i just put my new wheels on this past saturday night. when i went to drive it sunday morning i noticed that the steering wheel now visibly vibrates. the weird thing is that its not consistant at all. sometimes you can hardly feel it, then other times its pretty harsh. the car seems to ride very smooth otherwise, its just the steering wheel. could the tire guys not have balanced them right or something?

 

Could be mis balanced, could be a weight that was not properly attached and got thrown, could be that the wheel was slightly bent when put on, it could also be that the bore sizes do not match up and you need hubcentric rings.

 

the weights are still on there, the wheels were brand new (i checked them for damage before i got the tires mounted), and i did install them with hubcentric rings. could there still be something else, or are they for sure misbalanced?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by namax &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> or are they for sure misbalanced?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nothing is for sure. Did they put on the right size of rings?

 

Switch back to your old wheels, just to double-check. If there are no vibrations, then it is definitely something about the new ones, probably one of the things that old man neri mentioned. One other possibility is a defective tire. (It happens.)

 

had that problem... ended up getting hubcentric rings.... worked great after that

 

i test fitted the rings on the hubs before i put them in the wheels. they were right. funny thing is, i've been driving it the last couple days and it seems to have gotten much better. maybe the tires were just breaking in?

 

New tires do seem to sound like you have mudd tires on. Never had any severe vibrations but you could still feel it. After driving a week or so and breaking them in they were like normal.

 

had the same problem... my new rims came balanced already supposedly but i dont think they did it right...but my steering wheel would vibrate at around 50-60 MPH then stop. so i got them rebalanced and they are fine now.

 

alright heres an update. i took my car back to the shop that balanced my wheels today. the guy gave my car one look and now tells me that they can't balance aftermarket wheels. something about not having the right weights or something. he told me I have to go to a place that sells aftermarket wheels like pepboys. i wish i had known this before i paid them to mount and balance my tires.

 

That's a load of...

But yeah, take it to another shop.

He's probably referring to the "tape weights", square weights with foam adhesive backing tape that stick to the insides of the wheels. Some places have them, some don't. (And you can buy them yourself at your local auto parts store.)

He could probably have balanced the wheels with the old-fashioned "bang on" weights that clamp onto the outer lip of the wheel, as long as the wheel has a lip. But maybe he didn't want to.

Personally, I prefer the tape weights, because they're less conspicuous.

 

yeah they used those "bang on" weights before, but they put them on the inside lip. im sure those cant be used on the outside lip of my wheels. yeah i was pissed. if they new they couldnt balance them properly, they should have told me that in the beginning. how much does it usually cost to balance a wheel?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by namax &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how much does it usually cost to balance a wheel?</TD></TR></TABLE>

$10-20 per wheel/tire.