new tires, new vibration

[Beez540]

To preface this problem... I went from pretty worn 205/65/15 falkens on the standard basketweaves.

Last Saturday I had Les Schwab put a set of proxes 4 225/55/16s on a set of bmw style 33's off an E39. Hubcentric rings put on of course.

after getting on some stretches of road where I could hover around 45-60 for awhile, I notice the vibration. pretty pronounced around 50. Couldn't get the car back to schwabs for a couple days as my schedule was slammed. A couple days later, the weather warms up considerably and the vibrations decrease drastically. In fact, yesterday afternoon they were hardly noticable at all. Today I noticed them very slightly and I took the car in to schwab to have them check the balance/run out etc.

Supposedly they had used the Roadforce machine before they mounted the tires the first time, but I went out and watched the machine do it's thing... 3 wheels needed balancing and 1 tire had to be re-mounted, and then eventually replaced. Everything balanced out, they slapped em back on and we still have a vibration.


Dumbfounded.

They're checking out alignment/suspension tommorrow, but I didn't have this problem before the new wheels/tires. Yes, thrust arm bushings were replaced 9 months ago.


Any ideas?

[632 Regal]

probably are flat spotting, if it goes away within 10 miles or so they will get over this learning defect within 2-3 months. the only other thing it could be is out of round tires, there is NO FIX for this and go back to the Falkens. Im not even going to post links to this, search for out of round tires or diacount tire rant.

[Beez540]

probably are flat spotting, if it goes away within 10 miles or so they will get over this learning defect within 2-3 months. the only other thing it could be is out of round tires, there is NO FIX for this and go back to the Falkens. Im not even going to post links to this, search for out of round tires or diacount tire rant.

I've read the other threads too. I don't want to go back to the falkens because they're so worn and I like have 16s on the car.

I'm hoping to have it straightened out tommorrow, we'll try matching sets of tires until we get it right I guess.

[632 Regal]

hello! like I said if they are flat spotting it goes away in a few miles -10 if they still vibrate they can be out of round. simple answer to a simple question. road forse can not fix either...read what I typed man.

[Beez540]

hello! like I said if they are flat spotting it goes away in a few miles -10 if they still vibrate they can be out of round. simple answer to a simple question. road forse can not fix either...read what I typed man.


sorry, should've told you that I drive 15 miles home from the tire dealer... so nope, not flatspotting.

The Hunter 9700 says the tires/wheels are good. Round, balanced, and all four coming in between 10-16lbs. on the readout. The boys at the tire place say it's the wheels.

I'm may try a different kind of tire. I may try remounting / turning a wheel a couple lugs. Maybe it's the rotors, they're pretty damn worn.

I'm pissed. :(

[632 Regal]

Okay better info from you here...10-16lbs is NOT acceptable on your car #1. 12lbs on my car felt like I had mud in the back of the rims.

Go to the Hunter site and educate yourself on the hows/whys/ and whats acceptable and not, if you do you will see the problem is that those tires are probably not good enough for your BMW. Especially since they already pitched 1 tire.

If the operator was real good he would know this, they are selling tires and trying to get you to go away. The hunter site says something along the lines that anything that cant be balanced within 3/4 oz(i think thats the number) is defective.

If you took your car to an independant shop that really knows the machine they will tell you that all the tires are junk and try to sell you different ones lol.

Good luck bro!!


sorry, should've told you that I drive 15 miles home from the tire dealer... so nope, not flatspotting.

The Hunter 9700 says the tires/wheels are good. Round, balanced, and all four coming in between 10-16lbs. on the readout. The boys at the tire place say it's the wheels.

I'm may try a different kind of tire. I may try remounting / turning a wheel a couple lugs. Maybe it's the rotors, they're pretty damn worn.

I'm pissed. :(

[632 Regal]

re-reading this and looking for another post whore point I really think if they cant resolve this right away you ask them "at no charge" to put your worn Falkens back on and the order up a new set of them.

I had probs with tires, and replaced with difft tires and had the same prob...they told me it "obviously" was the car and not the tires....1000 bux later and guess what?

I ordered winter Sempirit snows ($60 each), had em slapped on and the vibration was gone! How can that possibly be? I ordered the Falkens for the new rims and no vibration either....

Read the Hunter site about this and dont put up with their BS, I spent a LOT of time and frustration over this issue and hate to see you do the same over sub standard tires.

the only other ting could be a loose front end such as tie rods, thrust arms etc etc etc...

I hope you follow im not hagging but trying to "educate" you here man.

[Beez540]

I need to check out the hunter site for sure... because I didn't understand the lbs thing, they seemed to think anything under 20lbs. on a tire/wheel was a good readout. I would think you would want all 4 to read out the same at least? As far as balance, all 4 got balanced to zero.

Either way, I already have an understanding with the guy that we'll at least try another set (no charge), and if that doesn't work... we'll put the 15's with falkens back on (no charge, and refund) and I'll look around for a place more experienced with BMWs. Although, strangely enough... around here that's gonna be hard.

[Beez540]

2+1/2 weeks later... problem solved. This is a weird one.


So after balancing the ever lovin **** outta those wheels & tires... I was still getting a vibration. Consulted my mechanic, I asked him (just in case) if he had any extra hubcentric rings in case they bung mine up taking the wheels on and off so many times (and I had a weird feeling about that anyway). He had three plastic ones, that looked a little different from what I was using, and the ones I had were aluminum anyway. Finally got a tech at Les Schwab that was thorough and he felt like the rings I had on there weren't doing much. So we put the plastic ones on the front wheels and one of the back wheels... AMAZING... vibration almost all gone. Checked with a wheel place my mechanic reccomended to see if they kept rings in stock. YES. Went and got one more (this one a little different from the other plastic ones but...) put it on, everything is smooth as silk.


So, the hubcentric rings I orderd off Ebay were too skinny and flimsy, I don't know if I just got a bad set... or if all their rings suck. But this is the place I got the bad ones from:BAD HUBCENTRIC RINGS (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-Hub-Centric-Rings-74-1-72-56-E38-E34-740-840-735_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6755QQitemZ45895884 34QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW)


thank god that is over with... sorry for the novel... but maybe someone has had or is having the same problem. :)

[E34 530]

2+1/2 weeks later... problem solved. This is a weird one.


So after balancing the ever lovin **** outta those wheels & tires... I was still getting a vibration. Consulted my mechanic, I asked him (just in case) if he had any extra hubcentric rings in case they bung mine up taking the wheels on and off so many times (and I had a weird feeling about that anyway). He had three plastic ones, that looked a little different from what I was using, and the ones I had were aluminum anyway. Finally got a tech at Les Schwab that was thorough and he felt like the rings I had on there weren't doing much. So we put the plastic ones on the front wheels and one of the back wheels... AMAZING... vibration almost all gone. Checked with a wheel place my mechanic reccomended to see if they kept rings in stock. YES. Went and got one more (this one a little different from the other plastic ones but...) put it on, everything is smooth as silk.


So, the hubcentric rings I orderd off Ebay were too skinny and flimsy, I don't know if I just got a bad set... or if all their rings suck. But this is the place I got the bad ones from:BAD HUBCENTRIC RINGS (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-Hub-Centric-Rings-74-1-72-56-E38-E34-740-840-735_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6755QQitemZ45895884 34QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW)


thank god that is over with... sorry for the novel... but maybe someone has had or is having the same problem. :)

OMFG!!!!! I bought those same rings and I have the same problem. After balancing the rims 4 to 5 times, (resulted with a hole in gastank and a huge fight with the people- finally replaced it thank god). What rings did you buy because I want to get some plastic rings to make the vibration go away.

[Beez540]

OMFG!!!!! I bought those same rings and I have the same problem. After balancing the rims 4 to 5 times, (resulted with a hole in gastank and a huge fight with the people- finally replaced it thank god). What rings did you buy because I want to get some plastic rings to make the vibration go away.


I got some from my mechanic AND a local shop. I would call ALL your local wheel/tire shops and see if anyone stocks them. If you have one of the bad ones you bought to compare you'll know right away. The ones you need will be almost twice as thick and will probably have a bit more of a flange. Tirerack's rings can probably be trusted from what I've heard.

Good luck.

[Beez540]

I should also note that I contacted the seller of the rings through the ebay listing, and told them what I was dealing with. They got back to me the next day with a response and a full refund. So at least they conduct their business well. They claimed very little problems with their rings, so they may have just gotten a bad batch. Their feedback is good too.

[Gene in NC]

Bull S--- the eBay seller conducts his business well! He suckered you, as those shills try to do to all of us, with a prompt refund and a "this never happend before". They ought to change the name to sleaseBay.

Blast his butt and be very specific with us on the source. Hope you held off long enough on the feedback to rip him a new one.

How bout the refund for your time, the tire shops time, etc.

The tire guys turned out to be right after all. It was the wheels. The rings are part of the wheels, not part of the car. This series of posts tend to make the tire place and the tires sound bad. Don't have a financial interest in either, but that's not quite fair.

Pardon me for not being more direct.

[Beez540]

Bull S--- the eBay seller conducts his business well! He suckered you, as those shills try to do to all of us, with a prompt refund and a "this never happend before". They ought to change the name to sleaseBay.

Blast his butt and be very specific with us on the source. Hope you held off long enough on the feedback to rip him a new one.

How bout the refund for your time, the tire shops time, etc.

The tire guys turned out to be right after all. It was the wheels. The rings are part of the wheels, not part of the car. This series of posts tend to make the tire place and the tires sound bad. Don't have a financial interest in either, but that's not quite fair.

Pardon me for not being more direct.


How do you know that most of their rings are or aren't ok? If they refund me in less than 24hrs without a request for said refund, that's a reasonable response. And when they have hundreds of feedbacks from satisfied customers... I'll try not to judge them too hard. I've dealt with businesses that I've had good luck with from day one, screw up at some point down the road. Most ebay sellers never even touch their products anyway. Am I frustrated with the situation? Yes. Will I purchase from them again? No. Will I claim that they're scammers? No. BUT, THAT'S WHY I POSTED THE LINK... so people can be wary. However, I'm not going to sue them for my time. Many people have had problems with their vehicles due to a product that many people wouldn't have given a thought to.

And as far as the tire place goes... if all their techs were well qualified, they should've noticed the problem sooner. All but one dude probably didn't even examine the rings/hubcentricity of the wheels... so to some extent they are negligent and I'm dissapointed with them. It's hard to find good service on anything these days..

[Speeder 553]

2+1/2 weeks later... problem solved. This is a weird one.


So after balancing the ever lovin **** outta those wheels & tires... I was still getting a vibration. Consulted my mechanic, I asked him (just in case) if he had any extra hubcentric rings in case they bung mine up taking the wheels on and off so many times (and I had a weird feeling about that anyway). He had three plastic ones, that looked a little different from what I was using, and the ones I had were aluminum anyway. Finally got a tech at Les Schwab that was thorough and he felt like the rings I had on there weren't doing much. So we put the plastic ones on the front wheels and one of the back wheels... AMAZING... vibration almost all gone. Checked with a wheel place my mechanic reccomended to see if they kept rings in stock. YES. Went and got one more (this one a little different from the other plastic ones but...) put it on, everything is smooth as silk.


So, the hubcentric rings I orderd off Ebay were too skinny and flimsy, I don't know if I just got a bad set... or if all their rings suck. But this is the place I got the bad ones from:BAD HUBCENTRIC RINGS (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-Hub-Centric-Rings-74-1-72-56-E38-E34-740-840-735_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6755QQitemZ45895884 34QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW)


thank god that is over with... sorry for the novel... but maybe someone has had or is having the same problem. :)

I had the same shimmey problem and got the plastic ones and they worked great but replaced them with a fresh set of Excalibur Metal Rings recently and got the 50-60mph shimmeys back. Where can I get the thicker plastic rings??

[Speeder 553]

I had the same shimmey problem and got the plastic ones and they worked great but replaced them with a fresh set of Excalibur Metal Rings recently and got the 50-60mph shimmeys back. Where can I get the thicker plastic rings??

I think I found them.

http://www.justforwheels.com/ShoppingCart?rng=hcr|Plastic|72.56|74.1&ID=72.56&OD=74.1

[Qube]

I'm using what is supposed to be Konig metal rings (the bag was) and they're great. pmlmotorsports in this forum supplied them with the wheels ;)

[Speeder 553]

I'm using what is supposed to be Konig metal rings (the bag was) and they're great. pmlmotorsports in this forum supplied them with the wheels ;)

It looks as though the plastic rings have a lip and the metal rings don't.