by melisabeth, September 19, 2005
On Friday morning I got an oil change and they rotated the tires - yesterday was the first time I had the car out on the highway since - at about 50mph the car was shaking - when I slowed down to 30-40mph, it was fine. Could this be a result of the tire rotation? First time I've ever had the problem - thanks.
your tires are most likely not balanced
Sometimes it will go away on it own - it is not uncommon for tires to run a bit weird after they get rotated - especially if they haven't been rotated frequently. Also depends on how the dealership rotates the tires. I usually run uni-directional tires (OEM tires are usually omni-directional) - that can only be swapped front and back. Dealer evidently didn't notice or didn't care because they swapped them side to side. Running a tire backward is like petting a cat the wrong way - the nap will stand up and will run a bit funny until it wears down.
The vibration should not last more than a few days - if it does - then I'm with swammer - a good chance that they are out of balance.
Other sources of problems could be bent or out of round tires, flat spotted tires (old age, sitting for long periods, locked up tire), bad CV joints, bad hub bearing, loose suspension/steering components, warped brakes, and loose or worn engine/transmission mounts.
I'd have them swap it back and see if the vibration is still there. If it is - swap front to back and see what happens. If it goes away - then the problem is with the wheel/tire that got swapped to the rear. If nothing changes - then you probably have something other than a wheel/tire causing you problems.
I'm going with balance. It's not that expensive to try, and more than likely it wasn't balanced before--it just so happened you couldn't feel it when the tire was in the other position.
I've had that before--a balance issue surface only after I've rotated my tires. When you take it back, be sure to remind them you've paid for the rotation already--so they don't need to rotate them again, and they don't need to charge you for a rotation simply because they remove the tires.
Of course, it could be something as obvious as loose lug nuts! I'd check to make sure they're all properly tightened to the correct torque specification, which is 76 lb. ft. for most Corollas.
Yes, I *do* tighten my lug nuts with a torque wrench!
I took the car back to the shop and the mechanice balanced the tires; no charge. They told me that in the future I need to request a balance when tires are rotated.
