[dorlow]

Originally Posted by Blue Bowtie

Purely from curiosity, what brand and type of tire?

I ask because I had a 2001 Impala which was originally equipped with Michelins, and the replacement Goodyear Hydra Edge (or something like that) tires required a massive amount of material to balance, did not track well and always exhibited squirm, were insanely noisy (tread pattern), and were not so impressive for winter traction. It was so bad the tire shop dismounted, repositioned, and remounted the tires on the rear wheels just to see if they would balance better - No dice. They rotated them to the front and did the same for the "new" rear tires with the same result. Balancing on a Bear (road force) rolling machine revealed the carcasses did not roll true under load. They were less than a year old but had mileage so there was no warranty.

Further, the replacement tires were directional, but they were mounted for the correct rotation. That IS something to check with your installation, however.

The Impala went back to Michelins and settled right down for the duration of their 60K miles life, and I never looked back. Shortly after replacing the Goodyears the "Hydra Edge" tires were no longer available. I suspect I was not the only one with issues.

The moral of the story is that tires are critical, and can create problems all by themselves. I used a professional tire shop instead of a discount store or some lower-priced outlet, and that's likely the only reason the problem was found.

That said, it is important to check the steering and suspension, including the critical but often overlooked rear wheel alignment. McPherson struts and upper strut mounts, the steering rack and intermediate shaft, body mount rubber isolators, lower control arm bushings, wheel bearings, CV joints, Rear trailing arm bushings, and bent alloy wheels are all known contributors to the phenomenon.

My last tires were Cooper tires. My new ones are Pirelli Cinturato P7.