American Muscle wheels vibration problem
#31
I would also recommend checking what smitty2919 mentioned. He had spoke with one of our sales reps John who told him to check our balance with a road force test and had he known about such a simple check he would have probably suggested that before testing the balancing. Glad I'm now more aware of such a thing thanks to Smitty.
Likely they are in balance if you see tape weights on the inside of the barrel of the wheels. There are however a very low percentage of tires that have a high spot or low spot somewhere in the tread and this could certainly cause a vibration.
Did you order the wheels from AM and the tires elsewhere? If so then wheels without the protection of a tire can get dropped hard enough during transit to warp the wheel. This can generally be seen on a balancing machine though unless very minor. When the wheels are being spun up on a balancer you can see the wheel flang/top of the wheel rising up and down if it's out of round.
If its not the wheel there is that small chance its the tire. If you feel the vibration coming from the back you could actually test it yourself by carefully lifting both rear wheels and running at a very low speed and watching first the top edge of each wheel and if this appears to be staying smooth then you want to focus on the tread. If the tread appears to be moving up and down at some point this is the tire.
Sometimes if it is the tire you can fix this with a high quality road force balance but if its so many pounds out the tire would be considered defective. Good news is that Toyo has a good tire warranty and if there were to be a rare issue with the tire you could probably get a free replacement.
Mike
Likely they are in balance if you see tape weights on the inside of the barrel of the wheels. There are however a very low percentage of tires that have a high spot or low spot somewhere in the tread and this could certainly cause a vibration.
Did you order the wheels from AM and the tires elsewhere? If so then wheels without the protection of a tire can get dropped hard enough during transit to warp the wheel. This can generally be seen on a balancing machine though unless very minor. When the wheels are being spun up on a balancer you can see the wheel flang/top of the wheel rising up and down if it's out of round.
If its not the wheel there is that small chance its the tire. If you feel the vibration coming from the back you could actually test it yourself by carefully lifting both rear wheels and running at a very low speed and watching first the top edge of each wheel and if this appears to be staying smooth then you want to focus on the tread. If the tread appears to be moving up and down at some point this is the tire.
Sometimes if it is the tire you can fix this with a high quality road force balance but if its so many pounds out the tire would be considered defective. Good news is that Toyo has a good tire warranty and if there were to be a rare issue with the tire you could probably get a free replacement.
Mike
I'm leaning towards the fact your caster camber plates aren't seated properly, when I first installed mine I had the stepped spacer at the end of the strut stud on the top right before the nut (because UPRs directions suck ***) took it for a ride and it vibrated and and was a horrible ride. Called UPR and it turns out the stepped spacer was supposed to go UNDER the strut tower, once fixed it was smooth as day.
#34
I have no way to dismount tires myself. I'll have to bring them back to the shop. If it turns out to be the wheels I sure hope AM covers my shop bills. The gas driving back and forth is enough.
#35
Greattt, no wonder they wouldn't tell me what manufacturer built their wheels. I shoulda known better. And I did, but I did it anyway haha. I hope thats not the issue I don't have time to deal with that, I work 6 freakin days a week and need this car.
I have no way to dismount tires myself. I'll have to bring them back to the shop. If it turns out to be the wheels I sure hope AM covers my shop bills. The gas driving back and forth is enough.
I have no way to dismount tires myself. I'll have to bring them back to the shop. If it turns out to be the wheels I sure hope AM covers my shop bills. The gas driving back and forth is enough.
Tell them what's going on, they just might. Why not put your stock wheels back on for now?
I think I have read them sending a new wheel out to you and take care of your problem, THEN send your old ones back. But since you didn't buy wheels and tires as a package, it will be harder to do so. You will have to narrow it down to the wheel or tire. Wheel could be bent or tire could have a flat spot.
Call AM, they are great for customer service and I'm sure they will take care of you. Just tell them your situation of working etc.
Last edited by smitty2919; 04-30-2011 at 07:26 AM.
#36
Yes I know that, when I say the car shakes, I mean it shakes... not rides rougher. Actually the car doesn't feel much harsher than stock, I'm very happy with it.
I have already removed the washers, and yes I did order tires and wheels seperate. I'm starting to lean toward a bent wheel or tire that is out of round. I feel a weird shake (more like a bump bump bump) at like 35 which is leading me to believe this.
I didn't get CC plates, I'm running stock still. It's only a pro kit with stock ISO's still in, and I even rotated the ISO a bit to get to a thicker non worn out part of my ISO, so it's not much of a drop. Could my stock plate not be seated correctly maybe? I do feel the shake in the steering wheel.
I have already removed the washers, and yes I did order tires and wheels seperate. I'm starting to lean toward a bent wheel or tire that is out of round. I feel a weird shake (more like a bump bump bump) at like 35 which is leading me to believe this.
I didn't get CC plates, I'm running stock still. It's only a pro kit with stock ISO's still in, and I even rotated the ISO a bit to get to a thicker non worn out part of my ISO, so it's not much of a drop. Could my stock plate not be seated correctly maybe? I do feel the shake in the steering wheel.
#37
I just got the alignment done and got the front 2 tires re-balanced. The front tires do hop a bit on the balancer, not sure if it's the tire or wheel 100% but the mechanic said it's the wheel based on his experience over the past 30 years. The front tires took a half oz more each, and it doesn't vibrate as much now, but seems like I have some in the rear now. So I'm going to head back asap and get the rears rebalanced and go from there.
I'm not that picky, if I can get it down to the point where it doesn't bother me I won't bother AM. I know the cheap aftermarket stuff won't be as good as factory, but I don't want it shaking my car to pieces. Took her up to 100 and it feels like it's going to shake apart, so I have to do something.
#38
Ok well got the alignment done, and all 4 wheels rebalanced, front seems to be a little better, but the rear is still bad. I may try a different shop with a newer balancer this weekend.
Random question though, can a buy a set of hub centering rings or something to center the wheel on the hub, or is that not possible? I know all aftermarket wheels are lug centric and a lot of times that causes them to vibrate since the pattern is slightly off center. All 4 of my wheels hop to some degree and the shop said it's the wheels, and mind you I didn't buy the tires from them or anything, all they did was the mount and balance.
Random question though, can a buy a set of hub centering rings or something to center the wheel on the hub, or is that not possible? I know all aftermarket wheels are lug centric and a lot of times that causes them to vibrate since the pattern is slightly off center. All 4 of my wheels hop to some degree and the shop said it's the wheels, and mind you I didn't buy the tires from them or anything, all they did was the mount and balance.
#40
Yeah the shop I went to balanced it off the hub, and it came up different almost everytime. I was kind of thinking that myself to be honest. But no they are all pretty evenly spread with weight and it's not an excessive amount of weight either.