maxtierney

iTrader: (5)

Sweet! That does look clean. Good call.

MindBomber

Looks good, sometimes we forget how great our cars really do look stock. I always enjoy swapping off my 17's with 35 profile tires to my stock alloys with 65 profile tires, the ride is so much better.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

yeah, i am also enjoying running my stockies again too.
just that when pushing the car, sometimes the tires will just almost pop out of the wheels and roll much more with the tire squishing down from the cornering... aside from that, me likes running stockies.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

well today i took it to the freeway a few times and unfortunately the shakes are still there around 65-75mph mainly. i cant figure this problem out. the civic feels downright scary on the freeway which i remember is why ive been avoiding them (other than the mouthful of bugs i got after 10 mins of driving). steering wheel is shaking bad but the thing is its not consistent. one minute it will be shaking at lets say 70mph, next minute it will be perfectly smooth. so idk? car is just messed and doesnt like to go above 50? the dealer said all four balanced out perfectly no problems (brand new rims and tires so what gives). its not a huge deal since i hate freeway driving already, but sucks the car has this ongoing problem. not to mention all the other problems like the engine sounds like its about to blow up and i keep getting extremely strong trans fluid smells thru the vents. when i park the car and sniff around, theres no smell lol. whats really annoying is our 20 yr old accord drives smooth as ever not even a shiver from the steering wheel at any speed. i remember the civic used to be the same back 5 yrs ago. do you think it will get better when the tires get broken in? i really dont want to take it back for another balance cause they said already everything was fine. the machine was zeroed out for each wheel.

green01civic

Does it start at 50 and get progressively worse as speed increases? Does it happen over 75? Is there an upper limit where you feel it becomes unsafe?
Did the old Fuzion tires exhibit the same symptoms?
What kind of machine is balancing the tires? (You may benefit from it being performed on Hunter Road Force GSP9700 balancing equipment... if it is a GSP9700, then you should be ok.)
Have you inspected your suspension/tie rods/control arms/etc. to see if anything looks out of wack? (Bent/broken/worn)
Have you jacked up the car and see if you can wobble either of the wheels?

green01civic

Also... could your torque converter be doing f'd up things and causing the vibration? It could be failing to lockup. (Well, I'd expect a shaking... but are you getting a fast side-to-side wheel motion, or just strictly vibration? If it's a side-to-side shake, not likely the Torque Converter.)

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

its mostly felt in the steering wheel very quickly moving left and right. if i grab the wheel hard with both hands i can make it stop. i dont think its the trans because its shifting and locking out properly. its not engine vibration. it starts around 60mph i think and does it thru 75mph but i didnt want to risk a ticket going much faster. the thing is it comes and goes at that range. i could be fine no shaking and then out of nowhere it would come back. it never happened when i had the 2000 SI alloy rims 5 yrs ago with bridgestone turanza LS-H (i did take the car up to 100mph which was a one time thing and it felt like a bmw stuck to the road and smooth as butter). it first started the day i had the old aftermarket rims put on with the same tires. since then its been doing it up to now even with the fuzion tires. i remember few yrs ago taking it to 5 different shops and having them rebalance it. each time something would change, or a shop would say there was an imbalance they fixed, but it never really improved. the vibration would either get better or worse but not disappear. sears actually got it the best with minimal shaking. even better than now with the oem rims. i was hoping oem rims would fix this issue like before. you think the aftermarket rims somehow ruined the car? or do most shops just suck at balancing. even at lower speeds the car feels unsafe due to the wheel shaking off lol. ive checked suspension parts and the wheels do not have any play, the tie rods are only few yrs old, ES LCA bushings in perfect shape, etc. cant think or any mechanical reason other than the balance. and i have no idea what the dealer used to balance them. you would think with oem wheels, and a honda dealer doing this to thousands of cars, they wouldnt have any problem. but like i said, its just one more thing to hate about this old car. at least i dont need to use freeways.

green01civic

Try rotating the tires front to back, yourself, with hand-tightened lugs (maybe an overtorqued lug making a shimmy), and see if things change. If there's a significant difference, or the vibration moves to the rear of the vehicle, then get those tires rebalanced.

Ticket above 75? Where I'm from, if you aren't going over 75, you're probably getting passed on both sides .

Also, it does matter what type of machine. I specifically cited a GSP9700 because they are the best-of-the-best... they have a load roller that pushes against the tire to check the tire under load, and it even measures variations of the tire itself.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

oh i made sure and loosened/retorqued the lug nuts before even driving away from the dealer lol. i know they never get that right. i then retorqued them a few days later and they were all still fine. supposedly this dealer has one of those GSP9700 machines but im not sure if they use it exclusively. i know its a balance issue, and im convinced nobody knows how to balance tires after all ive been thru. i cant even go back to that sears and have them do it cause that was in IL. the whole reason i went to honda was thinking they know what they are doing and many of the mechs i knew from 10 yrs ago when i bought the car new are still working. and people drive slow here, i could hardly even go 75 for more than 20 secs at a time without weaving thru traffic. i doubt i could even go faster than that because of those gentle hill slopes. they were just too much for the 90hp. what i cant figure out is if its a balance issue, shouldnt it vibrate constantly all the time at those speeds? why sometimes it goes away completely like nothing is wrong. same stretch of road, same composition, speed, everything...

maxtierney

iTrader: (5)

I have the same issues with my Odyssey. I know there isn't a lot of adjustment to work with, but if you can dial in a little more negative caster, that will help with straight line stability at higher speeds and reduce shimmy. Also decreasing some front tire pressure will help in reducing the shakes. It's like loosening a guitar string. Less tension, less vibration.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i dont want to go much lower than 35psi tho...gas mileage is already terrible due to the tires being brand new. im hoping they wear in and start gripping and rolling better. still not bad for a new tire tho, they perform well at low speeds. thanks for the tips everyone. are the shakes bad for the car, other than being annoying?

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

potential issues with driveshaft?...

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

someone told me if i jack up the car and can move the wheel left/right, the tie rods are bad. but isnt the wheel supposed to move this way? both sides do it and i cant imagine 3 yr old tie rods already going bad, unless its the inners. both front wheels have massive left/right play when i turn them by hand. isnt that normal tho??

green01civic

"Massive" left/right play sounds abnormal.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

well i mean i can start to turn them and if i keep putting enough force they will keep going. should i be having someone hold the steering wheel still while i check the tire? cause i think im just turning the wheels left and right like how they would go normally.

also another fail is my braking performance became noticably worse, which i guess should be expected from the heavier rims. oh well

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

play is what they move without much resistance. so just shake them.
I still recommend taking a look at the shafts - small unbalancing (bents?) could make them shake at higher speeds (small diameter, small wieght effect, so higher frequency).
Braking and acceleration are small payoffs for the oe steelies. Now, if you don't do much HGY, afraid it will not help MPG...

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah i have a feeling the better mpg is more related to the aero properties of the steelies/hubs since its a closed design compared to open aftermarket. weight doesnt matter nearly as much on the highway. new tires arent helping either til they wear down a bit. they stick like glue now. im actually quite surprised how the car will slow down when letting off the gas instead of staying the same or speeding up.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i think the loss of braking power is due more to the tires being new than the rim swap. i had to make a moderate stop for someone crossing the street and i skidded coming to a stop. it wasnt a panic stop either just a firm stop. once the tires wear in more it should improve. after only 50 miles the steering input is better than the old tires. still not enough to take fast turns or hard braking but getting there.

CiviStang

So gearbox did you jump from 14" aftermarket into 15" steelies? or did you drop down in size. "sorry in a N00b here so i dunno what you were sporting"

ive been considering jumping up to 15" steelies as we need new tires anyways and have a line on a set of factory 15"s of an 02 EX for cheap.
would it make much of a difference to throw the 15s on vs the current 14's any differences as in mileage/ride/etc?? thoughts?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

mine were the same 15 to 15. just went from lighter to heavier. im really surprised i noticed such a difference. even tho the new wheel tire combo is only a total of 8 lbs heavier, braking is noticably more difficult. feels like the car is 500 lbs heavier. i still hope its due to the tires being new and not having as much grip. in the future i may upgrade to better pads or wait til i find a light rim that looks good.