Persistent Vibration

I've got a 2010 4-door GTI with a set of Motegi MR118 17" wheels. The wheels were on the car when I purchased them along with a set of 1/2 tread tires. Since the purchase its had a slight vibration which I attributed to a mis-balanced tire or a flat spot or some such. The tires had some odd wear patterns on them.

Last week got a new set of Nitto NT555 G2 with a full mount and balance from a reputable local shop. They stated that the rear left wheel looked a little bent, so they left it on the rear. Still had a bit of a vibration when I got it back. Took it in for a re-balance and still have a vibration coming through the steering wheel.

Vibration is only present around 55+ mph, nothing at lower speeds and it doesn't really increase with speed after 55. I don't think its the rear left wheel because the vibration is coming through the steering wheel.

Are hubcentric balancers needed? Could the slightly bent rear left wheel be causing it?

A bent wheel can definitely cause that kind of problem. If you have a jack maybe move that wheel to the front and see if the vibration follows the wheel. Also, I don’t know the bore if those specific wheels but if it doesn’t match the hub you definitely need hubcentric rings.

I had a lot of speed dependant vibration/shaking - a combination of the following ultimately took care of it:

Front/rear control arm bushings
Hubs all around
Ball joints
Rear lower control arms
Sway bar endlinks

Basically any bushing that has signs of wear (even some that dont) have worn out and allow just enough play in the suspension to make the wheels shake around at higher speeds. Ive seen alot of people chase their tails about their wheels/alignment/tires and though those are of course factors, if addressing those specific factors didn't solve your problem, its time to look at the common bushings that go out, which are summed up in my list

if you are feeling the vibration through the steering wheel then I would suspect the problem is with one of your front wheels.

You will need hubcentric rings if the centerbore of the wheel is >57.1mm.

Based on the Motegi website, this wheel probably has a 72.60 bore so you should have hubcentric rings.

Definitely have a really close look at the rear position control arm bushing on the front suspension. When one or both of those go bad it can cause a lot of issues.

Just ordered some 57.1x72.6 hubcentric rings, will mount those up and give it a shot since that is the cheap and easy solution.

While the wheels are off, I will also inspect the various bushings and see how they look. But hopefully the rings take care of it.

Hub rings got in on Saturday. So far after about 150 miles it appears they have solved the problem.

I can't believe the shop never brought up hub rings after you took it to them twice.

Wow, you'd think a tire shop would have known this. I'm glad you solved you problem so easily & didn't go down the rabbit hole of replacing all the suspension bushings chasing this problem.

You need to find a reputable & knowledgeable tire shop.

They asked if I had hub rings, and mentioned that it may be the cause of the problem, but didn't directly identify it as the culprit.

And sadly, they are about as good as it gets to my knowledge within a reasonable drive.

As a centering ring is not a part they would sell to customers, I'm not surprised that a tech at a tire shop wouldn't take the time to measure the difference between the hub and the centerbore of the wheel.

At least they gave you a clue and got you to investigate further. :thumbsup: