I have a 2008 XLS. Last year I bought a set of 18" Sport Edition rims and Hankook tires from Tirerack to run as my summer set. From the day I put them on they "randomly" vibrate at highway speeds, sometimes so bad I want to pull off the highway it's so scary(and I don't get scared that easy!!, I've driven plenty of **** boxes over the years with failing axles, ball joints, and even tie rods!!)

I called Tirerack and they told me to get them rebalanced. I did twice, once at a regular shop with basic equipment and a second time with the Hunter Roadforce Balancer. This only seemed to make it worse each time someone tried. The shop that did the Roadforce balance informed me that three of the wheel combinations have an excess of 25 lbs Roadforce which indicates out-of-round. They could not tell me if it was the rim of tire without spending more $$ and Tirerack wasn't going to pay. They claim they Roadforce balance their wheels before they leave the factory. Odd this would have slipped by.

Tirerack only reimbursed me on the first balance and then then wiped their hands clean of me since I'm out of warranty now that I've wasted all this time.

I've been experimenting and one day I removed all 4 wheels, retorqued off the ground to 80 ft-lbs and surprisingly the vibration stopped for about 3 months! Then I recently had to take my front wheels off, and low and behold the vibration started again.(I put them back where they came off)

I took all 4 wheels off again, retorqued, test drove, repeated about 6 times and I cannot get the vibration to stop AGAIN. Couple of key points:

- Guaranteed to happen if I accelerate really fast while merging onto the highway
- Starts at 110km/h and above, and doesn't matter how fast I go after that it keeps happening, if I slow down to 100km/h or lower it goes away
- If I accelerate normally and slowly reach 110km/h, it usually won't happen and if I continue increasing my speed no vibration can be felt. If I suddenly punch the gas it will start to vibrate. While accelerating normally and steady at 110km/h, it will sometimes start to vibrate violently and then go away.

I put my factory 18"s back on which have super noisy winter tires and the vibration is completely gone so I have to rule out suspension. I just came back from an hour long highway test drive and no issues what so ever.(or the year before with these on)

Any thoughts? I cannot for the life of me figure out why re-centering them worked once. I want to sell them but I can't ask any reasonable amount in their current condition.

 

A wheel dent would cause vibrations too!

 

Take the wheels in and spend the money to have them thoroughly checked and inspected. It may cost a few bucks, but what choice do you really have?

 

The issue with taking it in is that too many tire shops rush you out the door and if you want them to actually investigate anything the $110/hr adds up really fast. I was told by one shop that it could take 4-5 hours of troubleshooting to determine the exact cause if they have to unmount each tire and measure runouts, etc. Kinda damned if I do, damned if I don't at this point.

Sad part is, reading Tirerack reviews after my purchase has revealed hundreds of similar complaints. People are suspecting that they resell grade "B" tires that don't make the cut for certain markets. Hard to prove, but eventually they will end up in the spot light.

 

True, can't see one with my eyes though.

 

4 years later, still vibrating. New rims, new tires, 5 balances, 2 alignments, new lower control arms, new tie rods, new wheel bearings, new brakes, new sway bar links.

 

Hub centric rings are what you need my friend also get yourself some quality lug nuts, balance and alignment. If that does not work you might have damaged wheels egg shaped.

 

As serpentor said, this is a hub centering ring issue, as in you don't have any. All aftermarket wheels are made with a larger center hub to support all makes and models, so with any aftermarket wheel, you need a centering ring. Also, make sure you're using the correct shape lug nuts, aftermaket wheels usually need tuner lugs which are different from factory.

This website tells you the center bore size which is your inner diameter: http://www.wheel-size.com/size/mitsu...utlander/2008/

But you'll need to know the center bore size for your rims(outer diameter of rings). Something like this https://www.amazon.com/pieces-Hubcen...ubcentric+ring

 

This is still happening with the factory rims. The dealer was kind enough to try a brand new set of wheels off of a new Outlander in the lot. Everyone is stumped.