TheWatcher

i put on a set of 20 X 8.5 rims yesterday, (i'll post some pics later) after putting them on i went for a ride, car drives good but when i cruise around 50-60 mph the steering wheel shakes (wobbles), does anyone know why this is happening and how i can fix it, thanks alot.

Cobrakev

Tire balance? Wheel weight fell off?

hazestang

when I put my 18's on they did the same. had them all realligned and still had the problem. they told me that car wasn't made to have that size tire, so it would never be as smooth as the factory. since then (6 months later), I only feel it on occasion. It seemed to have worked itself out with time. once in awhile i feel it, but it goes away, usually when i really get on it for a few seconds. interestingly enough, 60 was the spot that it happend on mine, once i hit 70, didn't have it. give it time, as long as you had them balanced by someone who knows what they are doing, it should work itself out.

BlueStang6

It sounds like one of your new wheels may be horizontally out of true. Try swapping one of your old wheels one at a time with the new ones (starting with the fronts). If the wobble goes away then you have found the bent wheel. I think the only fix is to return the wheel to the seller and get a new one. By the way, a vertically out of true wheel is one that is not perfectly round and would cause a bouncing effect.

TheWatcher

it seems to happen only between 50-60 mph, any slower or faster it rides smooth??? i hope its not a bent wheel - that would suck.

BlueStang6

What it might be then is that the new wheels are lug centric, I dunno. In any case, go down to Autozone or someplace and get hub rings. They're round plactic rings that go on before you mount the wheels and centers up the wheels to the hub. They're not expensive and worth a try.

petepete

Happened to mine too Put 235s on there and it starts to shake goto 265s it tops. I keep the 235s tires though because they look nicer to me

Action_Jackson

My car does this too, but I don't know if it the crappy roads around here or what. I only had the factory wheels on for a few days and when I changed them out I was being realy critical of them since they were new, and don't remember if the factory wheels had the same problem. I don't notice it on real smooth roads, it doesn't vibrate at all, but if I get on a road with the slightest imperfections it tends to do it. It could possibly be that the tires are so low profile that they are less forgiving than the factory tires and transmit the imperfections of the road to the wheel. I have kinda got used to it now though and don't really notice much anymore.

I had a problem with my Ranger once with some new tires and went back twice to have them balanced. Then I took them to another shop and it fixed the problem. I think their machine was off or something. It could also be the tires, I have heard of tires having spots that are thicker and throwing the balance off to where they can't be balanced correctly. At least that is what the guys at pep boys told me once when I bought some tires from them and they couldn't get my tires balanced correctly. I totalled the car befor I could get it fixed. Good luck.

Tim

djl0657

Are the wheels balanced on the inside edge AND the outside edge, OR did someone try to balance them so you don't see the weights on the outside (this used to be called center plaining (?)). If you don't see weights on the outside of the wheels, they tried to keep the wheels pretty and didn't balance them properly. I also agree about the centering device, makes sense.

I had a TRANS AM in the seventies and we tried to keep all the weights inside the wheels to keep them looking pretty. It shimmied at highway speed like you are describing.

Action_Jackson

My wheels are made to be balanced on the inside, with no weights on the outside, some of the newer rims are designed this way. The weights are actually on the inside of the rim, toward the middle, right behind the polished portion.