I love the look of my FLIKs however the ride is not as smooth as with the S-lites. I had my wheels balanced (and ensured all hubcentric pieces were in place) but the steering wheel always had a wiggle to it. Not severe but nothing like it feels with the S-lites back on. For what it's worth, the run flat Pirellis were on the FLIKs and I have Falken Ziex 512s on the S-lites. I had it the other way around (Pirellis on S-lites and Falkens on the FLIKs) and it was just the same - S-lites were much smoother.

Is there something I could do to get the great feeling in the steering with the FLIKs?

The ride quality with the Falkens is so much smoother. Every single leaf and bird dropping sent a jar into the cabin with the run-flats. However, I believe the Pirellis offer excellent grip compared to the Falkens. The turn in seems much quicker.

Having the S-lites back on gives the car a whole new look again. It's the small things that make me happy.:smile:

 

Get some metallic hubcentric rings and replace the crappy ones
that came with the wheels. I had the same problem and it was
cured by switching to the metallic rings.

 

Excellent suggestion. I asked the folks at the local Tire Barn if it would make a difference (plastic vs. metallic) and they said no. Somehow, I didn't believe them. The ones I have are plastic, so I will order some metallic ones.

 

Swing,

I have the FLIK Wasps in 18" and had a shimmy with the plastic rings. Discount Tire has aluminum rings that will fit the FLIK's. The FLIK hub bore is 73.1mm the MINI is 56.1mm. I ordered from them and had them in a week. Now it rides identical to stock and no vibrations except for road imperfections.
Hope this helps! :smile:

 

Would the hub bore be the same size for a 17" wheel? Thank you for the information. Now if spring could just get here soon so I can switch the wheels back to test this out.

 

I have the same Fliks as Swing. I would also be interested metal rings. What is the cost? Is Discount tire the ones with the big ad like Tire Rack?

I had some vibration as well and complained to Edge Racing, where I purchased the wheels. They sent me out a second set of plastic rings and with some mixing and matching I think I solved the problem. But I alwasy worry about damaging the plastic.

I just put my stock 17" S-Lites back on for winter. They have the all-season runflats on them which will be better than the Yoko AVS ES 100's that I have on the Fliks. The runflats, however, ride horribly compared to the Yoko's. Even my wife is commenting on it! I can't wait for Spring.

 

After a 4 hour drive today, mostly highway near Indy, I picked up tar in several spots. All are just specks. It's on the sides, back and on the freshly Zaino-ed S-lites. I just washed my car and some came off but a few remain. I know I can take it off with clay, but with the temperature as it is, probably not a good idea. Any suggestions? I don't recall hitting any spots that seemed to be freshly tarred, but some of the roads I were on were recently paved but I am not sure when.

Anyway, if I decide to clay, will it take all the Zaino off? I don't want to have to reapply Zaino on the wheels and the rest of the spots but I also don't want to let it stay on there either. Are there other options?

On another note: when the shop (Tire barn) was torquing my S-lites, I asked them what they were torquing it to. The guy looked it up and said 80. I thought I read somewhere (Brad, I think it was you) that said it should be 90. Which is correct? I would hate for the lugs to come loose.

Thanks for sharing your experience about the rings Brad. Thank goodness my all season tires are non-runflats. They seemed to be even worse in the winter with the temp change and crumbling roads.

 

ISTR my 05 owner's manual says 88.5 ft-lbs. But when I torqued mine to that, they tightened a bit (like 1/8 of a turn). Could be my wrench needs to be calibrated, could be the bolts had loosened up a bit (car has about 2800 miles on it), or could be they were a bit loose in the first place.

My guess (and that's all that it is) is that 80 or 88.5 or 90 isn't all that important. What's more important is that all four bolts on each wheel be the same. (To prevent warping, etc.) Is that right?

 

I believe the hub bore is the same for the 17s & 18s. I'd call Edge Racing to verify. They were really helpful when I called. Discount is the "other" big advertiser. I believe the set was around $20 shipped. They sometimes run these on eBay.:smile:

 

Discount Tire Direct is where I got mine:

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...501717191!NONE

 

Thanks for the link!

Swing,
I torque mine to 90#.