I recently had wheels and tires mounted, balanced, and then put on my 96 Civic hatch. I took it for a test drive and it seemed fine until i hit about 70-75 mph during which the car began to "shake" at the steering wheel. After 75mph it went away. These are brand new 195/50/15s and were mounted and balanced onto brand new rota j-mag wheels and then mounted on the car. Could this be a loss of a balancing weight? Do new tires need to be "worn in"? The tires are inflated at 34psi in the front and 35psi in the rear. The tire recomended no more than 44psi. I did lower the car 1.75" in the front and rear but after the drop, the car did not shake with my factory 13" wheels, only with the new wheel/tire combo. Any help?

 

Probably bad balance!!! balance is probably not perfect. Did that on my 18s, had to get them pro done. no more shakes after got them done right.

 

Is your camber screwed up or do you have that adjusted?

 

maybe a flat spot on the tire?

 

Thanks for the input. I thought maybe i had a defective tire from the factory, so I switched the fronts to the back (starting with drivers side, test driving and then going to the passenger side and testing) and still have the same feeling at the same speed. It certainly feels like a balancing issue, but at the same time Ive had all 4 wheels balanced twice now. Could the shop be incorrectly balancing my wheels? Im not in tampa right now so knowing a professional shop locally wont help. What else could this be? CV axle? The car DID come from washington with 138k on the odometer. - Thanks

 

This is what it looks like BTW. Even though it was taken with a cellphone, enjoy!