this is normal - I reported this while back and spent $$$ chasing it. its just possible steering feedback

aka not a lexus

 

I had a 2017 base 991.2 that was not like this at all. Also a 991.2 GT3. And three other 991.1's. None of them with vibration in the steering wheel. It's certainly not normal. I'm hoping it's tires. I have noticed defective tires are becoming more common. Across brands. If it's not rubber or wheels it's going to be a pain to diagnose, only because dealers seem to say they can't duplicate quite frequently and it usually needs to be pretty dramatic for them to find. This is pretty subtle I think. Though annoying. I'm a bit of a nut about rotational balance. The OP experiencing this after the wheel and tire change makes this seem unlikely, but I'm still holding out hope on rubber and possibly not the same issue. However my symptoms are the same and the brake behavior is also the same.

 

I have no idea if my situation is similar but: I bought a '17 CPO Carrera with 20K miles last month. It has (possibly) the OEM Pzeros, with 8 mm on the front and 5 ish mm on the rear. The tires might have been swapped because the DOT date codes indicate 2018 manufacture.

Anyway, at around 50-60 I have a distinct shimmy in the steering wheel that goes away above (cough) that speed.

I am budgeting for a set of Michelin P4S next year so I wasn't going to worry about it until then and do a 4 wheel alignment with the new tires.

Hope this helps.

 

mine was between 54-74, If I have my hands on the wheel I don't feel anything, if I dont then I see it
I tried different roads and after paying for alignment and balancing again, I felt it was just road feedback.
As I don't feel it when holding the wheel only visual when not
I even changed spacers and removed them as well


let us know what you find

 

I tried to tell them...

 

Make sure whom ever does the balancing on the wheels, uses a Roadforce machine. These will actually apply a load to the wheel as it spins, negating even minor tire imperfections that cause slight vibrations.

 

I second the Roadforce wheel balance. I had similar vibration that wasn’t corrected until the wheels were balanced by a Roadforce machine. It seems the 991 are sensitive to imperfections in tires, wheels, balance. CCDD mentioned he had the same vibration with both sets of wheels, but I would still start with a really good balance.

 

Roadforce balance completed, all well within spec, same situation continues

 

I have a 2 year old 2018 C4S. I don’t notice any vibration in the steering. I replaced the original P zeros (after about 2k miles) with Michelins. Didn’t like the ride quality with the Pirellis. The dealer just mounted and balanced them. No alignment. No vibration and the tires are wearing evenly if a trifle fast. I use 19 inch wheels with winter tires 4 months of the year. They are simply swapped every season. No vibration with them either. The steering does chatter a bit on rough roads but I attribute that to feedback. The steering is very good.

 

Bummer. So at least in your case something else is going on. Please keep us posted if you track down the part or issue. I have a feeling my car is going to be the same after road force as well. I'm about to take it in for its first oil change and will have it balanced.

 

One thing you can try that I would recommend - see if you can locate someone in the Boston area that is willing to let you swap wheels and tires with them or perhaps they have a second set of winter tires/wheels, etc. that you can put on your car. This will tell you instantly if the issue is with wheels and tires. If it still has the oscillations after that swap, then you know its in the suspension components or steering rack. If you were in the Wash DC region I'd gladly have you come over and we could do that in about 40 minutes. My HRE wheels with Michelin Pilot Sports are smooth as silk.

 

Has everyone with perceived problems read this entire thread and others in the forum? It appears most are on a wild goose hunt.

 

I have owned two almost identical 991.2 Carrera. Referenced above. Along with an additional 991.2. The steering wheel feedback shake is not what we're talking about. The vibration on my current car was in no way present on any of my previous cars. It's pretty easy to tell intermittent movement in the wheel, which is a product of road surface and feedback, not necessarily speed dependent, over a more rotational feeling balance which is speed dependent. This also has some interplay with the brakes as well.

 

Someone on the 997 forum (G.IG. I believe ) went thru all this recently swapping tires, suspension components, etc- you name it he did. A tech tightened his pinion to steering rack bolt a half turn as there was some slack there and that seemed to have mostly resolved his situation after all that. Might be worth an inexpensive try. I know this is daunting, I have had it it on brand new cars MB's and Jags as well.

 

In my 40+ years of driving all kind of cars and quite a few 911s, the root causes for a steering wheel vibration at certain speeds had always come down to either a tire balancing or defective tire or defective / out of spec wheels.
All other issues (suspension bushings, suspension plays or even alignments) have other ways to manifest themselves and can be easily differentiated.

The most frustrating part in my experience is that more often than not it was a wheel balance issue, but more than once I had to prove that a shop I was using (and I do not go cheap shops for 911 wheels/tires work) did not calibrate their machine properly or did not do the balancing right etc. Few times they would show me the wheel balance just fine, but when I push them to re-calibrate the machine in my presence it was off. Once calibrated and balanced properly the vibration gone.