 0.0. I didn't check all the tires closely. The front tires shouldn't have any significant imbalance. The rear tires might have a very slight imbalance.

I'm going to put winter tires on the front of my car tonight, then I'll head out onto the road. If there's any noise, it won't be the tires.
Next up are the tires – they're almost 100,000 km old and still haven't really broken in yet. (These are 13-inch full tires.)

Okay, please provide the German text you would like me to translate into English. I will only provide the translation.

It wasn't the brake discs.

I tested it in a simpler way: I put the winter tires back on the front -> The knocking sound is gone.

So, it must be the summer tires, because the rims worked perfectly last summer, so it can only be the tires that are causing the problem.

One of the tires on my reference vehicle wasn't properly balanced either, because they left the internal adhesive weights on. Now I have 3 wheels completely fitted with balancing weights, and on the front left wheel, there's an external balancing weight "outside" and an internal balancing weight "inside."

So, tomorrow I'm going wheel balancing for the fourth time!

Okay, please provide the German text you would like me to translate into English. I will only provide the translation.

Okay, so...

For now, it seems to be manageable.

One of the tires had a flat spot, but rotating the tire on the rim almost completely eliminated it.

In my opinion, the remaining vibrations in the car can be attributed to its age (10.5 years) and mileage (217,000 km). I haven't replaced anything on the suspension system except for the shock absorbers, so everything is quite old.

Thank you for your emotional support and advice.

Okay, please provide the German text you would like me to translate into English. I will only provide the translation.

Quote:

The residual nervousness that the car still has, ..........

If the car runs perfectly well with the winter tires, it should also perform well with summer tires, as long as they are not excessively oversized.

I had a similar problem a few years ago. Eventually, after some back and forth, the tire was replaced, and everything has been fine ever since.

I'd like to check if the tire sidewalls are now still centered with respect to the rim. It's possible that the tire itself already has a radial runout due to a manufacturing defect, which was partially compensated for by repositioning it.

As I said.

Calling the suspension of a Golf 3 "perfect," regardless of the tires used, would mean condemning the advancements in suspension technology that have occurred over the past 15-20 years.

With "residual nervousness," I was referring more to unpleasant *reactions* (e.g., to road imperfections), rather than actions like driving in a manner similar to Hilti's, which would be caused by imbalances.

The tires are standard sizes: winter tires are 185/60 R14 on the original VW steel rims, and summer tires are 195/60 R14 on the original VW aluminum rims.

This weekend I'm driving about 310 miles, and next weekend around 435 miles. That should give me plenty of test mileage.

Okay, please provide the German text you would like me to translate into English. I will only provide the translation.

Quote:

By "residual nervousness," I meant more unpleasant _reactions_ (e.g., to the road surface), rather than actions like driving in a way that causes vibrations due to imbalances, similar to what Hilti might experience.

Well, nobody can smell what you mean by that.

I just assumed that there would still be some residual imbalance or vibration remaining.

I'm not entirely sure about that.

If the car doesn't handle as well as modern vehicles, it can be difficult to determine whether the problem is due to residual imbalance, stabilizer linkages, control arms, rear axle subframe bushings, or other components.

Especially since I only had the rear tires balanced three times; they haven't experienced the special balancing procedure (the fourth balancing) yet.

If I have to keep going to various tire shops , it will soon be cheaper to simply throw away the tires and buy new ones than to make numerous repairs and file countless complaints }.

Okay, please provide the German text you would like me to translate into English. I will only provide the translation.

Quote:

Stable mounting points for control arms, for rear axle suspension bushings, etc.

So, regarding one thing, we can all agree that the components listed above do not generate vibrations themselves, but at most they can amplify existing vibrations.

I'm ruling out the drive shafts because the vehicle is stable even with winter tires installed.

I think you just got a bad batch of tires and that's it.

Why don't you try fitting them on a different vehicle, if one is available, just to see how they fit?
Then you'll know where the frog keeps its curls.

Regarding my previous Golf3 SP with nearly 300,000 kilometers and 195/50/15 tires, I can confirm that it exhibited almost no vibrations even with an imbalance of approximately 20 grams.

Unfortunately, the two vehicles cannot be directly compared.

Okay, so yesterday I finally took it out for a proper test drive:

The beating is still there.

Can I return the tires? According to the warranty, the dealer might still demand a second attempt at repair, but then I would have the right to cancel the purchase, wouldn't I?

- Purchased, mounted, and balanced (production date: April 26th, so almost 2 years old!!!)
- nach gewuchtet (1. (Improvement/Refinement)
- Newly balanced at a different dealer.
- In this case, the front wheels were rebalanced, and attempts were made to eliminate runout by rotating them on the rim.

Okay, please provide the German text you would like me to translate into English. I will only provide the translation.

Quote:

in this case, the front ones were re-balanced, and attempts were made to eliminate Hohenschlag by rotating them on the rim.

How is that supposed to work? It will only work if the rim also has a high profile.

The money you spent on having the wheel balanced at the other shop is lost. They offer two attempts at balancing; if that doesn't work, they will either exchange it or allow you to cancel the purchase. However, if the other three wheels are okay, I think you can only return/exchange the one problematic wheel. I don't see the production date as a problem.

Talk to him about it. He'll usually replace that one tire without any problems, and then you can relax. If he wants another chance, drive for 2 kilometers and immediately turn back. However, have the tire mounted on the front; that way, it will be more noticeable.

The tire is definitely not in good condition.

Here's the information I received from the consumer advice center for €1.99 per minute (from T-Mobile) or €1.50 per minute (from T-com). I spoke with a representative for 10 minutes, and she provided very detailed and informative answers.


My contact person is the salesperson.
I can give him a deadline, usually 14 days (but I can shorten it to 10 days if I urgently need the car), within which he must provide me with "good" (=flawless, without any bulges) tires for the car.
If he is unable to procure suitable tires within this timeframe, I reserve the right to cancel the purchase.


This text is a personal memory record and should not be interpreted as legal advice from me. It reflects _my_ understanding of the legal situation and, therefore, cannot be protected by copyrights held by third parties.

Okay, please provide the German text you would like me to translate into English. I will only provide the translation.