hey
I got a set of Team Dynamic Pro Race 1's several months ago and then after have trouble with vibrating steering wheels and overall unsmooth ride, I decided I would buy a set of "real" wheels, so i got some centerline excel wheels but I have had the same problem with them (I even sent two wheels back to centerline to be checked out but they said they the were true, aka not out of round). Both sets are 17" and have the stock-size perelli run-flats on them. My stock wheels have almost no shimmy or vibration or anything at all, especially nothing strong enough to transmit up the steering column. And just last week i hit a nice pot hole so now one of my centerlines is definately bent (you can visibly see it, and feel it too). Oh and my brother and two friends have simliar problems.

So my question of the day is: are all aftermarket wheels simply inferior to factory wheels, and if not, why does it seem a never ending struggle to get aftermarket wheels balanced? Has anyone had success with aftermarket wheels?

 

I have a set of 17" excel wheels with 205/40/17's on them and ive had them balanced 2 or 3 times and they still are unbalanced. But its more noise then it is Shaking becaue the steering wheels doesnt shake that bad. Plus Ive gotten use to the noise by turning the radio up .

 

A lot of aftermarket wheels are designed to fit multiple cars via hub rings. Do you have them in your wheels? My Koseis are the same way (slight shimmy) and I am thinking of changing out the plastic rings to some metal ones to see if that changes things.

 

I too had a shaky wheel (around 50) with my Pro Race 1s until I got rid of the plastic hubcentric rings and replaced them with "real" aluminum ones. That took care of that



The new ring is that red thingy around the hub.

 

where can you get those hub rings at? i just bought a set of Roja Formula 5s.. i dont want them to shake.. thanks david

 

that is a nice looking wheel you got there

 

Got them through Discount Tire I've seen them on Ebay through their Discount Tire Direct outlets. Good luck.

 

I bought a set of metal ones from discount tire thru e-bay...fast delivery and pretty inexpensive.

edit: I haven't taken hubcentric rings out before....is it difficult?

 

it depends on whether or not the shop balanced them right or not. i dont have this problem because when i worked at Discount Tire Co., I balanced my own wheels, even if it took me longer than normal

 

I put a set of hub-centric spacers on my Motegi wheels. Before I did, I had a lot of vibration, it calmed down afterwards. The spacers press in place on the wheels and then they fit on the center hub of the car. It actually makes installing the wheel easier. Just be careful, since they need to be specific for car and wheel.

 

I have hub centric rings on my wheels. Does anyone know what margin of error most factory wheels vs. aftermarket wheels have. Like they will allow a wheel to be up to lets say .35 inches out of round. This is a very interesting topic to me.

What is the hub size on the MINI, isn't it 56mm (just the first thing that comes to my head).

 

Also warped rotors can cause vibrations (we are not talking about braking here) that seems like unbalanced tires. Another car I had I ran into this. Went round and round about hub-centric rings, warrantied tires,...blah...blah...blah, ultimately once the rotors were changed everything came back into balance. It still blows my mind. The rotors were warped, but not badly enough to think of this problem.

I am not a Doctor or a Mechanic, but have a Masters degree in Science! (which really means absolutely nothing)

 

Your biggest vibration contributor on Hub-centric rims is
The Tire!!

With light weight wheels and a really heavy tire
AKA Run Flats

The weight of the run flat probably exceeds the rims.

If that tire is not resonably round, and Pirellies are notorious for not being round
you are going to have a heck of a time getting it balanced

Make sure your tire shop removed all the old weights

If you really need to get it nice and smooth you are going to need an on the car balance, old school shops can do this.

But the easiest solution is a good set of tires (not pirelli) and a knowledgable tire shop.

It is quite rare for the rims to be out of round, it is very common for the tires to be out of round.

Best of luck

 

>>>>Pirellies are notorious for not being round<<<

I've worn out 12 Pirelli's with S-lites and Team Dynamics Monza rims. No problem ever balancing them.....not one tire was out of round.

 

as for the Pirelli tires being out of round... i doubt that... i work for Pirelli and, we test every tire via Astec tire uniformity machine. Even though the MINI tires are not made here in the states they have the same machines in England..Pirelli is very strict on the tire testing.

 

Ive yet to encounter aftermarket wheel/tires that vibrate...

 

Dynamic balancing with a quality machine (i.e. Hunter products, like what Tire Rack uses) is critical. None of that cheap static balancing, please. Hub-centric rings are critical too.

 

does anyone know of a good "dynamic" balancing place in the Atlanta, ga area. I just ordered the hub centric rings on ebay and also a new set of centerlines. Thanks

 

A lot of my G35Coupe online buddies like Butler Tire in Atlanta...might want

to do a search on yahoo. goodluck! :smile:

 

The Discount Tire place I used had a special machine that measured the balance while the tire is under rolling pressure. It's a more expensive option but very accurate.