[5th Gen : 08+]: Vibration in wheels
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Vibration in wheels
I have been fighting a battle with a vibration in my 2012 Grand Caravan for almost a year now. It's very consistent and begins right about 60mph and then tapers off when you hit 70 so it's only in this short window.
The car is only used on long road trips and discovered it last spring when we had a 6-hour drive to the beach. Originally I thought the car had maybe tossed a front wheel weight and when we got back I had them balanced. That seemed to help a small amount. Just before the trip, I replaced all the brakes and rotors with new vented/slotted rotors from PowerStop. So just to be safe that sent went back and they sent me a new set and it was installed.
The problem always seemed to be in the front and could be felt in the steering and a worse when I pushed on the brakes at high speeds. In the middle of all this, I rotated the tires and suddenly my problem moved. So I convinced myself it was definitely something with the tires. Back to the shop to rebalance again, but didn't solve it. With it in the back now and rarely does the car hit highway speeds I decided to leave it for a bit and not rotate the tires again since they were showing their age already.
A few months ago I decided to get this looked at again. So this time it headed to the dealer for a couple days. They concluded that it was being caused by the tires. Two of them were showing excessive wear in the middle as if they had been over inflated (which they weren't). But they were due to be replaced anyways. The kept it for a couple days and gave me a loaner and went over the whole suspension in the process. So 4 new tires later and it still hasn't completely gone.
This time it was back in the front again and could be felt in the steering and worse when braking. But it still only shows up between 60 and 70 MPH. So back on the phone with Power Stop again, which has great customer service. I talked to them and they decided to send me the 3rd set of rotors for the car. This time I just opted for standard instead of the Vented set.
So I install another set of new rotors and pads this weekend. Rotate the tires again as well. I still have the vibration and once again it's moved to the rear of the car. Since it's moving around I can't blame the suspension. Which leaves me with a possible bad rim I suppose.
What is confusing me though is why it's worse when I brake if it's a possible bent rim. As well how have they managed to balance these if there is a rim that warped of bent? Any thoughts on this would be great.
I did locate a couple rims in a salvage yard nearby that are in good shape. I believe they are from a 2008 but these aluminum rims were used through 2013 and should match. With the TPMS sensor in that used rim work with my car and/or should I have the sensor moved from my rims. I'm hoping to at least figure out which rim it is by moving it around on the car till I know where it's coming from.
Sorry for the long post, but it's been a long year trying to figure this out and could use some suggestions.
The car is only used on long road trips and discovered it last spring when we had a 6-hour drive to the beach. Originally I thought the car had maybe tossed a front wheel weight and when we got back I had them balanced. That seemed to help a small amount. Just before the trip, I replaced all the brakes and rotors with new vented/slotted rotors from PowerStop. So just to be safe that sent went back and they sent me a new set and it was installed.
The problem always seemed to be in the front and could be felt in the steering and a worse when I pushed on the brakes at high speeds. In the middle of all this, I rotated the tires and suddenly my problem moved. So I convinced myself it was definitely something with the tires. Back to the shop to rebalance again, but didn't solve it. With it in the back now and rarely does the car hit highway speeds I decided to leave it for a bit and not rotate the tires again since they were showing their age already.
A few months ago I decided to get this looked at again. So this time it headed to the dealer for a couple days. They concluded that it was being caused by the tires. Two of them were showing excessive wear in the middle as if they had been over inflated (which they weren't). But they were due to be replaced anyways. The kept it for a couple days and gave me a loaner and went over the whole suspension in the process. So 4 new tires later and it still hasn't completely gone.
This time it was back in the front again and could be felt in the steering and worse when braking. But it still only shows up between 60 and 70 MPH. So back on the phone with Power Stop again, which has great customer service. I talked to them and they decided to send me the 3rd set of rotors for the car. This time I just opted for standard instead of the Vented set.
So I install another set of new rotors and pads this weekend. Rotate the tires again as well. I still have the vibration and once again it's moved to the rear of the car. Since it's moving around I can't blame the suspension. Which leaves me with a possible bad rim I suppose.
What is confusing me though is why it's worse when I brake if it's a possible bent rim. As well how have they managed to balance these if there is a rim that warped of bent? Any thoughts on this would be great.
I did locate a couple rims in a salvage yard nearby that are in good shape. I believe they are from a 2008 but these aluminum rims were used through 2013 and should match. With the TPMS sensor in that used rim work with my car and/or should I have the sensor moved from my rims. I'm hoping to at least figure out which rim it is by moving it around on the car till I know where it's coming from.
Sorry for the long post, but it's been a long year trying to figure this out and could use some suggestions.