Wheel wobble after putting winter rims on.

[iblizzard]

Hi there, I've got a 1990 honda accord. I just put on my winter tires and am getting really bad wheel wobble in the front end.

Just trying to figure out what might have caused this. I had no problems at all when I had my summer rims on.

Stock tire size is 185/70/14, My summer rims are 205/40/17, and I just put on my winter rims which are 205/60/15 (I've driven on them for one season already, and I don't get any rubbing.. so that's okay.. but yes, they are way too big).

Any ideas? Suggestions?

[GSR Zero]

Wheel wobble? I'm guessing you mean your steering wheel vibrates? I'm guessing your winters wheels are needing to be balanced.

[iblizzard]

Yeah, steering wheel vibration, but the wheels are (apparently, I haven't seen.. but a friend who was driving behind me noticed) wobbling quite a bit too... (all the nuts have been properly torqued down).

I will get them all rebalanced. Is there any reason why this would happen? Or is it just because they were stored for summer and not used for so long?

[1-Bar]

get the front end up in the air, grab the left and right side of the a front wheel and shake it back and fourth. Maybe its not seated properly.

[lastprodigy]

You need to get your wheels balanced most likely, some of the wheels balancing weights could have fallen off in storage or something. No big deal, just take it to a tire shop.

[Kaos]

Originally posted by 1-Bar
get the front end up in the air, grab the left and right side of the a front wheel and shake it back and fourth. Maybe its not seated properly.

if you never had a problem before your took your winters off, then you probably need to do this.

[rockym20]

Originally posted by 1-Bar
get the front end up in the air, grab the left and right side of the a front wheel and shake it back and fourth. Maybe its not seated properly.

That would by my first guess.

Are your winter rims new? If so, whoever did it may have put on rims with the wrong hole spacing (i.e. 4 X 114 vs. 4 X100). Or, if you have rims with multi-hole spacing (there will be eight holes), they might be put into the wrong ones. The rims would probably fit on with a slight angle, but won't seat in flush with your brakes.

Anyways, get it looked at immediately and don't take it at high speed. This can cause a lot of stess on your drivetrain and suspension.

[Supa Dexta]

Actually seeing the rim "wobble" is an extreme balance issue.. Its more likely the rim is either bent or loose, it may have been tight at first but loosened off, or wasn't set in place correctly when first torqued down.. You should always check them after the first drive and again in a week or 2 just to make sure.. Also if your wheel covers are off center it will look like the rims are all crooked, but there won't be any vibration or piss poor steering, possibly a bit of vibration but not near as much as a loose or bent rim....

[dooman24]

make sure all 4 or 5 nuts are torque equally using a torque wrench..
try that before going to a tire shop..

[Thaco]

its either, as others said, untightened nuts (make sure the center spacing where the wheel bearing is sits flush.)

That or, bent rim, seperated tire, or extreme unbalance.

[rc2002]

Another thing to check is the air pressure in the tires. Underinflated tires can cause the same "wobbling".

[djayz]

did you take your hub rings off from the previous wheels?
that might be causing the wheel to sit unevenly against the wheel hub

[infected]

Originally posted by richardchan2002
Another thing to check is the air pressure in the tires. Underinflated tires can cause the same "wobbling".

Silly mistakes can lead to a big problem.

[iblizzard]

I took the car in to OK Tire in Crowfoot, just to get them to look at it.

Originally posted by 1-Bar
get the front end up in the air, grab the left and right side of the a front wheel and shake it back and fourth. Maybe its not seated properly.

By not seated properly, do you just mean the wheel isn't sitting properly on the bolts?

Originally posted by rockym20
Are your winter rims new? If so, whoever did it may have put on rims with the wrong hole spacing (i.e. 4 X 114 vs. 4 X100). Or, if you have rims with multi-hole spacing (there will be eight holes), they might be put into the wrong ones. The rims would probably fit on with a slight angle, but won't seat in flush with your brakes.

No, they're not new. I drove on them last winter and it was fine... the bolt holes are the correct patter (4x114).

Originally posted by djayz
did you take your hub rings off from the previous wheels?
that might be causing the wheel to sit unevenly against the wheel hub

I didn't take any hub rings off at all. I wasn't the one who put my summer rims on, so I'm not sure if there were rings installed then or not. But no, I didn't take any off, so maybe that is the problem.

[Weapon_R]

Check two things:

1) the balance

2) One time my rotor screw came loose and I didn't notice. I put the wheel on but it was not flush against the rotor and there was some nasty wobbling until I took a closer look.

[iblizzard]

Alright, I got my car back from OK Tire in crowfoot (and after having one of the guys there treat me like I'm an absolute idiot), and they couldn't find a problem. They said they can't do an alignment on the car because the wheels aren't factory size, and that the car is unsafe because the wheels are too big. He also said that in order to drive this car, I need to get factory sized rims and factory sized tires. I don't know a lot about this topic, but I'm fairly confident that most of what he said isn't true... a car can be aligned if it's got different sized wheels and even different suspension, but certain shops may not have the correct equipment to do this. Am I right?

Either way, I'm going to jack up the front end tomorrow and take the wheels off to see if there are still hub rings on there. Could this cause this much of a wobble? (I notice the wobble at very low speeds too.. 30km/h and under I notice it.)

It's very possible that I didn't notice these rings were still on there, and the winter rims are now sitting on top of them and aren't able to tighten down as much as they should. That would definitely cause a wobble... and even though I wasn't the one who installed my summer rims (this was the first summer I drove on them), I do seem to remember there being a set of rings with them.

[Supa Dexta]

just for kicks, what size are they?

[djayz]

Originally posted by Supa Dexta
just for kicks, what size are they?

might help to read a few more lines

"Stock tire size is 185/70/14, My summer rims are 205/40/17, and I just put on my winter rims which are 205/60/15"

so far im still thinking its the hub rings
if the balancing was off so much that you could see it that would be horrible bad...there would have to be like a fairly large chunk of metal missing

but yah check the hub rings...

[1-Bar]

Originally posted by iblizzard
By not seated properly, do you just mean the wheel isn't sitting properly on the bolts?

Either that, or the lugs aren't seated properly on the wheel. Kinda like if you don't use the proper torque sequence, especailly on a 5 lug bolt patter......gl

I don't know about those people at ok tire, but you can do an alignment on non-factory sized wheels. Did it with every new pair of shoes I got for the car (3 just this past summer). And rim size is not an issue of safety...just as long as the overall diameter is close to factory size....