car swaying after replacing wheels and tires
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From: Baton Rouge
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car swaying after replacing wheels and tires
like the title says. i put new rims and tires on my car and now at about 60 mph i feel the car swaying. its not terrible but noticeable. feels like the car wants to go its own way. i went to tire kingdom for their opinion and they said i have lowered suspension so your up a creek. i said thanks for the advice and left. so i was wondering if anyone has had this problem or if they know a solution to my problem. btw i went from 14 inch steelies to 00 si wheels. all tires are balanced and all my lugnuts are tight. thanks for your help
Jason
Jason
what tires do you have? When i changed from stock firestones to yokohamas I got a sway in about the same speed range. real slight and only on freeways with the small grooves in the road surface. I am currently using yk420 tires in 205/60/19 size but the problem was much more noticeable with the 195/60/15 size fitted.
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From: Hickville, NC
Rep Power: 0 you probalby messed up the alignment putting the new tires on...or..the fact it is new tires noticed it more(your car could have been out of aligned for a while) thats what happened when i put my 17s on, i noticed it pulled to the right, got it aligned, both the front and rear was out and now its, A OK
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From: Lost Angels
Rep Power: 302 I had that problem real bad when I went to 16's. Alignment was OK. Turns out in my case an X-brace fixed all that. Drives straight as an arrow, any speed. Man, I was soooo happy. The car was really swaying before.
I think better tires just grip better, and then the chassis is pulled more. Since the car flexes so much, it wanders a lot.
I think better tires just grip better, and then the chassis is pulled more. Since the car flexes so much, it wanders a lot.
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Undo the lugnuts, torque them back down. Sometimes the wheel doesn't seat perfectly straight. Make sure the new tires are the same overall diameter as the old ones, if you put stock sized Si tires on, they're too small and it will mess up the alignment, which could possibly caused the shake. Or it could be they're just stiffer tires (or they're directional) and just want to follow the road better. Performance oriented tires tend to do that and you just have to get used to it.
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From: Boise, Idaho
Rep Power: 327 Check your air pressure, depending on tire size it could it could have a effect on how it handles at higher speeds. when mine were first instaleld they set the air pressure to 44psi and on the highway it felt like you were riding on a knife edge sort of and would wander. If it is that high lower it down to around 35-36psi.
This is not possible, tires no matter what size will NOT effect the alignment angles. They can effect how it handles but CANT change the alignment. Unless your talking about one that 30" tall on front and 22" on the back, then in that case YES it will change the caster angle but i doubt hes running this type of set up
you probalby messed up the alignment putting the new tires on
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Rep Power: 0 Wow, this thread is actually giving good advice. Not to flame 7thgenciv.com but it really seems that most of the threads have either been covered b4 or are just about really stupid things. I've only been a member for half a year and i'm already beginning to see trends in the dumb *** questions a lot of people ask... or are just to lazy to find the answers to. There's usually someone asking about the performance gains from i/h/e, or about if something will fit or not, or about how something's making a strange noise in the car... anyone else notice this? Now I don't know if this post's topic has been answered somewhere else, but it's nice to see a thread that isn't filled with people flaming a dumb question.... just people giving advice on a legit problem. It's hard to find a good thread nowadays. end sermon
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From: Baton Rouge
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the new tires i put on on stock 00 civic si wheels are 195/50/15. it does feel likes it only wanders on the interstate and/or if there is a groove in the road. maybe its just the tires. i took it to honda and they said basically i need a camber kit. my car has been lowered 2" all around for months now on my stock tires and i didnt have a problem. maybe its just the new tires and maybe it needs a camber kit. im going to buy a camber kit within the month and hopefully it fixes my problem. thanks for the input everyone.
Jason
Jason
I've had my car do that on the little lines on the road many times 
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From: Littleton, Co
Rep Power: 314 You're ok bud...it's just something you have to get used to. I put 16" Enkei 5+ 's on with Khumo Ecsta Supra's on my ride and noticed that the car follow's EVERY groove in the road. As Boilermaker stated, better tires follow the road more. At a stoplight is my biggest problem. As I slow down to a stop my car pulls HARD!! And wants to follow one side or the other of those deep rutts in the road, you know what I'm talkin' about. After having the alignment checked and the tires re-balanced...not much changed (got rid of the shaking) but I got used to it. No big deal, don't worry. IMO but I could be wrong. lol
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