sprung for michelin cross terrains tonight. solved the vibration problem. the kuhmos were visably rocking in and out as I looked down the sidewall while spinning the tire(s) up on the rack. did a double check on all suspension parts while it was up as well. all was tight and ok. warning to potential kuhmo tire purchasers... beware the quality of chinese products. the tire shop was quick to point out the 'made in china' imprint on the side of the kuhmos and they were correct... the kuhmos came with the car when i bought it and i suspect that they were balanced on an on-car balancer. i made the mistake of upsetting that when i had the tires rotated and rebalanced as part of what I thought would be good maintenance. the rebalance work was done 4 times in 2 different shops and they couldn't get it right as the tires were messed up. the unfortunate part is that the problem wouldn't show up until i was up to the 70-85MPH range which the basic tire-shop balancer apparently doesn't do. yes, i could have probably sprung for an on-car balance but why bother... best to dump the crappy tires rather than have to deal with a special balance project every time... headed on a lengthy road trip this weekend. i see how the new tires handle with more real world testing...