Low Speed Shake after Changing to All Season Tires

[GripTime]

I haven't taken it back yet to ask them to look elsewhere. Will do that, possibly today.

My STI did this and I had to go to a specialty shop to find someone who could detect that the wheel was slightly warped. The dealer couldn't find anything.

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[smurfslayer]

My STI did this and I had to go to a specialty shop to find someone who could detect that the wheel was slightly warped. The dealer couldn't find anything.

do you mean lateral run out? do you recall any specifics about how much?

his tire shop did check for this earlier and it’s listed in a previous post.

 

[Rocket Man]

just as a data point, the DWS conti's on my Scat Pack (winter only) are smooth as glass at 170+

 

[Bikeman315]

just as a data point, the DWS conti's on my Scat Pack (winter only) are smooth as glass at 170+

Yeah, the likelihood it’s the tires at this point is non existent. Being an A/S tire has nothing to do with OP’s issue. But wheel damage at installation is still very much on the table.

 

[steveo1960]

I would lift the car or at least the rear wheels off the ground and put it in drive while someone watches from the rear to see if there is any wobble either side to side or up and down. This will test the tires on the actual car with the car driving the wheels. I would also check suspension, links, bushings and so forth because if something was loose, simply lifting the car in the air could possibly cause something to shift out of place slightly. Just some random thoughts.

 

[CWizard]

My STI did this and I had to go to a specialty shop to find someone who could detect that the wheel was slightly warped. The dealer couldn't find anything.

Hey Grip, could you tell me what kind of specialty shop you used, as well as how they found the warped wheel? Also, if it happens to be in North GA where? I'm just across the line in TN. Thanks.

 

[CWizard]

Update: Took car back to Ford dealer where a senior tech went for a ride with me. He said he didn't feel anything unusual. End of story as far as they're concerned. Arrrgg!

I'm going to put the original PZ4 summer tires (which were vibration free) back on when the weather warms up. That should be enlightening.

Thanks for all the responses and suggestions!

 

[TheShockMaster]

Had something similar happen after swapping summer tires for all-seasons on my truck. No matter what brand I tried, there was this weird low-speed shake through the seat. Ended up being a mix of slight runout on a couple of heavy truck tires and uneven mounting. Took a bit of juggling, and moving the tires around helped.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Update: Took car back to Ford dealer where a senior tech went for a ride with me. He said he didn't feel anything unusual. End of story as far as they're concerned. Arrrgg!

I'm going to put the original PZ4 summer tires (which were vibration free) back on when the weather warms up. That should be enlightening.

Thanks for all the responses and suggestions!

November 2025 update?

 

[LouG]

I would have suggested delamination of the tread layer, but unless the Contis were bad too that would discount that.
Very weird, I wonder if it's the tread pattern "walking" under deformation when rolling.

 

[CWizard]

November 2025 update?

No change with the original PZ4 summer tires back on the car. Recall that this shake started immediately after replacing the PZ4s with Pirelli all seasons, which, because the shake continued, were then replaced with the Continental DWS. So the shake occurs regardless of what tires are installed. Therefore, not a tire problem.
Also, the Continentals were balanced on three different machines (two different Road Force machines , then on a fancy French machine at a local high end shop) with no effect on the shake. Therefore it's not a wheel balance problem.
The only thing common to all of the above history is the wheels (rims) and of course the axles, diff, etc. There's no obvious wheel damage and radial runout is also negligible.
But something changed to cause the shake when the original PZ4s were first replaced, apparently as a result of the tire swap. So what could a tire shop do during the first tire replacement that would cause this ???
I've had little time until recently to work on this. Next step is to try another Ford dealer and/or a local shop that specializes in drive trains. As usual, suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[BimmerDriver]

So what could a tire shop do during the first tire replacement that would cause this ???
I've had little time until recently to work on this. Next step is to try another Ford dealer and/or a local shop that specializes in drive trains. As usual, suggestions will be appreciated.

All that I can think of is a left-to-right swap of the wheels when the tires were mounted. Some kind of subtle change that wasn't noticeable when they were on the other side. Easy to check. Yeah, the tires are directional, but a few miles on them the wrong way won't hurt.

I'd also suggest (if that doesn't work) swapping front and rears. Yeah, the car won't turn very well with the big wheels up front, but for a short distance for testing, with proper planning, you should be OK (assuming of course that the wheels clear the calipers).

I've been through this before myself, but it turned out to be the tires. Still, it was frustrating to deal with. Best of luck.

 

[Snakebyte]

I recall when radials had low speed "wobble" due to the design/materials. When sitting overnight, especially on cold nights they would become "flat" on the side where the tire was parked overnight. But when the tires warmed up, the flatness would go away.

That said, there are still tires that are (or should be identified as) seconds due to out of roundness. I worked at a place decades ago where we had a tire truing machine to shave off out of round tires. I have not seen nor heard of anyone else having one of those machines since.

Of course you can jack up your suspect wheel(s) off the ground and then have a hard stationary object that contacts the spinning tread, seeing if the object makes contact all around or not.

 

[Cz_Ziemniak]

Weird. Condition points to it being a direct result of the tires, as it appeared after they tires were installed, but symptoms suggest otherwise.

I could see it being a driveshaft vibration throwing everything off, but theres no reason for that to be the issue, it wasn (allegedly) never touched.

If the wheels are factory, it shouldn't be a lug centering issue/wheel centering issue on the hub/rotor.

I couldn't tell ya without being there.

 

[MidwayJ]

No change with the original PZ4 summer tires back on the car.

Given the issue was still there with the Continentals, this is not surprising. The tire shop likely did "something" during the original installation but it seems to be quite a mystery. I hope you get it figured out.

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