Just got 4 new tires for my 75 280C in Sam's Club,obviously they balanced them all, but, When I reach 75 miles/hr the car starts to vibrate, Could this be caused from a bad alignment? or balance was not done right? I noticed that the car pulls a little bit to one side, but I don't think it is a significant amount. Does anyone have any suggestion?

Thanks

Francisco GArcia
San Antonio,TX

If the car pulls, it might suggest an alignment. However, I wouldn't be surprised if its both a bad alignment and misblanaced wheel. Especially with older the wheels (and steel rims) balance becomes important because they are more heavier then alloys. If a heavy wheel becomes out of blanace their is probably going to be a big difference causing alot of vibration. It happened to us all the time in our 92 Toyota Previa which runs on stock steel rims.

For this reason alone, I have my cars tire's and lifetime alingment at one place. Everytime they put new tires on they try to convince me I should get an alingment done, once I say okay have it check out, I let them know I have a Lifetime alignment. Costs me nothing.

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Chirag (Charlie) Patel

- 99 Mercedes-Benx ML 430 V8 w/custom TV, Video, UHF, speaker system
- 93 190E 2.6 (4-sale) w/ an amp, equalizer, and CD-changer, integrated w. stock stereo for integrated cellular phone speaker system
- had a 93 190E m103 3.2, 5-speed trans,
- had a 88 300E 2.6
- had a 84 300TD w/275k+ miles
- 2001 C-Class - Maybe (if 190E sells)

The pulling is most likely alignment related. However, the vibration could be a semi-balanced tire. I've seen more than a few cases where a tire seemed balanced on a conventional machine yet you did get some slight vibration at high speeds. Some high-end tire/wheel shops offer high-speed/on the car balancing. It usually costs more but it is spooky how vibration free they can get things that way. Still, a discernable vibration by 75mph is a bit low for things to start showing up IMO.

Hope this helps....Lee