Wheel balance 2004 cab

I have always had difficulty in getting the front wheels really accurately balanced despite multiple attempts. I can get them to a reasonable state but not perfect. There is no obvious runout that I can see. I realise that steering feel is one of the driving pleasures of these machines and that road surface can be detected through the wheel but imbalance is not acceptable! Is this a unique problem? Is there a better standard of equipment available than at the local tyre depot ? ( they say it the machine is checked regularly) Is there wear in suspension components which contributes to the problem, eg worn dampers. Nothing feels worn and the car only has 45K miles on it. Any suggestions welcome!

Could it actually be a brake disc related issue? Apparently the inner faces can cause issues that manifest themselves like you're describing.

How old are the tyres?,other halfs Rav4 had balancing issues and turned out to be tyres out of shape 🤷"â™‚️

Tyres are PZeros less than 3 yrs and not much wear.

Buckled wheel.

What fault do you have when driving ? I'm assuming you have vibration through the steering wheel at something like 62 - 74 mph .. with lower or higher speeds being absolutely fine ... it can literally start at 62 with 61 being fine . That is an unbalanced wheel . The brake discs do play a large part in this .. if a wheel is balanced on a machine then its balanced and therefore the wheels are not the issue . If several attempts at balancing the wheels at different garges then i would suggest it's not that .. brake discs would be my next logical step .. you can check run out but i would be at first removing them and checking the mating surfaces .. a problem with the hub perhaps .. after that i would replace them . Any pulsing on the brake pedal when applied at this speed ? Suspension issues tend to give different problems .. for it to be as i first said then its a rotational mass issue . Just an FYI .. the Turbo type wheels have hollow spokes .. if they have been refurbed using a sand blaster then this sand can get into the spokes .. they will never balance due to the sand moving around inside .

Thanks for the helpful suggestions, the vibration seems to be there at most speeds (vibration is not a very good description, it does come across as imbalance to my mind) It certainly does not occur just in the speed range quoted. Front discs were replaced a few years ago and have little wear and braking is excellent, no pulsing or signs of distortion. Balance has been OK in the past with these discs so I dont think that is the cause. I did have the wheels refurbished recently so that might have something to do with it but I dont see how? Mating surfaces of the wheels had been cleaned up but I will check this aspect out again. They are standard issue 5 spoke carrera 18"wheels.

Vibration / imbalance through the car is not what i would class as front wheel balance .. If you haven't had the rear wheels balanced then i would certainly start with having that done ! A C4 and i would be looking at propshaft , rubber doughnut split . Failing that i would move onto rear discs .. This is one of those .. I need to drive the car to feel the problem type of issues im afraid .

Thanks for the comments DeMort, rear wheels have been balanced and it is not 4WD. I will check out the front wheel seating to the hub even though they have been tightened to the correct torque. I will get to the bottom of it eventually!!

It might be worth trying a different tyre fitting shop, if you haven't done already. A few years ago I had a wheel judder at specific speeds, the local kiwi-fit and also my local Porsche Indy couldn't eliminate it by rebalancing wheels. I took it to CostCo, they fixed it first time. My local CostCo (Coventry) has the most professional tyre fitting shop I have ever seen, staffed by careful and conscientious individuals. They knew exactly what they were doing with my 996, and chatting with them, they seem to get quite a few high end sports cars in there.

Thanks for the comments. I still think it is most likely to be a balance issue, but its difficult to find a shop like your Costco who really do it meticulously. I will get there eventually!

I'm just going to throw a total guess out here .. The wheels have been refurbed , that usually involves powder coating them .. the center hole of the wheel , if not blanked off then it will have powder coating on it .. often the wheels don't fit as its too big after this has been done .. At work in the past i've had to sand down the wheel hole to get them to fit on the hub .. Just wondering if its something like that that's the issue . If brake discs have been fine in the past then we are only really left with the wheels .. Possible they still need balancing correctly but if more than one garage has already done this then i kinda start leaning away from it being the fault .

DeMort, you are spot on as usual! When I got the wheels back they wouldn't fit on the hub because of the layers of coating. I have scraped and sanded this off and there is now no issue with fit. I'm going to have one more go at balancing with another outfit and then perhaps try some other wheels. Does anyone know if my neighbours 999.2 wheels would fit? They are 19" I think in place of my 18's but maybe it would be adequate to prove the balance issue?

Its possible with this powder coat the wheel did not sit correctly on the wheel balancer hence they are still not balanced correctly .. Any machine that uses a center tapper cone to align the wheel on the balance machine will have issues here .. there is a different way of clamping the wheel to the machine without a cone on the outside and clamping against it so that is the best way . Fingers crossed anyways for you . 997 wheels , 19 should fit just fine .. i always fit them slowly and check to be certain though .. we fit slaves when wheels go off for refurb so that's how i fit a wheel i'm unsure of .

Thanks for the comments, I will try to find a balancer who doesnt use the tapered centre fitting method and if that fails I will carefully try the other wheels. I don't want to be the one who makes some awful scrape marks on his pristine wheels !!!