Pothole - Vibration Over 65 - Wheel Replaced Still Vibrates

[moto_geek]

I'm going to try to keep this short.

Problem: We hit a pot hole this spring with our 21" Winter wheel and tires., I confirmed a bent 21 mission wheel. Hoping this was going to solve the problem as it felt pretty significant enough vibration in the steering wheel and passenger felt this vibration in the seat and floor.

Diagnosis 1: Confirmed at tire shop wheel hop when spun. Purchased a used wheel replacement with a good spare and got rebalanced an installed hoping my problems fixed.

Problem Still There : I was already little concern the problem has cause issue to the axle and/or motor as well. So I swap the front wheels left to right as well so I knew the good wheel was in a different position and the wheel that didn't hit the pot hole was on the problem spot to see if I get a different issue.

Diagnosis 2: Ok maybe the other Winter 21" wheel had an issue too. So I replaced both fronts with my set of Summer 21" wheels and tires that have the same tread depth as the Winter set. The problem is a tiny less noticable but still can feel a significant harmonic vibration from about 65 mph to 80 mph. It gets stronger the faster I go.

So I feel I ruled out wheels/tires and I tried a completely different set of wheels that were fine last summer and now suspect a problem in the axle or or worse motor. Is there any further self diagnosis I can do before taking it to the dealer or recommendations? Anyone else ever experience this?

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[BjörnfromHamburg]

Re-alignment of the front-axle would be the next step.
Until than, I wouldn't worry about further issues too much.

 

[gtm]

I'm going to try to keep this short.

Problem: We hit a pot hole this spring with our 21" Winter wheel and tires., I confirmed a bent 21 mission wheel. Hoping this was going to solve the problem as it felt pretty significant enough vibration in the steering wheel and passenger felt this vibration in the seat and floor.

Diagnosis 1: Confirmed at tire shop wheel hop when spun. Purchased a used wheel replacement with a good spare and got rebalanced an installed hoping my problems fixed.

Problem Still There : I was already little concern the problem has cause issue to the axle and/or motor as well. So I swap the front wheels left to right as well so I knew the good wheel was in a different position and the wheel that didn't hit the pot hole was on the problem spot to see if I get a different issue.

Diagnosis 2: Ok maybe the other Winter 21" wheel had an issue too. So I replaced both fronts with my set of Summer 21" wheels and tires that have the same tread depth as the Winter set. The problem is a tiny less noticable but still can feel a significant harmonic vibration from about 65 mph to 80 mph. It gets stronger the faster I go.

So I feel I ruled out wheels/tires and I tried a completely different set of wheels that were fine last summer and now suspect a problem in the axle or or worse motor. Is there any further self diagnosis I can do before taking it to the dealer or recommendations? Anyone else ever experience this?

Something of an educated guess here but I have two suspect. A bent wheel flange or a bent rear wheel (less likely since you feel it in the steering wheel). Get your car on a lift and spin/drive the wheels. Look at the tires from straight on and see if you notice any wobble. That's the quick and easy way but crude and won't pinpoint the problem. Better is to remove the wheel and put a dial micrometer on the flange/wheel hub. Rotate the flange and measure any run-out. Should be very low (like 1 to 3 1/1000th of an inch). It doesn't take a large amount of lateral run-out at the hub to translate to a decent amount on the outer circumference of the tire. If your hub took a really good hit you probably also damaged the wheel bearing assembly. Might not be making noise yet but 6 months from now it will start to hum.

As an aside you are unlikely to have damaged the axle or motor. The axles are built to accept changes in length as the suspension moves up and down. This built in ability to change length would protect the axle and motor from any impact.

As @BjörnfromHamburg pointed out an alignment is never a bad idea after an impact. Just remember that something bent if the alignment is off much at all. A bent wheel hub will not allow an accurate suspension reading since angles will change as it rotates changing toe and camber. All modern alignment machines will compensate for some amount of run-out but a bent hub will still be causing a vibration.

 

[moto_geek]

@gtm and @BjörnfromHamburg both great suggestions and assurance on motor and axles. I have micrometers and will see if there is and run out. I will report back in couple days. I will also put the rear Summer 21” as well to rule out the rears.

 

[moto_geek]

Well, put the Summer 21” rears on and vibration is all gone.

Conclusion.. the mission wheels with the 5 spoke design are prone to failure due to only 5 points of contact to the main rim. And made terrible winter rims as well. The deep snow can easily lodge itself in wheel and the brakes get more muc and causes squeaky brakes.

The vibration from a rear rim resonates through this chassis quite a bit.

Our summer wheels are the spider design. Will be getting some 20” for winter. Thanks again everyone.

 

[gtm]

Well, put the Summer 21” rears on and vibration is all gone.

Conclusion.. the mission wheels with the 5 spoke design are prone to failure due to only 5 points of contact to the main rim. And made terrible winter rims as well. The deep snow can easily lodge itself in wheel and the brakes get more muc and causes squeaky brakes.

The vibration from a rear rim resonates through this chassis quite a bit.

Our summer wheels are the spider design. Will be getting some 20” for winter. Thanks again everyone.

Glad you found the source. Simple fix and good to have the vibration gone, but the bent Mission E wheels are a rather expensive lesson in pothole avoidance.

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