Car vibrating while driving the day after driven in snow

[albertwang53]

So we have been getting 3 or 4 snow storm here in New York and I notice a patern. My car vibrate heavly while driving on the next day after driven in the snow day before. These has happend 3 times in the morning while driving to work.

The vibration went away in the evening (or less noticable) while driving home. the second and third time it happened I make sure no snow was stocked near all tires but vibration still happened.

Anyone has experienced this? Any ideas?

[MadOx75]

I know you said you checked near all the tires, but did you check behind the wheels? You can get ice packed up in behind the rims, and it will all kinds of screw with the way the car drives.

[AZhitman]

Heavy snow and ice can also knock off wheel balancing weights.

[albertwang53]

I am pretty sure I have checked all around the tire. When I said vibration, I don't mean that 1500 rpm type of vibration. It was More like the the car is chocking. Forgot to mention was it gets worse going faster and it goes away at low speed.

[Leo2005]

I am pretty sure I have checked all around the tire. When I said vibration, I don't mean that 1500 rpm type of vibration. It was More like the the car is chocking. Forgot to mention was it gets worse going faster and it goes away at low speed.

Happens to me every winter. Just go to car wash or let it seat for a couple hours in a warm garage so the snow will melt. Same story was on my '95 nissan altima and '03 mitsu galant but I don't think it happened on other cars that I owned.

[jk47]

This is happening to me as well the day after snowstorms when I get above 45mph. I thought I had a flat tire the first time it happened and pulled over to check as the car shudders quite a bit the faster you go. I'm pretty sure it's snow/ice that is building up inside the wheels. Next time the snow falls (probably next week again) I'm going to fully clean out in and behind the alloys to see if I can prevent it.

[albertwang53]

Yeah, I will clean the wheels as much as I can after the next snow strom comes and see if the situation improves. I feel better that I'm not the only one (I can consider this normal??), but still sucks it happened as other cars I have driven in snow never experienced this type of vibration.

by the way, is it safe to keep driving? will it cause any damage to the wheels (parts)?

[philipa_240sx]

Ice/snow buildup in the wheels is pretty common. It really depends on weather conditions though. You can get a mild day that will melt the snow and it will re-freeze's on one side of the wheel (usually when parked.

The best solution is to park it indoors (car park, etc) and let the snow melt. If you have alloy wheels that are open, you can likely melt accumulated snow/ice using warm water via a pressure washer at your local car wash.