OK, the wheels on my car were bought for 2 reasons only:
1. They were the size I wanted
2. They fit without spacers
I was told when I bought them that they were a perfect fit, requiring no spacers, rings, etc...then I found out I had a minor wheel shake.
I went 3 years with these wheels on, putting up with a minor shake the entire time. This drives me nuts....after all, this is a BMW, even if it is 20 years old and 280,000 miles.
I have been through 3 sets of tires with these wheels. I recently got another set, and was putting up with far more wheel shake than before.
A week or so ago, I went back in for another rebalance on tires with less than 1,000 miles on them. I asked the guy who worked on my car (I have a hard time calling him a "technician", since that denotes a certain level of competency) and he said the reason my car had wheel shake was due to the fact I had bent wheels. Now, anyone who has driven in Tacoma on 17's KNOWS the freeways suck balls, but I didn't...so on the way home from the Picnic last year I hit a pothole the size of a fucking Winnebago. Bent the inner lip on 3 of my wheels and the outer lip of 1. I used a hammer and a chunk of wood to make them damn near perfect, but still a tiny "hop" was visible when spinning.
The next day after the re balance, I took the wheels off and carefully cleaned my hubs and the backsides of the wheels. I used an angle grinder and a resurfacing wheel, basically a plastic disc meant to remove gasket material. No improvement, even after careful torquing. Then, I changed the left tie rod, both inner and outer since it felt a tiny bit sloppy.
Still, no improvement.
I then went to another tire store, asking about centering rings. The last set I got were chintzy nylon rings that slipped on the hub, barely protruding into the wheel and were easily mangled in wheel mounting. I really felt they did nothing, and pitched them after 1 rotation, not really noticing a difference.
This time, things were different. I got "Gorilla" brand centering rings, an entirely different type and material. These are some form of fiber reinforced nylon, too stiff to bend easily with your hands, and snapped into the wheels. These IMMEDIATELY made an enormous difference, and now I have no wheel shake at all, even running a very stiff 215/40/17.
Satisfied? Absolutely. We will see how I feel after a couple of rotations, but the feeling of bent wheels is GONE, completely.
Cliff notes: Do you have wheel shake? Clean the rust off of your hubs and go buy Gorilla brand centering rings.
Good luck, guys!
Luke
1. They were the size I wanted
2. They fit without spacers
I was told when I bought them that they were a perfect fit, requiring no spacers, rings, etc...then I found out I had a minor wheel shake.
I went 3 years with these wheels on, putting up with a minor shake the entire time. This drives me nuts....after all, this is a BMW, even if it is 20 years old and 280,000 miles.
I have been through 3 sets of tires with these wheels. I recently got another set, and was putting up with far more wheel shake than before.
A week or so ago, I went back in for another rebalance on tires with less than 1,000 miles on them. I asked the guy who worked on my car (I have a hard time calling him a "technician", since that denotes a certain level of competency) and he said the reason my car had wheel shake was due to the fact I had bent wheels. Now, anyone who has driven in Tacoma on 17's KNOWS the freeways suck balls, but I didn't...so on the way home from the Picnic last year I hit a pothole the size of a fucking Winnebago. Bent the inner lip on 3 of my wheels and the outer lip of 1. I used a hammer and a chunk of wood to make them damn near perfect, but still a tiny "hop" was visible when spinning.
The next day after the re balance, I took the wheels off and carefully cleaned my hubs and the backsides of the wheels. I used an angle grinder and a resurfacing wheel, basically a plastic disc meant to remove gasket material. No improvement, even after careful torquing. Then, I changed the left tie rod, both inner and outer since it felt a tiny bit sloppy.
Still, no improvement.
I then went to another tire store, asking about centering rings. The last set I got were chintzy nylon rings that slipped on the hub, barely protruding into the wheel and were easily mangled in wheel mounting. I really felt they did nothing, and pitched them after 1 rotation, not really noticing a difference.
This time, things were different. I got "Gorilla" brand centering rings, an entirely different type and material. These are some form of fiber reinforced nylon, too stiff to bend easily with your hands, and snapped into the wheels. These IMMEDIATELY made an enormous difference, and now I have no wheel shake at all, even running a very stiff 215/40/17.
Satisfied? Absolutely. We will see how I feel after a couple of rotations, but the feeling of bent wheels is GONE, completely.
Cliff notes: Do you have wheel shake? Clean the rust off of your hubs and go buy Gorilla brand centering rings.
Good luck, guys!
Luke
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