Front end shakes at Speed

[dimitridodys]

My car runs perfectly smooth up until speed reaches 50 MPH but develops a shake or vibration when exceding 50 miles an hour.

I replaced the stock 13 inch wheels with 14 inch Fiat Turbo wheels with Michelin Pilot 195 60 14.

What might be the culprit?

[juvius]

Have you jacked up the front end and checked for play in the tie rods and ball joints

[toplessexpat]

Or simply had the wheels balanced of late?

[majicwrench]

Vibration is caused by something spinning. Thus it cannot be ball joints, tie rods etc.
Low speed vibration usually driveline related (it's spinning 3x faster than tires)
High speed (like over 50mph) is tires/wheels.

[toplessexpat]

High speed (like over 50mph) is tires/wheels.

Does this mean we agree?

[dimitridodys]

To answer your questions, I have not had the wheels balanced since the tires were installed 4 years ago. Or the front end aligned in ages. The car is not driven much.

I'm hoping that its simply the wheels need balancing or maybe there is a flat spot on the tires.

[majicwrench]

"flat spot" you can generally feel at very slow speed. Go get your tires balanced.

[FiatMac]

Vibration is caused by something spinning. Thus it cannot be ball joints, tie rods etc.
Low speed vibration usually driveline related (it's spinning 3x faster than tires)
High speed (like over 50mph) is tires/wheels.

dimitridodys wrote ... " develops a shake or vibration when exceding 50 miles an hour".

Loose/worn tie rods can allow the front wheels to "shimmy" which could be described as a "shake" and would be noticeably felt in the steering wheel.

I am not sure from the post whether this condition just showed up after the change to 14 inch tires and wheels. If this is the case and the new tires were balanced, then the issue may be belt separation in a tire which would not show up in spin balancing. This condition in a front tire would also produce the "shimmy/shake" feel.

[toplessexpat]

Over time the balance of your wheel and tire will change, so I try to remember to get mine balanced once every couple of years or so. When they start to gently vibrate at speed - they remind me anyway!

A

[dimitridodys]

Thanks for all the input. I will have the wheels balanced and hope this simple measure is the solution.

Since I don't drive the car that much and seldom on the freeway, I can't recall when the issue began. But something tells me it probably is related to the new wheels and tires.

[majicwrench]

Front end shops would love you to believe that tie rods are gonna fix your vibration. They are not. Something has to be spinning out of balance to shake/vibrate. Tie rods ain't spinning.

Tire seperation, like flat spot, shows up at low speeds as well as high speed.