Same here. Had a tire go with tread separation recently. Had always been on the same side of the SUV. It was close to it's end of life anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. First noticed some unusual vibration, that seemed to come and go or to depend on the particular road surface. What I thought was very unusual was that sometimes it ocured even at low speed, eg 20 mph, almost like driving over a series of bumps. Apparently it was from the tread starting to separate so the wheel wasn't perfectly round. Couldn't see anything wrong though and not too long after that, it started going flat. Lucky there was no catastrophic failure. Now I know if I happen to have that symptom again, what to look for.
Indeed, "when you're stuck you're stuck". Ya' just never know what you'll find at any one place when you've never had any experience with them.
Once't upon a time many moons ago had the old '84 88 have a rod bearing failure on way from TN to KS...started knocking about Crossville after leaving K-town, got us up the plateau and made it into Lebanon about sundown...found the dealership on N end of town (Lebanon was still pretty small back then) and the owner just happened to still be in office doing bookwork even though were closed for business. He came out to see what our troubles were, and learning we were on short time schedule to get elder son to a wedding rehearsal in Wichita parked it in front of the shop doors so would have to deal with it before anything else in the morning. Then he loaned us a new demo unit for the evening and sent us on our way to supper and motel for the evening.
By 8:30 next morning had confirmed the bad news was what we thought and that it wasn't going to make it to KS and by 10AM were on our way in a new '88 88. Made us a really good deal on it and it turned out to be one of the best family sedans we ever had; it had the touring suspension so handled much more solidly and was the first of the cross-engine 3.8L I had had...it had over 400K on it when daughter finally did get something different and other than the interior had finally just completely worn out it still drove/ran well...
Sometimes ya' just gets lucky, too... :) (Kept the '84, hauled it home and rebuilt it and three oldest kids all used it to get through HS before donating it to a missionary couple friends just returned from 5 years out of States who needed to get re-established...served them for another couple years).
The dealer just called. Diagnosis: alignment. My wife has an $80 coupon which they will honor. They tested it at 80 mph. Will return loaner and pic k up. No damage to any suspension parts. They left the new tires on the right side because they measured the tread depth and found no difference.
I'd wager they rebalanced as well just didn't say so, specifically.
Most times I find the service rep that calls is just that; all he has to go on is the service order, he didn't do any of the work and just reads off the highlights, not necessarily every minute detail...if there's something need to know specifically usually ends up having to actually talk to the tech/mechanic to find out just what they actually did in detail.
Certainly possible. On the other hand when the ticket these days can inclu de everything from a disposal fee to a "shop fee" and an "inventory fee", you would think if they had to check the balance on the tires, it would be on the work order. Decades ago, if you bought new tires or had a fluid changed, that was part of the service, no separate fees. The disposal char ge cropped up first, and is kind of legitimate, with old tires for example. Oil ATF, no sure about, because I think they get rid of those for free or maybe even get paid for. The shop fee is a classic. The ones that do that, total up all the work, then put that on top, which IMO is shysteri ng.
Hope he gets it straightened out. And you may be right, it's possible the service writer just didn't tell him. BTW, that's something that's changed . In a modern dealership, God knows how many people they have, I think I counted like 8 there last time. All likely on commission of course.
Sometimes an elusive shimmy or vibration stems from an improper wheel alignment. The two main culprits are toe and caster.
Toe
Toe describes the longitudinal relationship between two wheels on an axle. Toe-in: wheels point toward each other in the direction of travel; toe-out: wheels point away from each other in the direction of travel.
The front wheels on most rear-drive road cars benefit from a touch of toe-in. It compensates for the road force that can induce a toe-out condition. Toe-in also eliminates lash in the various components, which enhances straight-line stability.
Excessive toe-in can induce a bear of a shake. It causes the tires to fight each other for traction and the rapid release/traction cycle can cause a shake. It also wears tires unevenly, which causes its own problems.
Toe settings vary by suspension design so start with the specs that the original manufacturer determined for the suspension under your car. But don?t treat these specs as if they?re set in stone. Your vehicle?s dimensions may differ considerably from what the manufacturer intended so you may have to slightly alter toe settings. Remember that bias-ply tires neither need nor tolerate as much toe as radial tires do.
Caster
Caster in a roundabout way generates tracking stability. It refers to the Steering Axis Inclination (SAI)?the line plotted through the kingpin or through both ball-joint centerlines?as viewed from the wheel face.
What actually generates the stability is the relationship between the point where the SAI intersects the ground and the tire?s contact patch. Most vehicles feature negative caster, meaning the tire follows the point where the SAI intersects the ground. In fact, motorcyclists express this tracking-stability dimension by the distance that the tire ?trails? the SAI where it intersects the ground. Increasing this distance increases the force by which the front wheels center themselves. That makes a car feel more stable at speed.
But that force sword has a second edge: excessive caster/trail can generate enough force to steer the wheel beyond center and slightly into the other direction. If conditions are just right the centering forces can volley the wheel rapidly left and right in a shimmy. Motorcyclists have a more descriptive term for this too: Death wobble or tank slapper. Anyone who?s experienced it in a car or on a bike can testify that it?s terrifyingly scary and it goes away only if you reduce speed dramatically.
I drove it yesterday, albeit not on the turnpike, but it seems better. I will have to determine my satisfaction at high speed. The tech and writer both drove it so I will go by what they say. The alignment report showed ou t of spec readings prior. I don't have it handy to post. The writer said it was out front to back on the right side. They also charged me $50 more for the four wheel alignment. I forgot to mention the vehicle also has an air suspension so we can get in and out more comfortably. Why the first dealer didn't do an alignment is a mystery to me. As I would have gone for it. I didn't suggest or demand it nor either did they. It was a very stressful time for my wife and me.
They only sell you those extra services when you don't need them and don't want them. :) I was looking to get 4 tires mounted and one of the local t ire shops that had good reviews has a $49 option for nitrogen. Soon as i sa w that, I crossed them off the list. It's bizarre that with a car that jump ed a curb, blew 2 tires, a car dealership would not tell you that it should be aligned. Hopefully it's good now.
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