My car shudders/vibrates when cruising! Is there a fix?

Vibration problems can be caused by a number of things, including:

• warped brake rotors - see brake wraping,
• badly balanced tires
• flat-spotted tires
• bent or out-of-true wheels
• mud or debris inside the wheel

If repeated tire balancing fails to solve the problem, the tires may not be 'match mounted'. This process ensures the tires and wheels are combined to make the most round combination possible. Since tires are never perfectly round, this can be important.

All good-quality tire manufacturers provide tire markings for match mounting, but sometimes tire shops don't know how to do it. See the Tire Rack Tech Page.

Drivers who experience an oscillating vibration (that starts, fades out and fades in again) may be the victim of flat-spotted tires. As the unbalanced tires rotate (at slightly different speeds), they will phase in and out of balance with each other. The only solution here is to replace the tires.