Need advice on tire balance issues
 

Hey guys,
I just install today a new set of Style 214 replicas on brand new Toyo Proxes ST tires. (factory sizes 275/40/20 on front, and 315/35/20 on rear's)
The first time I drove the car on the highway I felt a strong vibration coming from the tires (not possible to know from which one), so I took the car back to the tire installer, he checked both front's, one gave us Zero reading and the second one gave us a reading that needed an extra 0.5oz of adhesive weights, so we did it.
Now that I drove back home, I still feel a vibration much softer but still vibrates, the wheels and tires are brand new.
QUESTION: do you think it will be better to check the balance of the rear tires too ? usually rear tires don't give any vibration to the car, or maybe the machine they are using is not well cailbrated ?
Any feedback will be appreciated !
Bernie

Hi Bernie,

Firstly, I would make sure that all 4 wheels/tires are perfectly balanced using a good/calibrated machine (road force if possible).

Secondly, do the wheels you bought need any hub centric rings?

Thirdly, in some very rare cases replica wheels are just not manufactured to the same standards as OEM and could cause a problem. But if the wheels balance I wouldn't worry too much about a manufacturing issue.

Thanks for your reply
Can you tell me more about hub centric rings, what are they and how do I know I need to use them ?
I have heard a lot about them but never put much attention
Thanks a lot
Bernie

No problem :)

HERE is an explanation of hub centric rings.

HERE is a thread on XBimmers where a member bought 214 replicas and needed hub centric rings.

According to that post:

Also, front tires out of balance will make the vibration come through the steering wheel typically. Feeling vibration in the floor or in the seat is usually from the rear tires.

FALSE ALARM not done yet....

Glad it worked out, Bernie! Get those pics up whenever you get a chance! :D

Here some pics taken today
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...6/DSCN4167.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...6/DSCN4169.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...6/DSCN4166.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...6/DSCN4165.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...6/DSCN4164.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...6/DSCN4163.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...6/DSCN4162.jpg

Have you seen the yellow dot that all new tires come with ?
I have heard that dot is kind of a mark intended to be located near wheel valve, and that helps in some way to get the best balance.
My installer did not put attention to that issue and the yellow dot is not align with the air valve of the wheel, do you think it will be worth it to align it ?
I still feel very very soft vibration at 60mph and dont know if that could help ?

Not sure all tires come with this - Didn't see it on the last set I purchased so don't know about placement with the valve stem. The one wheel that required extra weight (you didn't say how much total weight) might have an issue with the tire having a heavy or light spot that requires the extra weight. Swapping out that wheel and putting that same tire on and then balancing it again will determine if it is that specific wheel causing the issue. Good luck.

The right rear wheel needed 3.75oz of adhesive weights, I feel is a lot for a brand new wheel and new tire, usually the ask for 1.0 or less, the good thing is that I have a spare set of 4 wheels so I'm planning to change that wheel and have the tire installed in the new one....also I will ask to aligh the yellow dots to the valve stems, I have read some info on other forums and this is what I found: " The yellow dot is the lightest spot and it is suggested to mount this above the valve stem"

I will keep you posted, is always good to learn something new every day...

Do you know the outer size ( in mm ) of the X5 hubs, are they same front and rear ?
Thanks
Bernie

Sorry, false alarm, still have the vibration, you were 100% correct, the car has different hub sizes between front (74mm) and rear(72.56mm), and my wheels came 74mm all around, so I will have to custom make the hubcentric rings of 1.4mm in order to get the problem solve ( I hope Im already loosing my patience)
Here in Costa Rica nobody sales those rings (third world countries.....) , so I will find a good precision shop and have them custom made.
Today we made a "home-made sleeve" using a hose clamp that gave us almost the exact width of 1.4mm , installed it around the car hub in order to give it a gain of 1.4mm in outer circumference of the car hub, this was done just to test and see if we will get some gain, it worked in some percentage, did not take all vibration off but at least I felt less vibration, so no, I'm positive that making those rings the way they should be will finally solve my problems.

Just got the hubcentric rings installed, the vibration almost dissapeared but not at 100% , not happy at all !
So I ordered a brand new factory OEM set of wheels ( same style 214) and will sell the replica's inmediately...... I learn a lesson here, OEM quality is OEM, and cheap is cheap....

I had the same problem on mine with almost the same setup. I bought tailormade rear spacers from SCC Fahrzeugtechnik / Aluminium Spurverbreiterungen und Adaptionen and the problem was gone. Hubcentric rings do not work very well on this car.

Some one told me that spacers was the way to go, but I put no attention since I was possitive that the vibration will be gone with the hub rings, anyhow I have 1 more week to wait for my OEM set.....
By the way, what width in milimeters ?
Thanks for your feedback
Bernie

Normally spacers do the job on most cars but i have bad memories with the hubcentric rings from my X6. Some of them are made of plastic and will deform. Remember that the wheel shall rest on the hub (metal) and not on the bolts. If the wheel is hanging on the hubrings this will make the vibrations as the rings are not accurate. This car is very sensitive to this.

They made spacers 25mm wide . They fit 100% to car hub(72,6?) and 100% towards wheel (74mm)