Shaking at over 70+ mph

[swchang]

Hey y'all. My mom has a 2006 M-B S350 that was hardly driven for the first 1-2 years (we got it in late 2005). However, for the past 2 years, my mom has been driving it regularly / daily. As of about, oh, less than a year ago, we noticed that over 70+ mph, the car will shake periodically on the highway. She brought it into the dealership today, since it's still under warranty, and was told that the tires are flatspotted and all 4 need to be replaced.

I call horse manure. If anything, I'd think it just needs a rebalancing, and at very worst, realignment.

Any opinions? Can the dealership possibly be right?

[Orient330iNYC]

i would think you would feel flatspotted tires at any speed. plus they usually go away after the tires warm up... my UHP tires will flatspot after sitting for a week, but it goes away after i get the car up to speed and the tires warmed up.
what i've found is a high speed vibration is often caused by a bent rim or a rim needed balance. if you live anywhere where potholes are a fact of life, i would bet on a slightly bent rim, then balance being off.


i would bring it to a reputable tire shop to have the balance checked. worse case, if the tires do need replacement, you can get the tires from tire rack and save big $$

[vortex_tuning]

It sounds like a wheel needs to be rebalanced. The difficult part is to find out which one. It's probably not a bad idea to get all wheels checked.

[Gary@Tirerack]

It sounds like a wheel needs to be rebalanced. The difficult part is to find out which one. It's probably not a bad idea to get all wheels checked.

Agreed.