Wondering if anyone else has similar issues with their winter tires and could comment or advise?

I have 235/60R18 XL Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow on my 2010 Q5 and notice that i get vibrations at speeds over 135km. By 150km+ my whole vehicle is shaking.

As far as I can tell the speed rating on these tires is between 170-190km (R to T depending on info).

I know next to nothing about tires, speed rating, etc... other then personal experience and was wondering if anyone has any ideas on what this is (ie simply the tire saying thats too fast, a balancing issue etc...).

2 notes:

1) No vibration before 135km
2) this is not my normal driving pattern, was passing and noticed this and then tested again once and then resumed normal driving

Any thoughts (other then dont drive so fast as I explained in point 2) welcome as just want to ensure that all is well.

I have a service in 2000km so will also ask Audi then (who installed the tires purchased from Tire Rack)

 

Is it safe to assume that your tires are properly balanced and psi is where it needs to be?

 

Hmmm... Check to make sure you don't have any loose lug nuts... If you they used stick on weights, you could have lost one... Not sure.

 

Thanks War and Adrena, will check on both balance/psi as well as the lug nuts. Seems to be more of a rear issue (or at least vibration is worse in back then front).

 

When I purchased my set from tirerack, they came with the wheel lugs (taper type). I believe the factory lugs are ball type instead. Did they install the right ones for you if your winter rims required taper type lugs?

 

I had a similar problem on my A6 in the front. At speeds above 90 km, there was a shake from the front. Everything was fine mechanically and the wheels were balanced (and rebalanced). When i got them rotated, the shake went away. It was due to wear of the tires. Since winters are softer, they need rotation more often and a car with good alignment. How many kms on the tires? You can try a rotation as a first stab.

 

Canmick.........got the exact same tire on my 2010 and did notice the same to begin with........now that the Scorps have worn in a bit and with the first (Winter) rotation seems all is fine.

 

Winter tires on dry roads (highways) are a killer.
Try to rotate them at least half way through the season.

Pirelli scorpions don't use up as fast as blizzaks dmv1 do but they still wear fast when the drive is mostly on highways and slushy roads.

 

My assumption would also be either the balance, or the wear of the tire. How long have they been on the vehicle?

 

I recently had the same issue with my Audi that I would get with an old subaru: Ice buildup on the inside of the rims causing the wheels to be out of balance. Usually happens after a storm - the force of the wheel spinning keeps the ice on the inside of the wheel in place, imabalances the wheel and cause moderate to severe chatter at speed.

Just an idea, but check your wheels and knock away any ice buildup on the inside of your rims with a scraper.