dailycommuter

Hey guys,

My 98 civic has 205/40-17s on it. Last week i went to a local wheel and tire shop to get my wheels balanced as i noticed a couple of weights flew off.

After this guy did my balancing i can see new weights upfront. In the rear however he only removed a few old weights from what it already had and told me that the wheels were over weighted and the previous balancing job was badly done. And he assured me my wheels are balanced now.

My question is, did he really balance the rear wheels without sticking new weights? Or should i go and ask him to rebalance it?

ezone

Not necessarily. Tires wear, balance changes throughout the life as the tires wear.
It could have been good at one point in its life, last time it was balanced.


I do it that way if I can. Stick on weights already suck as it is, they don't like to stick to dirty and pitted aluminum wheels or cold wheels. The sticky stuff may rot early or freeze the weights off. Calipers can hit the weights on close clearance setups.

Why put on fresh weights if the ones already on there were fine?




If I don't need to touch any of the weights that were already there, I will not. No point.

If I can achieve the desired result by REMOVING excess sticky weights, I sure will do it that way. Drive the car at 70-80+ whatever your highway max speed is. Does it shake?

dailycommuter

The car does shake at 100 KMPH+
I never bothered because i rarely use the highway for commuting to work.
However, i am aware that my left side inner tie rod is loose and needs a replacement as the balancing mech pointed out. The rest of the setup is fine as he explained. I will get it done this weekend. I just wanted to fix these issues as a routine now that i have resources and time.

Is it tie rod the culprit or my rims? I did notice one rim has a slight bend on the inside but again i read in the forums that a slight bend doesnt make a difference.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

replace tie rod and then go from there.

ezone

Even after this new balance job?


You don't have stock wheels.
Got centering rings? Do the rims spin perfectly true when bolted on the car?

There's a whole lot more to figuring out vibration issues than simply balancing tires.....

dailycommuter

I feel that the tie rod might not solve the issue. Yes the car still vibrates vigorously. I noticed it now after changing my job and my commute has a lot of highway in it.

No i never got centering rings and i think that might be the issue as well. Are hub centering rings common for all wheels or do i need to source specific ones? My take is to fix issues one by one to solve this problem. These are used rims off craigslist for $200.

This is how it sits now. Yes the wheels fits just right and spins right. (no play or looseness what so ever) If you look close, i just got new rotors and brake pads.

ezone

The rings must be fit for both the hole in the wheel and the hub of the car.
Whenever we need them for cars at work, we get sent to the wheel manufacturer to try to get the right size.

My preference is for metal rings, not plastic.


Also, aluminum corrodes and steel rusts, so the rings may not fit good until you get the corrosion out of the hole in the wheel and off the hubs of the car.
--------

The wheels are supposed to be centered by the hubs, not by the lugs.
Balance depends on this.

Jack the front end off the ground and run the engine with the trans in gear, let the wheels spin free. You could probably watch the edges (lips) of the rims as they spin and tell they aren't perfectly centered on the hubs.

dailycommuter

Thanks Ezone i think we are getting close. Will do as you directed. Not sure how to source the centering rings though.
Also my mechanic when he installed these rims was recommending me to get aftermarket lug nuts. We concluded that the stock nuts did fit. Could that also be an issue?

ezone

Stock Honda lugnuts have a ball seat.
Most other manufacturers use a tapered seat.

You need nuts that are correct for the wheels, most likely a tapered seat.

dailycommuter

Very well explained. Thanks a lot Ezone. No wonder my mechanic was forcing me so much to get aftermarket lugs. He couldn't explain to me the technical part of it. So i will get aftermarket lugs, new tie rod and wheel alignment done this weekend and will post an update shortly.

Thanks

ezone

And centering rings.
And hope the use of wrong lugnuts didn't hurt anything.

Still got the original wheels and decent tires? (and stock lugnuts) Stick them back on for a minute, see if the shake problem goes away or changes. At least that would prove it's an issue with your new wheels.

dailycommuter

Yes i have winter tires on the stock steel rims. I will try them on too as you mentioned. I got these $200 rims on for this summer and they will be off the car in November. Whats the ID for the civic's hub? can i measure the wheels's OD manually and get hub centering rings off ebay?

ezone

I have no idea what the measurements are, and you'd probably need to be able to measure to 1/10th of a millimeter.

See who made the wheels and contact that manufacturer.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

just... put them on the car and drive around.... that will tell you if it's wheel/tire or something else...

dailycommuter

Hey Guys, Mission successful!
Everything done together. Tie rod, hub center rings, tapered lugs. The car is running super smooth even at 100 kmph. Thanks to all of you.


Here are the new lugs and rings


The rings fit perfect. 56.1 to 73 something




Unfortunately, i see that the tire has horrible uneven wear. For example, its lumpy now. I hope i can finish this season with them.


Also, i notice my valves have cracks in them. 3 of them. However they arent leaking. Changing them means re-balancing the wheels


Also there is a rust spot which has now turn worst as i didnt pay attention to it. Any idea how i can do a DIY on this?

ezone

The rust worm never sleeps.

Credit card + body shop?