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New 2016 Sport - driveline vibration

midnightsun

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Paradise
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2022 Explorer ST
Just a heads up.

The wheel balancing at the ford factory must be bad. I drove a few Sports and a Platinum, ALL had severe vibration above 80. Like Hitachi wand / ladies vibrator bad. My hands and feet were numb. The wheels were 3+ grams off each. So if you buy a new car...any car/truck of any make model, have the dealership re-balance your wheels before you leave....also have them swap out the blend oil for full synthetic while its up on the lift. ~ Enjoy!
 



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LOL to you relating the vibration

Glad they were able to correct it.
 






Thanks for the heads up, but mine were to spec off the lot.
I pretty much swapped mine out for winters back in Nov when I took delivery and recently had them balanced using a Hunter Road force machine when swapping them back in and they were A OK!
 






3 grams is like the weight of penny?
 






Test drove a Platinum the other day with a friend. There was definitely a wheel out of balance on it. Told the salesman. Surprising they don't catch that in the assembly process.
 






how long was the test drive?

do you think it's possible on the sports the tires are soft enough to flat spot?
 






I never noticed flat spotting with the 18" Winter wheels I had on but now that the 20" OEM Hankooks are back on I do notice it for the first mile or two.

Peter
 






they balanced them but they lost balance, rebalancing them is not a big deal and sometimes the flat spots go away. Vibrations happen when vehicles sit or the tires reseat themselves, if it wasn't road tested at the dealer at higher speeds they wouldn't catch it.
 






Everyone at the dealership thought i was crazy. They thought how could three new cars have wheels that weren't balanced. Most people don't notice i guess. I forced the guys to drive it and they weren't happy i was right. It was SERIOUS vibration. This Sport had 100 miles on so its been test driven alot. Other explores i drove had around 20 miles on it. From now on any car i buy ill have the wheels balanced before i pay the check.
 






Everyone at the dealership thought i was crazy. They thought how could three new cars have wheels that weren't balanced. Most people don't notice i guess. I forced the guys to drive it and they weren't happy i was right. It was SERIOUS vibration. This Sport had 100 miles on so its been test driven alot. Other explores i drove had around 20 miles on it. From now on any car i buy ill have the wheels balanced before i pay the check.
Considering all the new vehicles I've had (9), I have never had to have the wheels balanced after picking them up from the dealerships. And I'm fussy when it comes to that.

Peter
 






Tire vibrations are a very common problem here in Dubai when buying new cars, and often the only way to rectify is to get new tires. Cars here has been sitting to long on the ship and storage yard that the flat-spots have become permanent defects.

The problem is that dealers are unwilling to replace the tires proactively, and let the customer suffer first. They will just give you the brand new car with vibrations and tell that after 1000km it will be fine... it never does. After 1000km they take the car for a day, do balancing again, and give it back to the customer with less vibrations, but not perfect yet. If the customer still does not accept, than only they change the tires.

Most of the cars I bought here had this problem; I now only accept cars that have all the tires replaced before I take delivery.
 






Everyone at the dealership thought i was crazy. They thought how could three new cars have wheels that weren't balanced. Most people don't notice i guess. I forced the guys to drive it and they weren't happy i was right. It was SERIOUS vibration. This Sport had 100 miles on so its been test driven alot. Other explores i drove had around 20 miles on it. From now on any car i buy ill have the wheels balanced before i pay the check.

I at least make sure the cars is right before I take it. I make sure to do a full set of roads to - IE smaller 2 lane and broad 4 lane and interstate - get up to 80 too. always wring it out good.

I wouldn't make them rebalance them if the tested good - if.

I just don't want to give their techs a chance to smurf something else up.
 






cwescapexlt4x4, great avatar! Go Hawks!

I had my local Les Schwab test and rebalance the last two Ford's I purchased (2014 Escape Titanium w/18" and 2016 Explorer XLT). Each vehicle had 3 wheels that needed to be rebalanced. There are a variety of factors that contribute to wheels being out of balance, and from their experience it is not uncommon for factory new vehicles to this issue.

Did not cost much, it gave me peace of mind, and a smoother ride.
 






how long was the test drive?

do you think it's possible on the sports the tires are soft enough to flat spot?

When i had the hankooks that orig came on the truck..it defiantly flat spotted for good 3-4 miles for me..since switching to the Alenzas..nothing
 






H rated tires come on this thing. Nothing Sport about H rated tires IMOP. ALENZA also seem to be a H rated light truck tire. Personally i'm a bit reckless since i drive at night when everyones sleeping. I'll eventually find a summer tire...a W or Y tire...maybe settle with a V rated since i pull a trailer from time to time..then have dedicated winter truck tires. 18" rims for winter might limit that though.
 






H rated tires come on this thing. Nothing Sport about H rated tires IMOP. ALENZA also seem to be a H rated light truck tire. Personally i'm a bit reckless since i drive at night when everyones sleeping. I'll eventually find a summer tire...a W or Y tire...maybe settle with a V rated since i pull a trailer from time to time..then have dedicated winter truck tires. 18" rims for winter might limit that though.

A P265/45ZR20 Summer only tire was an option on the Sport but they don't list a speed rating for it.

Peter
 






A P265/45ZR20 Summer only tire was an option on the Sport but they don't list a speed rating for it.

Peter

Thats pretty interesting Peter and good to know. Did they have this on a dealer order / option list or something? I don't see it listed on the ford website.
Z ratings are a general rating Max speed 149MPH+
H = 130 mph
V = 149 mph
W = 168 mph
Y = 186 mph
 






Thats pretty interesting Peter and good to know. Did they have this on a dealer order / option list or something? I don't see it listed on the ford website.
Z ratings are a general rating Max speed 149MPH+
H = 130 mph
V = 149 mph
W = 168 mph
Y = 186 mph
I also couldn't find it on the Ford website but knowing it was there at one time, I checked the 2016 Order Guide and it still showed as an optional item that could be part of your dealer order. Thanks for clarifying the "Z" part in the tire size.

Peter
 






I hate the hankooks on mine too.

looking forward to something new, not sure what though.

What's the speed limiter on a Sport set to?

I plan on some other H tires for ours - it's not a sport and the wifeymobile. so I like that treadlife.
 



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What's the speed limiter on a Sport set to?

HEHEHE if you haven't found out hit the country. ;)

The consumer speed limiter is 120MPH.
 






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