Wheel replicas

[Drkmrkiv]

I bought a set of brand new toyos from...somewhere, can't remember. It was for my dd, a civic. Took it to 3 different places all saying they couldn't balance it. Bad rim, bad tire, yada yada. Honda got them balanced right away.

 

[slowandeasy]

I know the thread is going in another direction but my rims from wheel replicas are all out of shape well maybe 3/4. They balance, some with lots of weights, but the RoadForce still says driver might experience vibration. I do feel steering wheel shake and rear end shake. All have radial run-out out of tolerance, Roadforce complains. (all nitto tires) Tire Direct sold me the tires (I assume the tires are fine). Good price maybe they get sloppy thirds and the rubber is borderline rejects but TireDirect sales them a a lower cost.

I live in Canada and drove to the US to pick them (rims) up to save shipping so a return is a pain in the ass. Not sure how they make money!!! Thought they were USA made nope!!!

Now I am trying to get new rims for my 18" rubber. I am done with those rims.

JR

 

[86GT351]

Just a thought here. Have the tires been dismounted to check the balance of the rim itslef? That is a sure way of confirming if it is a rim or a tire. As for Warranty on the tire. If you can go to the tire and get the complete DOT number, post it here so we can see when the tires were made. Maybe they had a long shelf life causing an issue!

 

[Jucostud]

All you need is the last 4 of the dot

 

[G.T]

are you sure the balancing is done on a lug-centric wheel balancer?
most shops have a hub-centric balancer.. you can tell by how the wheel is mounted on the machine.

you need a lug-centric machine, otherwise everytime you put the wheel on, you'll get a different reading

 

[Newman]

Replica wheels are hub centric .

 

[tjm73]

I've balanced dozens of tires in both hub and lug centric configurations on the tire balancer my Father used to have at his dealership before he closed up shop and retired.

Every single problem I had was traced back to user error in setup. In other words my error. Personally I think road force is as big a farce as nitrogen fill ups. But those are my personal opinions.

The shop that sold you the wheels & tires, that mounted them should make them balance or replace the problem tire(s). Otherwise stop payment with your credit card company or bank. If you paid cash, you have no leverage.

 

[Jucostud]

+1... We got rid of our road force machine.

 

[Newman]

+1... We got rid of our road force machine.

Haha we just got a quick match

 

[rockpilot]

Ahhhh, the saga continues.... Just bought a new set of nittos from discount tire....now they are saying the wheels are to blame. WTF??? Seriously? All the wheels took about 2-3 ounces to balance, and it still vibrates on the highway. I'm seriously thinking about just selling the car, and being done with it. So pissed off right now

 

[rockpilot]

SO, does anybody know of a wheel vendor with better quality control than wheel replicas?

 

[86GT351]

Have you contacted Wheel Replicas or the person you bout the wheels from?

When it vibrates, is it in the steering wheel or seat of your pants?

 

[Mach2burnout]

Call wheel replicas, if it is truly the wheels I believe they will make it good. I have talked to them on a couple of occasions and they seem to have good customer service.

A good practice is to bolt your new wheels on the front of your car as a test fit and check the runout on each of them before you mount any tires. Its simple to do, with a dial indicator or a block of wood for that matter. When you spin the wheel its too easy to see how much runout or out of round the wheels are. They should have almost no measurable runout and less than an 1/8" out of round. Any more than that and you can't properly balance them. I always check mine prior to mounting tires, because most wheel vendors will not take them back once tires have been mounted. I believe wheel replica has a document in the box that states that.

When I ordered my wheels and tires I had to get my rear tires from Tire Rack because they didn't have the size for the front. I got the front tires from Discount Tire Direct because they only had the size I wanted for the front. One of the front tires will not balance out right. It is close but does have a touch of vibration. I should have sent it back but I had waited quite some time to get them on and couldn't wait to send them back. So I just deal with it.

 

[rockpilot]

The run out on the worst wheel was .015, the others were around .007. They are still within spec, but the steering wheel has a shake and the rear end is vibrating everything else in the car.

 

[Jucostud]

Two sets of tires, wheels have been checked a couple times now... You need to put your stock wheels back on. If that fixes the issue, you obviously have found a problem with the wheels. If you still have the issue, you now obviously know its your car.

 

[rockpilot]

Well, my wife sold the wheels already, and I never had a problem with them. This whole thing started when I put the new wheels and tires on the car...I'm pretty sure the car is not to blame

 

[rockpilot]

Also the apartment complex I live in does not let people work on there cars in the parking lot, so a test fit and measuring the run out myself is kind of out of the question

 

[86GT351]

??????

 

[Mach2burnout]

Do you have a friend with a mustang that you can swap wheels/tires for a day and see if the vibrations transfers to the other car?