Mystery wheel vibration at highway speeds...

[rc2002]

I was coming back on the highway from BC yesterday and it was raining quite heavily in some areas. On the wet roads when I was hitting about 130-140, the car would begin to vibrate like the wheel weights had fallen off. But when I got back onto dry roads the vibration disappeared completely.

When I got home I checked the wheel weights and they were all still there. And the tire pressure was fine too. Alignment was just done to factory specs. And tread depth was quite high (90%).

Anyone have any insight here? Or experienced this before? I was thinking this might be related to hydroplaning?

[snowboard]

Originally posted by richardchan2002
I was coming back on the highway from BC yesterday and it was raining quite heavily in some areas. On the wet roads when I was hitting about 130-140, the car would begin to vibrate like the wheel weights had fallen off. But when I got back onto dry roads the vibration disappeared completely.

When I got home I checked the wheel weights and they were all still there. And the tire pressure was fine too. Alignment was just done to factory specs. And tread depth was quite high (90%).

Anyone have any insight here? Or experienced this before? I was thinking this might be related to hydroplaning?

Tread pattern not optimal for wet conditions maybe? At that speed at least.

[arian_ma]

I have experienced something similar in a friend's car, and he explained it to me as hydroplaning, though we were not going anywhere near your speeds. Probably between 50-80 km/h in very heavy rain. It felt like the car was doing a burnout essentially. The tires would slip and then suddenly grab and then slip etc..

[rc2002]

Originally posted by snowboard


Tread pattern not optimal for wet conditions maybe? At that speed at least.

Not so sure about that. I've driven in the rain on the same highway at much higher speeds on this very set of wheels tires without these symptoms. Mind you, the rain was a bit lighter that time and there was slightly more tread.

[Grogador]

Assuming you know what hydroplaning feels like, and this felt more like unbalanced tires or warped brake rotors, could it be aftermarket rims gathering water, throwing off their balance? Doesn't take much weight to cause vibrations at those wheel speeds.

[Supa Dexta]

Are the symptoms still there at that speed on dry roads? I know it says it disappeared, but was that at the same speed?

[Thaco]

since the water is the only variable, i'd say it's some sort of traction thing, likely nothing to worry about.

[revelations]

Originally posted by Grogador
Assuming you know what hydroplaning feels like, and this felt more like unbalanced tires or warped brake rotors, could it be aftermarket rims gathering water, throwing off their balance? Doesn't take much weight to cause vibrations at those wheel speeds.

+111111

[rc2002]

Originally posted by Grogador
Assuming you know what hydroplaning feels like, and this felt more like unbalanced tires or warped brake rotors, could it be aftermarket rims gathering water, throwing off their balance? Doesn't take much weight to cause vibrations at those wheel speeds.

I was thinking that same thing. It felt too quick and rythmic to be going in and out of traction, but I could be wrong. The wheels do have a groove in them (unlike stock wheels), but can they really collect water when they're turning? It's weird because I've driven countless times in the rain on these wheels/tires without this problem.



Originally posted by Supa Dexta
Are the symptoms still there at that speed on dry roads? I know it says it disappeared, but was that at the same speed?

Yup I'm comparing it at the same speeds. It's there on wet roads but not dry ones.