Steering wheel vibration after new PSS

I just swapped the OE Contis for some PSS F255/35/19 R275/35/19, and now I have this steering wheel vibration when I'm traveling at 80mph. It's really weird since my car only had 309 miles when I swapped for the PSS.

I got the tires from America's Tires, big mistake, not only they scratched up my brand new ZCP wheels, they also can't balance tires for s**t. They actually re-balanced my tires two more times before I took my car to Tire Central in San Gabriel for some road force balance. Donald from Tire Central told me 3 tires were out of balance, and the road balance showed everything is well within the index of 25. The vibration lessened big time after Tire Central did their work, but I can still feel the vibration.

I'm running out of ideas as to what can cause this, I've already done the road force balance. Please chime in if you run the same setup as me, PSS 255/275 combo on ZCP wheels.

Do you have wheel spacers installed?

Nope, no spacers

TeKNiC3 wrote

Do you have wheel spacers installed?

any update on this? i'm doing the exact same set-up. Very curious to know the outcome!

bump im in the same situation

Steering wheel vibration at 80 mph is a common problem with the M3. The car is very sensitive at that speed. I always make sure I have the wheels / tires road force balanced, torque the lugs with the wheels in the air or with only slight weight on them (front wheels are hard to torque without lowering the car to the point that the tire touches the ground slightly), and of course have them test the wheels / tires for bends and run-out. Unfortunately I have experienced slight vibration even when all of the above listed things are done right. Sometimes it's paranoia on my part and really only due to the road surface. Make sure you are on a very smooth road to test. The M3 is designed to have excellent road feel which translates into road surface imperfections transmitting to the steering wheel.

well, I want to report the vibrations felt earlier have reduced to almost none after I rack up more miles.

Whenever I get new tires I always get an alignment as well!

May I point anyone who is interested to my sticky:

Steering Wheel Vibration FAQ

had the same thing with my new PSS.....found out on my way to the track.....a little worried, but when driving on the track, didn't notice it at all.

Racked up 120 miles on the track, and on the way home, the vibration seemed less.

As long as it doesn't affect my track use, it's no big deal for me.

Very easy to not drive at 80 mph.

Leonardo629 wrote

I just swapped the OE Contis for some PSS F255/35/19 R275/35/19, and now I have this steering wheel vibration when I'm traveling at 80mph. It's really weird since my car only had 309 miles when I swapped for the PSS.

I got the tires from America's Tires, big mistake, not only they scratched up my brand new ZCP wheels, they also can't balance tires for s**t. They actually re-balanced my tires two more times before I took my car to Tire Central in San Gabriel for some road force balance. Donald from Tire Central told me 3 tires were out of balance, and the road balance showed everything is well within the index of 25. The vibration lessened big time after Tire Central did their work, but I can still feel the vibration.

I'm running out of ideas as to what can cause this, I've already done the road force balance. Please chime in if you run the same setup as me, PSS 255/275 combo on ZCP wheels.

Tires are not mounted and balanced correctly, nor are the pressures set correctly if you are still setting them to the factory pressures specified on the door tag.

Malek@MRF wrote

Tires are not mounted and balanced correctly, nor are the pressures set correctly if you are still setting them to the factory pressures specified on the door tag.

What tire pressures do you recommend?

slicer wrote  

Malek@MRF wrote

Tires are not mounted and balanced correctly, nor are the pressures set correctly if you are still setting them to the factory pressures specified on the door tag.

What tire pressures do you recommend?

For the 255/275 PSS setup in 19" configuration, front pressure should be 31psi and rear pressure should be 33psi.

Malek@MRF wrote

For the 255/275 PSS setup in 19" configuration, front pressure should be 31psi and rear pressure should be 33psi.

Wow, that's a very precise recommendation. I am sorry for being a total noob, but how do I calculate or reference this information for different tires. Thanks.

Malek@MRF wrote

For the 255/275 PSS setup in 19" configuration, front pressure should be 31psi and rear pressure should be 33psi.

Would this apply to the PSS 245/265 tires as well?

TTSam wrote  

Malek@MRF wrote

For the 255/275 PSS setup in 19" configuration, front pressure should be 31psi and rear pressure should be 33psi.

Would this apply to the PSS 245/265 tires as well?

No it doesn't. I will provide that data for you shortly.

It has to do with the load index of the 255/275 combo.

PSS and PS2 in 265/245 stock size has the exact same load index, but since the PSS 255/275 has higher load index, you actually need to lower the pressure a bit or the ride may get a bit too stiff and jittery. All the info is on Tirerack.com.

My door jam sticker says 35 psi front and 36 psi rear, and my calculation actually says we should run 32 psi front and 34 psi rear for the PSS 255/275 setup, very similar to what Malek has posted.

Likely can be a few things. I'm not tire professional, but I've talked to a few people and this is what they told me...

1. Depending if your ZCP is aftermarket or not, the bore for your wheel can be made slightly larger which means it's a slide in fit. A more speciallized or professional wheel company would make the bore slightly smaller for a very tight fit. What I mean is that you may need a hammer to lightly push out the wheels when your installing or removing.

2. Balancing machine out of spec or the guy who's doing the job basically doesn't care and want to get the job done.. You may experience this problem from new technicians.

3. After tires are balanced onto the wheels. Make sure you don't go adjusting tire pressure right away. Also don't driver like you stole the car once your wheels are mounted. Between the tires are some lubricants that are still wet. By lowering pressure, hard accel, or hard braking can throw off the balance and cause the tires to lightly spin out of place.

4. Make sure all tire pressure is correct.

5. retorque the wheels after 25-50 miles.

Malek@MRF wrote

Tires are not mounted and balanced correctly, nor are the pressures set correctly if you are still setting them to the factory pressures specified on the door tag.

Malek,

Curious... Since we're on topic with PSS.

I'm running:
265/35/18 PSS
285/35/18 PSS

My fronts are set at 36psi and rear at 38psi. Or should I follow your previously posted few post above? Can you explain why we're running such a low psi?


thanks for your help

唷靠M3 wrote

Malek,

Curious... Since we're on topic with PSS.

I'm running:
265/35/18 PSS
285/35/18 PSS

My fronts are set at 36psi and rear at 38psi. Or should I follow your previously posted few post above? Can you explain why we're running such a low psi?


thanks for your help

I am running the same pressures as you on the 220`s with 245-265 with spacers. Interesting to see what Malek says.