It’s mud season in Maine, and already the calls are coming in. “My steering wheel shakes when I go 55.” or “My wheels feel funny.” Just today in fact I took a call like that. Let us save you both some time and money and share a simple secret – Mud. Yes, that’s right, mud is usually the culprit.
Here’s Why
You don’t have to be off road to find mud in Maine, many of us live on dirt roads or have dirt driveways, and then there is the ever-present “sand” that is used on the road when it snows. All that material has to end up some place, and that is often on the inner surface of your auto’s alloy wheels. When we balance a tire, we balance down to 1 gram, about the weight of a paper clip, pretty light, right? Yet it’s not unusual for us to clean clean out 1/2 lb or more of mud, sand and dirt from our customer’s wheels.
Fixing It Yourself
We’re all about educating our customers, they are smart folks, which is why they are our customers in the first place. So here is how to save yourself some time and money.
1) Find a good self service car wash, the automatic washes just don’t do a good job of cleaning the inside of the wheels.
2) Using the wand from a self serve car wash, insert the wand tip in between the spokes of your auto’s wheels, go from spoke to spoke, try to angle in back of the spokes. Repeat as necessary.
3) Do the cleaning on all 4 wheels, you may feel the shake in your steering wheel, but chances are the rear wheels are just as dirty as the front.
4) Drive the car, see if this corrects the problem. Should you still have a vibration, please contact us, we’ll check and clean your wheels, and then inspect for a bent rim or out of balance tire.
Not sure, or just want peace of mind, then call or stop by, we’re happy to handle the task for you with our usual charm and aplomb.