I went for a drive today and once I got on the highway the car started to shake, so I got off at the next exit to check. Tire pressure was fine. There was some snow packed into the wheels (unevenly). Did a quick google search and this is apparently common. Ill have to brush the inside of the wheel tomorrow morning to see if it goes away.
We had it with our BMW X3. Vehicles with wide wheels tend to accumulate ice and snow on the exposed portion of the inside of the wheels. Take it to a car wash and spray out the wheels and you should be fine.
Yes, a very common problem with spoked wheels.
This is why most people that use winter tires have them mounted on plain old "steelies" - less chance for snow and ice buildup.
That's good to know. I hadn't thought about that before. Thank you. Love this forum.
I've always had my winter tires mounted on a separate set of steelies because that was the cheapest wheel available from tire rack. It also makes it easy to downsize, e.g. a 16" wheel for the FE and that makes the winter tire a bit cheaper as well.
Yes this will happen on alot of the newer vehicles. Not a good idea to drive through or park in snow banks. You will get lumps of packed snow in the rims.
Funny you posted this, I experienced this yesterday myself. Did some "testing" in a large open unplowed parking lot to see how my Escape handles in snow with and with out traction control. Of course a couple donuts were thrown in for good measure...
On the way home once I hit highway speeds I had a pretty good vibration, and immediately thought man those wheels let a lot of snow pack in LOL. She sat in the garage overnight, so the snow will all be melted now, I expect a nice smooth ride in to work today
Its not just the 19" wheels. When snow gets lodged on the tire rim and freezes, it throws the balance off and pending on how much gauges how much shaking you feel in the seat.
Your highway braking also helps this to melt the snow/ice in long trips. This weekend coming back from upstate I had vibration once I hit highway speeds but after about 30-45 mins of driving even though it was ~20 degrees out it went away. Had some slow downs since it is only a two lane highway and I'm towing so I didn't get to the left (PEOPLE can't merge!) so I had to stop quite a few times down from 50 to almost 35 but I'm guessing the heat from the brakes and engine melted everything or the tires finally getting warmed also helped
It happens often on my vehicle. The snow build up on the rim upsets the balancing of the tire. I have a small hand scraper that I use gently so not to scratch and to remove the snow build up from the rim.