Hey, I've had my Carrera S since November and have about 2k miles on it. A couple weeks ago, after several fun drives trying out wet mode at full throttle, I noticed a vibration through the steering wheel at freeway speeds, 60mph+. Vibration seems to be there consistently and doesn't seem to worsen or improve at higher speeds. I took it to my local tire shop that I trust and asked them to rebalance the wheels thinking maybe I lost a wheel weight. They said 3 wheels were out of balance and they rebalanced them. After that, the vibration is slightly better but still there. I haven't curbed my wheels and have carefully inspected wheels/tires from the outside and no notice of any bends or scuffs. I'm convinced I must have bent a wheel on one of the myriad pots holes we have here in the SF Bay Area.

Any have a similar experience or other ideas of what could cause this outside of wheel/tire damage? I'm not excited about taking it to the dealer mainly due to the hassle of dropping it off and retrieving it but I also have some rattles in the door panels so guess its time.

 

To confirm your thought (and I agree with you) about a bent wheel, a good & trusted tire shop/dealership will do run-out on the wheels and be able to find it.

 

Definitely sounds like a balancing issue ... For what it’s worth, I had a similar issue many years ago after installing new hi-po Bridgestone tires. After several unsuccessful rebalancing attempts, it was determined I had “square tires” and 4 replacement tires were provided to get rid of the vibration.

 

ive had a lot of wheel balance issues over the years. Ive found most wheel balance machines including road-force are not calibrated. The true test is after the wheel is balanced rotate it on the spindle and spin it again. If the machine is calibrated and the wheel is balanced will still show zero regardless of the position on the machine. Have your shop try it with you watching. 9out of 10x it will show its out of balance and need weights after you reposition it. carl

 

Thanks guys, glad everyone agrees that this isn't anything more serious. I just scheduled a dealer visit for March 2nd (first available?!) so I'll post an update after they've checked it out / rebalanced wheels.

 

If not wheel related, I would look at the disc brake rotors. I had this type of issue and it was hard to trace. I ended up selling the car (just just for this reason) — good luck!

 

Since the dealer appointment wasn't available until early March and I was already taking my BMW track car into Bavarian Professionals in Berkeley, I asked them to take a look at the balance/wheels on my 911. Sure enough, they found one of the rear wheels was bent. They sent it out to get it straightened and I got my car back the next day, vibration free and only $250 + tax to get it fixed. I'm pretty confident the dealer would have suggested I buy a new wheel at 10x that cost so happy I took it to my trusted independent shop.

Going forward, I'll no longer be running the "comfort pressure" in the tires in hopes that I'm getting slightly more protection against damage.