New Pirelli P7's and balancing (?) issues

[mikealpha60]

Hi all,

I've just fitted a new fresh pair of Pirelli P7 Cinturato tyres to my TDi Scirocco. I thought all was well until I took it up to higher motorway speeds and then i noticed slight trembling coming through the steering wheel that i had not noticed before. I took it back to the fitted who duly rebalanced and adjusted the wieghts as they were noted as slightly off. I took it back out for a run and it felt worst, now experienced trembles from 70mph upwards.

I contacted the tyre dealer who referred me to another tyre fitted which I popped into yesteday. The 70-90 vibes appear to have vanish but if i push it briefly beyond that into 3 figures (on a private road of course) the vibe gets quite bad.

Has anyone else had these issues with these tyres?
Is tyre balancing really hard to get right or do i have faulty tyres?

Comments appreciated...

[trix]

the balance of the tyre is only as good as the monkey using the machine, my housemate had to go to 3 different garages before he could get one that managed to balance his 5 series wheels properly

(we are now a few years down the line and hes just done a tyres off refurb, had the tyres put back on & this garage didn't stick the weights on well enough so they have mostly fallen off after a week & they weren't even on the car or driving around)

[kenny.c]

Are you sure the wheels are not buckled...?

Ken

[mikealpha60]

Is it possible to buckle an alloy when changing a tyre?

[kenny.c]

NO...sorry should have been clear.....wheel damage previous to the tyre change....

I know it doesnt make sense.....but trust me...I had it on our Fiesta....

Old tyres needed changing - the front wheels had no vibration at any speed.....new tyres fitted vibration started and after several balance checks we (myself and the fitter) noticed the wheel was buckled. I have no idea why I couldnt feel it with the old tyres but thats what happened....

Ken

[mikealpha60]

interesting thought. I've flagged it with the tyre manufacturer and they are sending someone out to have a look.

Interestingly it seems very intermittent now, and sometime more noticable went turning the wheel at high speed.

[kenny.c]

HMM...ok....id be interested to know what your problem turns out to be....

Ken

[mikealpha60]

Hello everyone, I got my issue resolved today. Free of charge by Pirelli

The chap from Pirelli met me at one of their recommended tyre fitters so he could get a chance to look at my vibration issue in more detail.

Both front tyres were not weighted correctly, only had one weight and not two. Apparently moreso on larger width wheels its more important as these issues can occur. One weight is only able to compensate for one type of force acting within the wheel at speed and not another, (Lateral and the other force name i can't remember).

The equipment at this tyre fitter had a machine capable of doing 'dynamic balancing', so it tells them where to place weights on either side of the wheel (if required). He told me lots of tyre fitters aren't aware and just doing static balancing (with the one weight). Maybe your run of the mill tyre fitters don't have this fancy machine... who knows.

He also pointed out that the toe was out on the rears causing 'saw toothing' to occur. In time with this wear he reckons i would start to hear a noise that appears like a fault wheel bearing because of this. I was recommended if i don't do enthusiastic driving to go for a different alignment configuration to avoid this wear. Its nothing major but something to be aware of as VW obviously only gear the geometry as you'd expect towards someone who likes to nail it round bends

In future looks like i'll be using this place to at least balance my tyres at.