I suspect that the following is not too unusual, though it would be great to get the account of other Fit owners.

I find that the car starts to shudder at around 115 km/h (72mph). It becomes quite noticable at 120 km/h (75mph) through to 135 km/h (84mph). I didn't test it above that. It's not always there, and it is more often there when the engine is under load e.g. accelerating, especially up a hill. However, it is sometimes there when maintaining constant speed on level ground.

At first, I thought it was highly imperfect balance of the new snow tires, possibly due to rushedness since the demand for snow tires was quite high at the time that I had them put on. The car is new, so I didn't have a chance to try extensive highway driving with the all-seasons that came with the car. The place that put on the (new) snow tires was recommneded by a trusted mechanic, and they seemed very welcoming of a return trip to check the balance. It was a very unbusy time when I went back, so I think the double-check was done carefully. The guy who checked said that they were well balanced except for one that was a bit off. I assumed that he adjusted that one. I went for a highway drive just to see whether the problem went away, but the shudder is as I described above. Hard to tell if it was worse before.

Anyway, maybe cars like this aren't designed for much above 100 km/h? Or maybe the tires aren't? The tires are Michelin Xi 3, with good reviews. I vaguely recall running across educational material in the past showing how deformations can form on the tire at high speeds. As I said, I wouldn't be overly surprised if this was regarded as normal, but it would be nice to be sure. My 97 Tercel shook at high speeds, and I was kind of hoping that car/tire technology had moved the yard sticks further along.

 

Where in Canada do you get to drive these speeds in winter?

I have a bit of shake /tremour in my snows as well at say 100-110. I had them re-balance and a bit better.

 

Michelins tend to be one of the best constructed tires and the Xi3 is rated T (maximum speed of 118) or H (130) depending on size. So, the speed that you were traveling should not be a factor.

If you have snow or ice accumulated on the inside of the wheel, this can affect its balance. The solution is to rinse off the wheel or brush away the accumulation.

If one or more of your wheels is bent or has a flat spot, you usually would feel the vibration across a wider speed range. I'm assuming the shop properly torqued the wheels after checking the balance.

Since you feel the vibration under load, I would check the engine and transmission mounts assuming the engine seems to be running smoothly. However, I would imagine you would feel the vibration more at low end torque, i.e. when first accelerating from a stand still.

Loose or worn suspension parts can cause vibrations, but this is not as common. The same with the constant velocity joints. How many miles are on your car?

 

It's the tires.

The car is smooth up through improbable speeds. The only way the suspension could contribute to vibration is if parts are worn out, loose.

Where smaller cars do not do well is absorbing road imperfections, but that's very different from tire/wheel vibration.

Minor balance problems are an issue around 80km/h. At the speeds you experience vibration it would be due to tire construction. Something is flattening out at the higher centrifugal force at higher speeds.

I'm ultra sensitive to tire/wheel vibration and have returned tires that could not be balanced. Michelins are the only brand I've had consistently smooth rides with. Other brands I've tried in the last 10 years are Goodyear, Yokohama. These were all seasons, but they were terrible. Snow tires, with the softer rubber and thicker tread will be more susceptible to imperfections.

I'd take them back to the dealer and ask to exchange them.

 

@Black3sr: I don't normally drive that high. I was trying to characterize the shudder in hopes that it makes it easier to determine the cause with greater confidence. Normally, I keep it between 100-120 km/h depending on the road and traffic conditions. The rebalancing seems to have pushed the start of shudder from 110 to 120 km/h, but as I said, it's hard to tell for sure because I didn't carefully try to characterize the shudder before the rebalancing. It takes about 30 minutes of highway driving to encounter enough clear spots to accelerate and decelerate through the speed range enough times that I can actually describe the shudder to the extent that I did (which still quite vague). Lot of gas, too. But heck, it's worthwhile because a long drive with the shudder lasts 6 hours each way. In fact, this is why I didn't take the time to characterize the shudder before rebalancing -- I wanted to get home. Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience.

@palos: The car is brand new, and my first trip to another city brought the odometer just over 1000km (630 miles). I noticed that I don't get a shudder when accelerating through the same RPMs in 4th gear, but I guess (only a guess) that because of the different gear ratio, it's not so easy to stress the engine at 4th gear as it is in 5th gear. I'm a bit reluctant to bring it to the dealer because it is so new, and I want to save my browny points for when I really need them. Also, it was my first time buying new, and I did a terrible job negotiating -- still trying to get over my beef with that.

@Steve244: It can't be worn parts because it's a new car. I get your point about returning the tires. I don't have the spine to peeve off the tire place because they have a good reputation. It would be a tough request after the mileage I put on them, and if the new ones show the same behaviour (even if it *is* due to balancing), I will be bleating the same tune. I will look like an OCD case. However, I will keep what you said in mind just for personal knowledge. I'm tempted to say that it might help in the future, but I buy tires so seldomly that it might not. The fact that my old Tercel also shook tells me that if it is tires, then it might be a prevalent problem and fighting it may be a losing battle. The fact that most of my driving is inside the city makes me even less inclined to bash antlers with a reputable business establishment. But I appreciate your chiming in.

 

TommyMadison - you driving 401 then? You from GTA?

I like cruising at 110-115 on 401. It seems to be the sweet spot for mine anyways.

Hey maybe if you put that piece of trim back on the hatch would cure the problem - lol

 

Yes, from GTA a few life times ago (how did you guess??). Subsequently, KW was my stomping grounds for more than 10 years. Been in the nation's capital for the last number of years, but still visit TO on occassion.

The trim on the hatch has never been removed. Maybe I should try removing it ??

 

Just a guess. I grew up South of Ottawa near Cardinal but I first worked in Ottawa for a few years on Albert St during the 60s. Been in Kitchener since 69 ( I am old eh).

 

Cardinal looks like a nice rustic town (Wikipedia).

So in this part of the continent, with the snow and salt, etc., I didn't go with a white Fit. Heck, I'm just plain lazy, so I'd likely have left it to streak grey no matter where I lived. How much work is it to keep the white Fit white?

 

Well Tommy it is not bad at all for keeping reasonably clean looking in winter.

 

I realize that this thread is old, but I'm just re-encountering this problem. So I dug back to this thread and followed up with a bit more web sleuthing. According to Tire Speed Ratings and Tread Life | Michelin Tires Canada, my "T" speed rating is 118mph, not 118kph. It's actually 190kph -- so I now see why my speed is not a factor.

It's pretty consistent -- go above 115 and get shudder. I strongly suspect a balance problem. Last year, I actually visited my mechanic to check the balance from the tire business, and it was way off. But he said it's quite possible that a balance weight fell off. However, the problem seems persistent across about 3 years now, and I'm getting fed up with all the extra trips back to ask them to rebalance (and the extra trip to my mechanic just to check on their work). To be 200% sure that they aren't being properly balanced, I would say one more trip to the mechanic is needed to check this time. However, it has consumed, and is consuming, too much time.

I would try another tire place, but the current tire place provides a service that I haven't yet found elsewhere -- they store your off-season tires. Very important for small-apartment dweller who is not allowed to store stuff beside (or rather, in front of or behind) the car in the parking spot. It also makes it unnecessary to haul grimy tires (bagged though they may be) in the car and vacuuming up afterward. Actually, it's impossible to vacuum afterward because of the lack of facilities with an outlet.

So for now, I am simply gritting my teeth and sucking it up. I make very few long distance highway trips these days anyway, so it really has become quesionable how much trouble I'm willing to go to in order to address this problem.

 

are they doing road force balancing? or high speed balance?

 

I don't know. I've bugged them enough that I'm hesitant to call them off-the-cuff to ask.

Regarding road force balancing, I doubt it, just based on the fact that their business is pretty high volume when it comes time to change seasonal tires. It's more expensive, from my googling (I don't know if it's more time consuming or labour intensive).

Regarding high speed balancing, I was not aware of such a thing until your post. From googling, it seems like spinning the tire at speed while balancing. I automatically assumed that this is what balancing is, but I'm not a mechanic. Good to know about these differences.

I'll ask them the next time I anticipate a long drive. However, that might not be before I switch back to all-seasons in the spring (which I consider to be seasonal summer times, since they are so ineffective in the winter).

I *have* posted in a local municipal usenet newsgroup asking if anyone was aware of auto businesses that used road force. No response, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Usenet is an old form of forum, and there are mechanisms for vetting postings, and it has degraded almost to the point of uselessness.

 

I gave in and called them. I was surprised to hear that one possible explanation was that the tires were never balanced. Balancing would show up as a separate line item on the bill. I just checked to confirm that the winter tires were balanced when installed in the falls of both 2014 and 2015. They said that they do dynamic balancing, but not road force balancing. (They didn't actually say "dynamic balancing" but they clarified that the tire spins during the balancing, though they did not confirm what speed).

I'm going to live with this for the time being. The problem is that there aren't many options when it comes to a tire business that will store your off-season tires. Also, I don't drive long distances often these days, so I'm mindful of spending too much time on thins.