just bought tires privately, have a few questions..

BigAl3 · 03-12-06, 04:05

i was curious... i just bought some tires & stock steel rims that are an inch bigger than stock (had 185-70-14 and now have 195-60-15) for my 03 civic lx coupe, and was wondering if i should have them re-balanced (walmart will do it for $30/ $7.50 a wheel). the thing i notice is that the tires seem to make a louder windier sound when driving and they also seem to shake a bit when driving on the freeway (i point the side mirrors down to the back wheels and see if they are wobbling, but seem fine). when i talk to the owner of the tires before buying them (they were only driven for 300 miles) he said they were already balanced. is the sound coming from them being brand new, tire tread design, etc.? thanks...

p.s. here's the tires i got.. (don't grill me for buying off-label tires, they are made by bc goodrich and i couldn't pass them up for $225 for all tires, rims and hubcaps. tires alone would of been around $325). http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/fin...8001&tc=MPBHH3

DETAILKING · 03-14-06, 01:47

You can try rotating them. They might have a wear pattern in them that matches the car they came off of. The next thing I would do is get them balanced and check the wheels to make sure they are not bent.

Accumulator · 03-14-06, 03:13

What Detailking said

The noise could very well be the nature of those tires. Some tire a *MUCH* louder/quieter than others. But the vibration is bad news, whether seriously so or not remains to be discovered.

I'd hate to think that such issues were why the previous owner sold them after so few miles, but it does come to mind.