[Chad]

I have no idea what the problem is, but maybe what I experience may help you.

I have used Equal and I have used Centramatics. Long ago I used wheel weights but found them to be temporary.

With Equal and Centramatics I have no vibration until I vary my speed above my normal speed of 62. There are times when I need to step it up to somewhere between 65 and 70. Most of the time when I do that I get a vibration like a tire balance problem, but it is of short duration. Within a few minutes at my new speed the ride is smooth again.

I can only conclude that the balancing media or the Centramatics have to run at the new speed for a little bit to reorient the balancing media to smooth out the ride. The vibration never lasts otherwise I would be trying to do whatever I can to make it go away.

This has happened with 315 and 365 tires, and I never noticed it on the 120 tires.

---

1984 96" with 8V92TA

(remodeled Liberty Coach)

Greenwood, MO

[Corey]

I get a little vibration (comes and goes) from my 365’s between 65-70 using counter-act beads.

No, your new ones should not be worse than your old ones.

[DON]

Jeff at ETLC just installed 8 new tires, not 365, on the coach we just purchased. We have ZERO vibration. We have been traveling between 70 and 75 without any issue.

Is this a new issue or one you have always tried to resolve?

We put Centramaics on our ’88 and there was a noticeable change. Our new (to us) ’98 is even smoother without Centramatics but apparently properly balanced tires.

[Ernest]

Bill:

This is a problem I have been chasing for awhile. Once I discovered (or I should say JoSam’s in Orlando discovered) the passengers tag was out of round & JoSam’s shaved it down my vibration almost completely disappeared.

Now with my 4 new 365s the vibration is worse than it ever was.

Jon:

I was under the impression that putting anything inside the tire voided any warranty on the Michelin tires.

Chuck

[George]

Check your ride height. We bought our 1st diesel pusher in FL. Drove it back home to TX. It had a vibration if I went over 55 mph. Long story short, the ride height was incorrect and the driveshaft needed to be rebalanced. Diesel pushers have short driveshafts that don’t take kindly to driveline/u-joint angles that are too high.

We had a tag tire with a flat spot once. We couldn’t feel the vibration in the cockpit, but if you walked to the back you could here it.

Everything we have ever owned, and currently own, has lead weights for balancing, and so far so good.

[Michael]

Having just read these stories that lead weights are better then Centramatics or beads is incredible.

You could have a bent rim issue, you could have an improperly installed rim and tire. This happens when the tire buster does’nt cross torque lug nuts.

You could have a tracking issue. Solved with an 3 axle alignment.

When none of the normal balance solve an issue we should look elsewhere. Having u-joints replaced, Having drive shaft rebalanced.

all the new tires balanced out with less than 7oz of weight except drivers tag, that one took 18oz. Requested a different tire. Shop had me come back a week later and installed a different tire, that one still took 12oz to balance.

When this tire took the above weight did the tire buster rotate the tire 180 degrees on rim and recheck ?

---

Mike Harper

2004 Marathon XLII

[Fred]

Chuck, If Equal or its equivalent voids the warranty I am not aware of that.

What I do know is Equal or Centramatincs are always going to work whereas wheel weights will work initially but there is no assurance they will always work. I saw a video where a wheel balanced with weights had the wheel and tire marked with a grease pencil. The vehicle was driven at highway speed and had a single hard panic stop. After the stop, the tire had slipped on the wheel and the grease pencil marks were no longer lined up.

[Jim/Chris]

Al:

You definitely know what your talking about, I have been down every road you have mentioned with no results.

Tires (steer & tags) were all spun up on the coach and on a tire balancing machine (with rim only) and the rims are true, but that is how we found the old passengers tag tire was out of round.

Bus has been aligned (front & back) and rechecked about 6 months later (still in alignment)

Prevost Winter Garden did replace a u-joint about a year ago and checked the rest.

Tire buster did rotate the tire that took 18oz 180 degrees. It reduced the weight to 16oz from 18oz. That tire has been replaced but replacement tire is at 12oz

I purchased the bus about 2 years ago. It ran smooth until I ran over a bridge joint or a ruff spot in the road. The bus would shake for a couple of moments then smooth out again. This was the staring point of the investigation/problems.

Centramatics were install and things got worse. The tire shop broke the tires down and found the glass beads inside that were fighting with the centramatics. Beads were removed and centramatics reinstalled. Ride improved a lot but still had some vibration. Truing nuts/top hat nuts were installed , ride improved some more but still not right around 58-64MPR. This was when the out of round passengers tag was found and shaved down. With all the above the bus was now running pretty smooth.

The tires were aging out and that’s why I had them replaced. I did watch the tire busters mount and balance the new tires. All were mounted horizontally and balanced with less than 7oz (except the drivers tag 12oz). The centering nuts were also reinstalled. But now the ride is worse than ever. Very frustrated to say the least, lots of time and money and things are worse than better.

Chuck

[AL]

The next thing is power train mounts, engine and transmission check.

Pretty easy,

Put bus over a concrete surface, wood block the engine oil pan, cover the entire pan surface where the drain plug is

Slowly jack the engine watching if the power train separates from the mount surface.

AL

[Archived]

Could be harmonics due to tired/old/malformed motor mounts. We had an issue with our first bus, a 1999 shell called 2001 Country Coach 2 slide. Prevost Dallas added some washer or such to bumper side motor mounts after we replaced tires, wheels ( especially inner steels are rarely true) But an H normally has 9 inch wide alloys on inner duals

[Corey]

Could also be exacerbated by front end/steering parts, especially if IFS equipped.

[rafael]

Front end was completely rebuilt about a year ago, then the full chassis alignment followed.

Jacking the engine & trans seams a bit scary, that’s a lot of weight concentrated on the pot metal cast oil pan. How much do I need to lift/jack the engine/trans to determine bad mounts?

Chuck

Thanks for every one’s input. This vibration issue is driving me crazy, got to get to the bottom of it before it gets to the bottom of my wallet.

[Archived]

Chuck,

Both my Marathon H’s had that slight vibration depending on speed, I could never get it corrected. FWIW, none of my other buses with 315’s had vibration issues.

[Chuck & Katrina]

Is the vibration there while under power and also coasting? That answer could help answer what is going on.

---

2000 Featherlite H3-45

2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Leesburg, FL

[AL]

You mentioned something, you stated coach was fine and then the bridge or pot hole came along. Since that incident you are chasing problems. All the tires in the world will not help, possibly, bad shock, bent shock or mount ,suspension took a wack now vibration issues, someone is missing something. I knew this is not the answer but start looking under coach.