That's awesome. Glad they're taking care of you. I'm not surprised it was the tires. The manufacturing process is far more complex than for wheels. Lot more steps to goof up.

 

Yep^^^^ Seems like Quality Control may have been on break too
Glad you got it sorted out, hopefully between the new wheels, new tires, and a new balancing everything will be as it should. Nice to hear Andrew took care of you too!

 

Andrew is the man. Definitely all about making sure I am taken care of.

Got an update today.

Finally received the new wheels yesterday. They were supposed to include a return label for me to ship them back, but looks like they forgot. I called Switchback Suspension and they are going to contact the manufacturer and try to get the return label for me. Tom mentioned that they can be hard to get a hold of, but he'll keep a copy of my invoice on his desk so I'm not forgotten. Looks like I'll be waiting a while to get a refund on the "bad" wheels..

Anyways, I've had the tires for about two weeks now so off I go to Town Fair Tire to get the new wheels and tires mounted and balanced. They balance fine and I bring them home to change out the wheels myself.

I put the two new wheels in the front and my "Old" Niche wheels in the back. Take them for a drive and... shaking.

However, the shaking is less than it was on the last set. It's noticeable after 60 mph. My CD tray phone mount and the front passenger seat shakes. Afterwards, I go back to Town Fair Tire and have them check it out. They looked at my new set of wheels again and tell me the front driver side wheel bounces around a bit on the balancer. He advises that it's not dangerous, but it may be a tad bit uncomfortable to ride with. The other wheel had no issues.

Afterwards, I let my brother and my friend each get behind the wheel to get another opinion. They feel the vibration after 60 MPH, but they say it's minor and may correct itself after I put some miles on the tires. Luckily, it's not felt in the steering wheel. I sat in the front passenger seat and rear seats when they were behind the wheel. I definitely felt some vibration in the front passenger seat. Rear passenger side seat felt smooth and the rear driver side seat had subtle vibration.

I'm just scratching my head here. I really don't know if there is a bad batch of tires or if something is wrong with the car. For now I am going to give it 100 miles and see if the tires need to set in. Ill probably try swapping the front wheels to the back soon and may change out the aluminum hub centric rings. They pop out of the wheels very easily with no effort.

To top off the day, my driver side fog light bezel came off while I was driving. Didn't notice it was missing until later. Im positive it was there this morning. Going to check and see if any dealerships nearby have them so I don have to wait for delivery.

My quest for balanced wheels continues..

 

I'm curious to hear how you work through your balancing issues. I just put new Continentals on my stock 17" rims for my 2011 Journey sedan, and sure enough, the basic computer balancer is not adequate. I already miss my worn out original tires, which were gliding like on ice, so I know my factory rims/tires are capable of perfect balance. Unfortunately, computerized balancers spin tires at only 24 MPH and caculate how the tire will vibrate at higher speeds. In my case close, but no cigar.

Anyway, I am taking my car into a shop I found that does old school on-the-car balancing, where the tech spins the tire at 70 MPH, while it is mounted on the car. It's the best balancing system available, but is more time consuming and requires a tech to do the work, which is why this system faded away after the mid-80's.

Here's the URL to the shop's discussion about on-the-car balancing:
http://www.amftire.com/service-descr...heel-balancing

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

A couple days after I had the new tires put on, I bought some polycarbonate hub centric rings to replace my loose aluminum rings to see if that would help correct the issue. It didn't. I also swapped the front driver side and front passenger side wheels to see if that would lessen the vibration in the driver seat. There was less vibration in the driver seat and down by the pedals. This made my driving experience better compared to before, but the shaking of the CD tray phone mount and front passenger side was turned up a knot.

I contacted Andrew at Treaddepot after riding with the polycarbonate hub centric rings for a couple weeks, explained what I tried and the issue remained. This time around I asked if I could have a refund for the front passenger tire. Town Fair Tire could get me the tire for the same price with mounting included in the price. It would just make the shipping and receiving process easier for both parties. He said "No problem and gave me a return label."

Went to Town Fair Tire today to mount the new tire on the front passenger side and to my surprise there is less shaking. Upon accelerating past 60 MPH I didn't notice my CD tray mount or front passenger seat shaking like how they normally would, just a bit of shaking which was probably the great Massachusetts roads. I didn't notice this until now, but these tires are very loud. I started to question whether there was something wrong with my front driver tire because of how loud the tires were, but if the steering wheel isn't shaking and my seat isn't shaking then I'm happy.

Anyways, I was excited to finally have a set of working wheels so I went home to do an oil change. While the car was jacked up, I swapped the front two wheels again to see if any shaking would occur. The result was shaking a bit worse than before the new tire was put on. I swapped them back and things were good again. I'm getting an alignment on Friday. I wouldn't say the wheels are perfect, but definitely a lot better than before.

Edit: Spoke too soon. Took a drive to work and there's still vibration going on. Less in the front passenger seat. Seems to be evenly spread in the front now with a bit of steering wheel wobble. I wonder if I need to get the other front tire replaced as well.. Maybe the alignment I'm getting tomorrow will help out.

@Guessed

Sorry to hear you are having balancing issues. Have you tried having them road force balanced using a Hunter GSP9700? Any cracks or bends in the wheels? Were any of the wheels able to balance correctly? Did they balance them with a tremendous amount of weight like in my case? A lot of people I spoke to thought the wheels were the issue when you can't get a proper balance. After everything that has happened, I think my issue was the tires.

 

Sorry to hear your balance issues also continue, @Juscus.

My stock rims, with the original Goodyears, were flawless at highway speeds. My vibrations started with the new tires last week put on the stock rims. The vibrations are due just to the new tires. However, I must say, the new tires are actually smoother up to 50 MPH than the old, which I noticed as my wallet and phone not lightly rattling on the front passenger seat, where I always toss them. This includes the second round of on-the-car balancing, which did reduce the vibrations slightly. I am going to live with it, since it is not that bad. One thing is for sure, Infiniti does not casually mate a tire to a rim. More than just balance, there are matters of tire load rating and resonance to take into consideration. The Goodyears have a load index of 94, while the new Continentals are 97. Maybe I should let out a bit of air to compensate and run at 32 PSI instead of the recommended 33 PSI.

For the record, after changing to the second set of tires for an Acura MDX, a Corvette Z06, and a Ford Expedition, I have never attained as good a balance as from the factory tires.

Good luck in your hunt for balance.

BTW, thanks for the Hunter GSP9700 tip. I might approach the first shop again and ask about one of their other locations that have a road force balancer.

 

Hey @Juscus, I played around a bit with my balance issue using about two feet of insulated heavy gauge copper wire. I wrapped the wire around the end of one of my stock rim's spokes so that the wrapped wire acts like a weight of a few grams. After taking it for a test drive I turns out I couldn't get my suspect tire to run smoother. Actually, it turns out that dropping the pressure down to 33 PSI has helped tame the vibration sensation in my steering wheel! Maybe my higher load index tire (97) is too stiff compared to the original load rating used by Infiniti (94)? At 33 PSI (and with no wrap of copper) I am finding the ride tolerable.

Anyway, in your case, the takeaway is this simple hack: try using your own makeshift temporary balancing weight. I don't recommend wrapping copper because that's a pain. What I would suggest is plasticine clumped around a few pennies in it. Just wipe the inside of your rim and jam on this temporary weight and go for a ride. You might find the optimal spot after a dozen or so tries, at which point you could vary the number of pennies until all the vibration is gone. Then, go to the shop and ask for a permanent weight to replace your plasticine/pennies.

 

I believe my issues have been resolved for the most part. I went to Firestone to get alignment done this past Friday. While I was there, I saw one of the guys that worked on my car previously. I told him I was still having issues with vibration after getting two new wheels and even new tires. He offered to road force balance all the wheels to see if he could finally crack down on my issue. Turns out that my front passenger side wheel was off by about two ounces. All the other wheels balanced fine. I headed to work shortly after and things seemed pretty good to me even after 60 MPH.

The real test was the next day where I drove over 200 miles total with a passenger in the front seat. The front driver side felt better then before. I didn't feel as road vibration down by the pedals as before. My CD tray phone mount shook less, but I also tightened the lock-nut prior the trip. My passenger said that his side felt normal most of the time, even when going 80-85 on some roads. He said that he could feel some vibration, but it was normal road vibration, not the wheels. However, on the way back from our trip he said there were certain areas on the highway where the vibration could be felt more than others. I'm glad he said this because I noticed the same thing. I really thought it was just my wheels and not the road. It's been a few days now and I'm satisfied with how the wheels feel now. I'm glad to finally put this issue behind me!

@Guessed

Nice idea for the DIY balancing. I don't think I would have the patience for that. Haha.

If you haven't had them road force balanced yet, you can use this link to find a shop that has a Hunter GSP9700 near you.

GSP9700 Locator

I hope your ride continues to be smooth!

 

Juscus, glad to hear that you're pretty much to a happy place, what an ordeal though, wouldn't wish that on anybody (well maybe a couple grumps around here, lol)

 

As a tire installer and a hard driver, I have a couple of remarks.. Did you do any hard acceleration or hard stops in the first 25-50 miles??? If the tech uses a lot of lube on the tire, this can call the wheel to slip or move on the rim. Seen it done. Are you using the same shop each time?? ask them the last time the balancer was calibrated. Most shops don't do this this the have maintenance don't to the balancer. Lastly, best way to balance a problem tire is with a road force machine, or to have them match balance.
Also, if you are feeling the vibration in the seats and pedal area, it is more likely a rear tire. Most front tire vibrate the steering wheel, when out of balance.
I don't know if any of this will help at this point... but its some good information for you.