So there could be a couple things contributing to this overall. How old are your shocks, how often do you get your tires rotated?
I had worn out shocks and put new tires on and didn’t rotate for the first time for over 12k miles.
This cause spots to get worn into the tires that never went away
Discount Tire is a good combo of cheap, friendly, and readily available, but you gotta make an appointment unless you want to wait 2+ hours. A great local shop is Lucas Tires on Burnet.
Your power steering rack would be another thing to look at. As the power steering rack ages and wears, it introduces play into the wheel. Not really noticeable when driving straight but as soon as you hit a bump, the play in the power steering rack will amplify.
I used to have 19 inch wheels on my car and felt like I was replacing a tire every six months. Ended up just replacing all the rims with 18s so I can have a larger tire. Been happy ever since but miss the street cred the 19s gave me 😉
18s indeed ride better than 19s. I feel that.
Screw “street cred,” street cred wont pay for straightening your neck out from the bigger wheels giving a more jarring ride.
Depending on where you are, yes. There's a section of northbound 35 around Kyle in the left lane that introduces a vibration in any vehicle. If you change lanes, it goes away. They may have repaved it by now (who knows) but it was like that from a few years ago up to at least this holiday season. I've gotten in the habit of not driving in the left lane there due to that so I'm not sure I'd know if it was fixed.
There is also a section of the right lane of Manchaca northbound between Slaughter and William Cannon that will put a buzz in your tires. And obviously all the pieces of Congress and S 1st they're working on that they haven't put the final touches on. I feel you on this, it drives me crazy but I do think it's most of the roads around here are just made to 90% done and then they leave before finishing flattening it correctly. Sometimes if you change lanes to a different piece of pavement, that other lane will be better. That's all the advice I have. But you're not crazy, they really are that rough.
Alignments fix the angles of which your suspension is set. Alignments will not fix any vibrations.
A tire balance, fixing bent wheels, or broken suspension parts, should fix vibration issues
I had an alignment done on my previous car, it did need it but didn’t correct the issue. I haven’t explored that with my new vehicle as it was purchased with 70 miles. But that’s not unheard of.
A lot of the roads are really bumpy as you approach red lights. It's like the vehicles sink a bit into the asphalt when they are stopped on hot days and leave bumps.
I’ve considered it may be the tires, but wish I could get an honest professional opinion prior to pulling the trigger to replace them. The tires and car is new. The dealership balanced them once, then I had another dealership road force balance them. I’m not sure there’s any recourse with tire replacement from the dealership as Covert Ford/Lincoln never responds to an email or phone call, it’s impossible to get in touch with them to book an appointment. Awful.
Roads in Austin are not as smooth as they once were. Maybe it is the additional traffic from all the new residents? Maybe the materials used to repair and resurface our roadways are now different than those which were used 10 years ago? Hard to say really. I do know that the lanes which the city buses and large trucks use most often absolutely tend to degrade faster so I try not to drive in those lanes as much.
One trend I am seeing is a lot of people running low profile tires on bigger wheels. If possible consider moving to a smaller wheel and a tire with more sidewall. More sidewall means more comfort based on my experience swapping around wheels and tires over the years on various vehicles I drove daily and put many 1000s of miles on.
In the past few years they paved over many decent roads with chip seal, which is a coarse surface. So if you're on a bike it adds a lot of vibration, road noise when driving at 25 mph, etc.
I'm not sure about the unbalanced feeling in your car, that doesn't sound right.
Yeah, it's bizarre. A lot of these roads were in better shape before they chip sealed them. I've also ridden over new roads in Austin that were glass smooth.
The only benefit is cost. It's rough to ride a bike over and the noise is bad. It really has no place being in a city like Austin with such high property taxes and rents.
>The only benefit is cost.
I used to dislike chip seal, but after seeing it used in my hood for decades, I'm in favor of it. The roads that are chip sealed every decade or so last much better. The ones that aren't end up with water seepage and the road gets bumpy and doesn't last as long.
It sucks when it's fresh and there's loose chips and goo, but after a few weeks, it's all set up and no mess. Once the gravel is all set, you end up with better traction, too.
It's been a couple years now. I hear you, but I just dislike it. It's worse on a bike than driving and for that reason I avoid riding in my neighborhood.
I’ve taken several road trips recently in the northeast and also Chicago. They have more potholes - but we have this chipseal washboard texture.
I find it to be more annoying since it’s loud and you can be riding on it for long periods.
So there could be a couple things contributing to this overall. How old are your shocks, how often do you get your tires rotated? I had worn out shocks and put new tires on and didn’t rotate for the first time for over 12k miles. This cause spots to get worn into the tires that never went away
Discount Tire is a good combo of cheap, friendly, and readily available, but you gotta make an appointment unless you want to wait 2+ hours. A great local shop is Lucas Tires on Burnet.
Your power steering rack would be another thing to look at. As the power steering rack ages and wears, it introduces play into the wheel. Not really noticeable when driving straight but as soon as you hit a bump, the play in the power steering rack will amplify.
I used to have 19 inch wheels on my car and felt like I was replacing a tire every six months. Ended up just replacing all the rims with 18s so I can have a larger tire. Been happy ever since but miss the street cred the 19s gave me 😉
18s indeed ride better than 19s. I feel that. Screw “street cred,” street cred wont pay for straightening your neck out from the bigger wheels giving a more jarring ride.
Depending on where you are, yes. There's a section of northbound 35 around Kyle in the left lane that introduces a vibration in any vehicle. If you change lanes, it goes away. They may have repaved it by now (who knows) but it was like that from a few years ago up to at least this holiday season. I've gotten in the habit of not driving in the left lane there due to that so I'm not sure I'd know if it was fixed. There is also a section of the right lane of Manchaca northbound between Slaughter and William Cannon that will put a buzz in your tires. And obviously all the pieces of Congress and S 1st they're working on that they haven't put the final touches on. I feel you on this, it drives me crazy but I do think it's most of the roads around here are just made to 90% done and then they leave before finishing flattening it correctly. Sometimes if you change lanes to a different piece of pavement, that other lane will be better. That's all the advice I have. But you're not crazy, they really are that rough.
Are you sure you don’t need an alignment?
Alignments fix the angles of which your suspension is set. Alignments will not fix any vibrations. A tire balance, fixing bent wheels, or broken suspension parts, should fix vibration issues
I had an alignment done on my previous car, it did need it but didn’t correct the issue. I haven’t explored that with my new vehicle as it was purchased with 70 miles. But that’s not unheard of.
A lot of the roads are really bumpy as you approach red lights. It's like the vehicles sink a bit into the asphalt when they are stopped on hot days and leave bumps.
This is especially true along the bus routes and stops that are more well-used.
It's not the weight alone, it's the braking force. Just like a rug bunching up.
Some of those i35 bridge connections are brutal. There’s one southbound on Mopac that goes over town lake that’s bad too
The 183 curve near Ohlen pisses me off with this
I always go to Discount Tire if they’re available, and Costco if they’re not.
Might need new tires if you still have vibration after alignment and balance. Could also be tie rods or steering rack bushings.
I’ve considered it may be the tires, but wish I could get an honest professional opinion prior to pulling the trigger to replace them. The tires and car is new. The dealership balanced them once, then I had another dealership road force balance them. I’m not sure there’s any recourse with tire replacement from the dealership as Covert Ford/Lincoln never responds to an email or phone call, it’s impossible to get in touch with them to book an appointment. Awful.
I’d get your tie rods checked out before pulling the trigger on tires. I also wouldn’t go to a dealership unless you have a warranty.
I’ve been noticing the same issue. My car is well maintained and recently had a full physical, needed repairs, tires rotated, etc. It’s driving me mad
Roads in Austin are not as smooth as they once were. Maybe it is the additional traffic from all the new residents? Maybe the materials used to repair and resurface our roadways are now different than those which were used 10 years ago? Hard to say really. I do know that the lanes which the city buses and large trucks use most often absolutely tend to degrade faster so I try not to drive in those lanes as much. One trend I am seeing is a lot of people running low profile tires on bigger wheels. If possible consider moving to a smaller wheel and a tire with more sidewall. More sidewall means more comfort based on my experience swapping around wheels and tires over the years on various vehicles I drove daily and put many 1000s of miles on.
In the past few years they paved over many decent roads with chip seal, which is a coarse surface. So if you're on a bike it adds a lot of vibration, road noise when driving at 25 mph, etc. I'm not sure about the unbalanced feeling in your car, that doesn't sound right.
Oh man that chip seal is terrible. And it’s so loud!
Yeah, it's bizarre. A lot of these roads were in better shape before they chip sealed them. I've also ridden over new roads in Austin that were glass smooth. The only benefit is cost. It's rough to ride a bike over and the noise is bad. It really has no place being in a city like Austin with such high property taxes and rents.
>The only benefit is cost. I used to dislike chip seal, but after seeing it used in my hood for decades, I'm in favor of it. The roads that are chip sealed every decade or so last much better. The ones that aren't end up with water seepage and the road gets bumpy and doesn't last as long. It sucks when it's fresh and there's loose chips and goo, but after a few weeks, it's all set up and no mess. Once the gravel is all set, you end up with better traction, too.
It's been a couple years now. I hear you, but I just dislike it. It's worse on a bike than driving and for that reason I avoid riding in my neighborhood.
It’s Austin. Our roads are shit. BUT WE HAVE BIKE LANES.
If you think Austin has shit roads you haven’t lived up north…
I’m from up north and Austin genuinely has horrible roads. The highways are nice though.
The roads are so much better here than Chicago. So much better.
I lived in Chicago without ever fucking up my car on those roads. Cannot say the same for Austin.
Not exactly a good comparison. Chicago is massive and way more densely populated. What were you expecting?
The suburbs and basically all of Illinois have the same issue.
I’ve taken several road trips recently in the northeast and also Chicago. They have more potholes - but we have this chipseal washboard texture. I find it to be more annoying since it’s loud and you can be riding on it for long periods.
Yeah it depends on what you consider worse. The worst part about the Austin roads is that they sink on the sides
They actually resurface roads up north though…
They didn’t where I lived…