Dear all,

This is my first time posting in the forums.
I have a 2015 Evo x, 5000 babied miles on it and the steering wheel is shaking above 60 mph. I have been to three balancing shops including the Mitsubishi dealer and have spent nearly $200 dollars re-balancing the wheels. The shaking has not stopped or changed. What is annoying is that it is NOT always there. Sometimes even at 80 mph the wheel is dead straight, but most of the time it is there. It is never vibrating below 60-65 mph regardless of road surface.

I have installed:

I am running Cobb Stage 3 with accessport
Cobb Intake
Cobb Downpipe
Cobb High Flow Cat
ETS Extreme Catback

I suspect this parts below for the vibration

18x9.5 +18 AVID.1 6 SPOKE TUNER WHEELS
67.1 to 73.1 hub centric aluminum rings
Continental ExtremeContact DWS 265/35-18 XL

I don't have the stock wheels and don't remember how it drove because I sold them right away to get ready for winter in Fargo, ND.

At this point I am suspecting the aluminum rings since they don't really fit tightly. I have ordered three more different sets from plastic and will see if that eliminates the vibration.

QUESTION 1: Is this vibration normal for Evo's on 9.5 tires at 60-80 mph?

Q 2: Is it possible that the lugs are causing the vibration, they are cheap from aluminum. (im getting a new set from steal)?

Q 3: How likely is it that it is alignment? The car goes dead straight. I don't think it is.

Q 4: Avid.1 Wheels are cheap. Is it possible that they can not be balanced for highway?

Q 5: What about the Continental All season tires. They make a lot of noise. In fact I hear that the wheels are not balanced (Even though i got road force twice and everyone says they are balanced) as i drive on silky smooth highway I hear the tires spinning and pulsing you know what I mean? I AM GOING CRAZY. PLEASE ADVISE.

Q 6: Is this a known issue in the Evo X community especially with stock tires. How safe is it to keep driving this way. The vibration is not crazy, but it is there and is annoying.


THANK YOU ALL FOR READING AND TRYING TO HELP.

 

I have a stock 2015 Evo X GSR and still get the Vibration over 60+ MPH, though it is more noticeable t 80MPH. I don't worry about it too much, though maybe it isn't normal.

 

Isn't a sports car, which is what Evo X is, supposed to be dead precise when it comes to handling and speed? How is it ok to have vibration? It is concerning me even further that you have stock set up and vibration. Maybe it has to do with something else in the car?

Thanks for the reply man.

 

It shouldn't be vibrating. Did the shops that balanced the wheels/tires check for bent wheels while they were on the balancer?

 

I'm going to say you're onto something with your hub centering rings not fitting tightly. They need to be snug. You can manually center the wheels on the hubs and tighten them up on the front to see if that's the issue.

Make sure your tire shop has a road force balancer too.

Lastly, I have had a bad tire cause your symptoms before. Wheels would balance out but then shake at speed. Try moving your fronts to the back and vice-versa.

 

Based on your description, I suspect the wheels the most. I had those tires on my stock wheels on in stock size, and they were balance perfectly. One thing to check would be tire pressure, those tires like a little bit higher pressure than most others.

Other thing you can try is see if you can barrow someone else's wheels and see if that fixes the vibration.

 

Thanks for the all the responses. I will get the new rings Monday and will post the results.
Is it possible that launching the car, which I did like maybe 6 times in total by carefully slipping the clutch in, would be responsible for this. Maybe I damaged the front differential?

All kinds of scary thoughts are going through my mind. The shop did road force balance the tires, but have not check for bent wheels.

 

Crazy **** just happened. I found a friend's gsr stock wheels to put on the car and test and one of the front wheel studs broke. I drove the car after the install and the shaking was still there, not better not worse. I am taking it to the dealership tomorrow and see what the heck is going on. Brand New car with a broken stud?

 

My steering wheel never shook until I put the XXR wheels on it. Put on hub centric rings and it made it better but still get mild shake from time to time.

 

I worked for Discount Tire Co. for 12 years, if you had a true road-force done then they should see the bent wheel or a OOR " Out Of Round " tire, see this all the time. NO wheel and tire are completely round thus the reason for a balance or Road force or a force-match machine to find out if you have a bad belt in the tire. Force-match or road force you want no more then .020 if so you have a tire issue. They will see a side to side or up and down movement which means the tire is OOR!

 

Thanks again to everyone for their replies. They were truly helpful. I reached the dark point where I was going to sell my Evo X due to frustration, but I did find the solution !!!

As I mentioned above the stud from the right front wheel was broken during my mild efforts of trying to tighten the lug on the rim. I went to the dealership to get a new stud. Came home, installed the new wheel stud and the car is riding perfectly smooth.

Moral of the story.

If you get aftermarket wheels that are larger then the stock 67.1mm hub and you get crappy aluminum lugs and you get a so-so hub centering aluminum rings which don't exactly fit.... you will most likely mount the wheel off center which will most likely through the brake rotor off due to incorrect torque pressure and you will have a vibration in the steering wheel at high speed. In my case, you I put unwanted stress on one or two wheel studs and it deformed and broke.

Be careful with aftermarket rims. They might look good, but not perform to your liking.

 

You were ready to sell it just because of this? Yikes. Anyway, I'm glad to know the car is good now.

 

Glad you figured this out! EVO X's shouldn't vibrate when up to speed