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There have been several posts here about people saying they need a new alignment when they installed new rims and tires. This is not true, and if your shop tells you this, they are lying.

If your car was tracking well without any vibrations or shaking before your new rim/tire setup, you should NOT need to get an alignment with your new setup... don't get ripped off !

Almost all shaking and vibration problems with a new tire/rim setup can be attributed to improperly balanced tires. Different rims may have different spots where the balancing weights should go on... and some shops do not know this and will place the weights in the wrong spot. It will spin in their machine properly, but once it goes onto your car, it is out of whack right away... Not sure why, but this happened to me recently. The mech told me it had something to do with "static" balancing or something.

AND if you are using aftermarket rims, another common problem is that you need to use hub-rings specific to your make of car, so that the the wheel goes on properly centered on the hub. Even just a slight offset will cause mad vibration.

Unlike your stock Honda wheels, aftermarket wheels are usually made for various makes of cars, and so they usually will not fit your Honda perfectly... which is why you need hub-rings.

 
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one quick question, if you do have vibration but its minimal, even at 120 km (canadian) and i have no problem with it, wil it effect the tire or rim?? I don't want to fix it but i will if it is going to wreck them - thanks

 
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It won't wreck them, but your tires may wear out faster and have strange wear patterns. You shouldn't be feeling any vibration at all at that speed if everything was installed and balanced properly.

 
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well i have a bulge in a tire (which is getting fixed tomorrow) - would that cause it - its on the sidewall of the back passenger side tire

 
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<< There have been several posts here about people saying they need a new alignment when they installed new rims and tires. This is not true, and if your shop tells you this, they are lying.

If your car was tracking well without any vibrations or shaking before your new rim/tire setup, you should NOT need to get an alignment with your new setup... don't get ripped off !

Almost all shaking and vibration problems with a new tire/rim setup can be attributed to improperly balanced tires. Different rims may have different spots where the balancing weights should go on... and some shops do not know this and will place the weights in the wrong spot. It will spin in their machine properly, but once it goes onto your car, it is out of whack right away... Not sure why, but this happened to me recently. The mech told me it had something to do with "static" balancing or something.

AND if you are using aftermarket rims, another common problem is that you need to use hub-rings specific to your make of car, so that the the wheel goes on properly centered on the hub. Even just a slight offset will cause mad vibration.

Unlike your stock Honda wheels, aftermarket wheels are usually made for various makes of cars, and so they usually will not fit your Honda perfectly... which is why you need hub-rings. >>



Ronin I agree with you about the vibration, alginment will not cause vibration but improperly balanced or out of round rims will.

But as far as not re-aglining your car I disagree somewhat, the reason is that even though your car might track properly with no pull your front end toe is set for narrower tires. Therefore the insides or outsides of your new tires may wear improperly, the camber and caster settings shouldn't be affected unless of course you lowered your car, then a full alignment is needed. Just my 2¢

 
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Hey guys....that is all great info! But a few things....
1. I have the hubrings installed and they are installed the right way
2. They balanced the tires, I saw them myself.
3. My car was bouncing around before I got the new tires rims.

I am not saying that the ride should be pristine, but it shouldn't be bouncing and shaking around wildly like it is now. But thanks for the info guys, I may just have them get an alignment to be sure and then have them rebalance the tires.



2 Hottie

 
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If you're just talking about having a bouncy ride, well that's pretty standard for our cars ... A wheel alignment will not fix that.

 
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wow.. finally one that tells the truth.. thanks ronin

 
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How much do these HubRings go for?

 
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A few bucks only. The shops you order your rims from should be well-stocked with these hub-rings for our Civics.

 
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i work at a tire/auto shop... vibration at the steering wheel at certain speed ranging from 35-up is a balancing problem. But as for alignment.. it is recomendable to do an align when you buy tires because driving your car w/ bad alignment will cause uneven wears on the tire... meaning you just threw your money away on those tires.

 
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I haven't even had mt tires/wheels 3 days and I already noticed the outside is getting worn in a lot more than the middle....it sucks cause I can't even go over 60 anymore because my steering wheel shakes so much..I understand that you do have more rubber on the road with bigger/wider tires...but your car comes from the factory set up with the narrow wheels...maybe they just have to tweak it a bit. I am taking it to a diff shop to have it balanced....what kind of balancing do I need?

 
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Ya, I know how frustrating it can be to have that steering wheel vibration. But don't worry, if you take it back to the tire shop often enough and keep getting them to rebalance it, it will eventually get fixed. Test drive it right away after each trip, and go back right away if it still shakes. I once had to go back 5 times in one day before my shakes were fixed.

For my rims, there were 2 places where the weights could be attached: near the outside of the rim, and closer to the inside. But the inside was the only place it would work (for my rims at least). The first technician did not know this and put it on the outside. Took it back, and another tech knew right away what the problem was.

I think the balancing that you need is called "static" balancing. But you should ask NotoriousPinoy, since he mentioned that he works at a tire shop.

As for your tires wearing out... NotoriousPinoy did mention that you may need an alignment if you are going with a much greater tire size (than your stocks) to prevent premature wear. Personally though, I've never had a problem with fast wear-outs, even without doing an alignment.


EDIT: Sorry, the balancing you need is "dynamic" balancing, NOT static. My mistake...

 
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THis may sound dumb, but what are hub rings? Do you mean the lug nuts or am I just mad confused right now? [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG][IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/IMG]

 
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info on hub rings

 
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Hey guys....juts got the car back from the shop....you all were right!!!! The guy just laughed and said the balancing was way off...not to mention the alignment was off too....now my car rides like a dream....only thing, those f#$&*@s put a scratch in my rims!!!!! But I don't care, the problem has been fixed, thanks guys....cruisin for the ladies tonite!


2 Hottie

 
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I think Ronin has some very valid points but a few i don't agree with. Even if you replace your stock worn out tires with new ones of the same size you should get your car aligned. The new tires diameter is larger than the old and will cause you to have different castor/camber angles. Not to metion everyday wear and tear will affect your alignment..after all its only like $25-50 compared to $130+ per tire.
As for vibration...99% of your vibration is going to come from your static balance...which is balancing ONLY the inside of the of the wheel. A static balanced tire/wheel combo is NEVER truly balanced. If you don't believe me...take your wheel off...take it to someone you trust..have him static it..them do a standard balance...you will see that it might be close...but not right on...of course there are exceptions to this rule. Unless of course you want to pound wheel weights around the outside lip of your new wheel

 
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Thanks for clearing that up Whitecivic

Ya, the tech who re-did my balancing told me that the previous guy did "static" balancing, as opposed to "dynamic" balancing, which was why my wheels were out of balance.

 
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I was having a few issues when I got my new rotas. I was using some standard type of lug nuts. I went out and bought some tuner lugs and all seems to be well and the ride is much better. I haven't been on the highway yet. I was getting mad vibration and shaking from the steering wheel on the interstate. The rotas are lugcentric and the tuner lugs make the wheels center perfectly. I did notice the little gap between the wheel and the hub though. I think I am going to put my daughter in the car and go for a ride and see what happens.

Owe, and the place where I got my wheels put on overtighted the lugnuts. They must have tightened them to 200lbs or something. I had to literally jump up and down on the ratchet to budge them loose. And that was with a foot and a half long bar. I torqued the tuner lugs to 80lbs. I think over-tightening the lugs can cause problems as well.

 
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I gotta hand it to ya Ronin, you know your stuff! You were right about putting the weights on the inside, cuz that is what they did...result....flyin down the highway @ 80 w/ no more vibration at any speed! Only cost me $40 too! I have now been converted to the ways of the wheel gods!


2 Hottie

 
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Sorry, forgot to give props to WhiteCivic....you know your stuff well too!

 
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Just went for a ride on the highway. I still have a wee bit of vibration and shaking in the steering wheel. I tell ya, switching over to the tuner lugs helped big time. I just had them balanced and may make them do it again. I only get the vibration and shaking around 65mph and up. I guess they are just slightly out of balance. You guys think that it could be better or what?

 
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Could be dude...I never believed it before, but I do now...balancing and balancing the right way always makes the difference. It only took ,e 3 times to get it right, but it was all about the balancing and making sure you had your hub rings on...

2 Hottie

 
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The people I bought the wheels said I didn't need the hubcentric rings as the lugs center the wheel on the hub. The lugs do center the rims as I have noticed. I have to pay alot of attention when I put the lugs on to get it right. I did notice a little gap between the wheel and the hub. I guess the rings would fill that gap so I would like to get them. Do you know of any place online that sells them?

 
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Ummmmm....I would imagine that Tire Rack or Discount Tire should have them...after all, they have huge amounts of aftermarket wheels, some which need hubrings....if not, go back to the place u got em at, they should have some there...

 
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I bought the wheels from Machiii.com online. Let's just say that I didn't have a great experience with them and would prefer not to even call them again. A lot of the big wheel/tire places don't sell rotas. I guess I make some o
+ihone calls. YOu think that different wheels would require different rings or are does honda have a standard ring or something.

 
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As far as I know dude, there is a set of hubrings specific to Civics...I know, because the place I got mine from had to delay the delivery of my rims a day because he didn't have the right size of hubring for my Civic, so he had to order them...I think he said mine came from American Racing....sorry about the experience you had with that place, I never heard of em....

2 Hottie