[NewGenSTi]

EDIT PROBLEM FIXED, SEE PICTURES BELOW!!

Ok I bought new wheels, well new used wheels, and mounted brand new blizzaks on them. around 60-65 I get a vibration through the steering wheel, but only when I am coasting. If I accelerate it goes away, if I am turning, or applying any pressure in either direction to the steering wheel it goes away, and sometimes its just not there. I just brought the car up to 90 and came down through and felt nothing, but just 10 min before it was doing it.

So heres the details

• BBS wheels with potenzas do not vibrate at any speed

• Winter wheels put on and they vibrate

• swapped the wheels, vibration is gone, leading me to believe it is def wheel related

• I just went down the the shop, recalibrated the balancer, and rebalanced the wheels. Same thing. and one wheel needed over 3.5oz

• got back to the garage, took that one wheel off because it seemed odd it needed that much weight, pulled all the weights off and spun it again. now it says 2oz needed.. WTF?

• Recalibrated the machine a second time, put the wheel back on, says 2oz again. So at this point I trust that is correct. So I rebalance the wheel for a third time go for a ride and it feels better. Then all of a sudden came back.

• Got back checked, no weights fell off

• My only though is that because I am using some wheel spacers on the front to clear the brembos, and no hubcentric rings on t front because of the spacers that the wheel may not be mounting dead center??

• I am lost. I need an alignment because I put new struts on and it wanders a little bit, but the bbs wheels dont vibrate at all and these wheels do but intermittently sometimes they feel great, then all of a sudden the steering wheel is shaking again.

• Only the steering wheel shakes. the rest of the car feels stable ( had my friend drive and I couldnt feel it in the passenger seat, but he could feel it in the wheel )

• Wheels are torqued to 85 ftlb

Anyone want to shed some light? I am going to try and get the car aligned tomorrow and see what happens, and maybe monday I will turn some hubcentric rings out on the lathe, but other than that I have no idea what to do!

[NewGenSTi]

Bump. Anyone? Going to get an alignment in 10 min. I will post results later on

[MadMan77]

Originally Posted by NewGenSTi

[*]My only though is that because I am using some wheel spacers on the front to clear the brembos, and no hubcentric rings on the front because of the spacers that the wheel may not be mounting dead center??[/list][list]

I believe that you answered your own question right there.

[metros]

Originally Posted by MadMan77

I believe that you answered your own question right there.

Agreed. If the wheel doesn't sit on the hub lip snuggly it's going to vibrate regardless of torque on the wheel and balancing of the wheel.

[blindfold]

If it's a hubcentric ring problem, try push upward just a tad when you mount the wheel to see if it helps.

I use only about 66lb/ft torque on my lug nuts...not sure if it's a different torque spec for you with a spacer

[NewGenSTi]

Well here is what happened today. I went for the alignment(which I know I need because I put new struts on a couple weeks ago and never had it done) and they were too busy to fit me in, so I went to a buddies garage to have him do it and I told him the situation. He would not do an alignment for me, because he said if the wheel isnt centered on the hub it is going to throw alignment readings off as well...

I went ahead and ordered some eibach spacers that are hubcentric, and vehicle specific and I will give that a try. I hope it is the problem, because I just spent $130 on them!!!!

That brings up another note, yet off topic, I cannot stand how everyone is out to make money on shipping charges anymore instead of advertising a higher price on the product!!!!!!!! I found like 5 sets for $110, and they all had handling charges of $10-20 on top of the shipping charge.
Some companies offered free shipping, then tacked on a $10 handling charge at the end of the checkout .. End rant / sorry

I guess I can not complain that much. I did get the wheels for $225, which is pretty cheap. I just really didnt want to dish out the extra 130 with christmas on the way, I suppose I could have made them at work, but by the time I bought the material, got the machines set up, and did all the work I would have just as much time and man hours into making a set as I just spent on them. oh well I will keep you guys updated on how things turn out when they come in. Hopefully nothing breaks in the meantime. They are calling for ice and snow all week so swapping to my summer wheels is out of the question for now!

[NewGenSTi]

Originally Posted by blindfold

If it's a hubcentric ring problem, try push upward just a tad when you mount the wheel to see if it helps.

I use only about 66lb/ft torque on my lug nuts...not sure if it's a different torque spec for you with a spacer

Yeah, I guess I am a tad over. But I dont think it would hurt anything

[sciolist]

Are you using nuts that seat properly in your winter wheels? In conjunction with spacers, that could definitely cause the problem.

Every once in a while, I run one of various sets of autoX wheel/tire combinations up to 75mph or so on the street. These wheels are always un-balanced, but not always spaced off the hubs. My general impression is that slight variations in seating of the wheel make more difference in this respect than moderate balancing variations. Don't have any hard numbers to back that up, though.

I used to be pretty suspicious of any non-hubcentric wheel arrangement, but that thinking has changed a bit. For one thing, the centering aspect of the wheel has to be over-bored in order to function. Once clamping force is applied, there's no actual bearing condition at the center flange... unless things really get out of whack. I think it's perfectly reasonable to rely on a lug-centric arrangement at highway speeds, as long as it's properly set up.

[NewGenSTi]

see the spacer isnt hubcentric either though, so when I am bolted on the end of my studs its a bunch of leverage pushing down. It seems that it is perfeclt smooth untill I hit a bump. then the vibration starts and will not stop. so ithin that when I hit a bump the studs flex a little and centrifugal force holds them out of whack until I slow down then it goes away.. Just my thoughs

[GodofAtheism]

without driving the car im only guessing, but usually the snow tires are really heavy in comparison to a normal all season tire, so by nature they will require more weight to balance. The process they use to build them is also not as precise as with a normal use tire, so alot of times they are not 100% round, if you watch them on the balacer you can see a little bump as they spin. This is my guess as to what your problem is, assuming of course that making the wheels hubcentric does not fix it, basically you are looking at the same problem there but with the whole wheel being slightly out of round because it does not sit centered

[NewGenSTi]

Just an update, the new Eibach Hubcentric spacers, and new subaru Hubcentric rings came in today. I pulled the new longer studs through ( old lug nuts were only catching on 5 1/2 threads ) put on the new 10mm hubcentric spacer, and the subaru adaptor for my wheels. Oh man, everything lines up beautiful. feels like about .001 clearance on these babies! they fit so nice and snug!!!. Anyways, it took me 2 hours, because the new studs were a $(#@& to get on. Stripped out 5 lug nuts trying to pull the darn things through the hub. Went for a quick ride down 81 south, brought her up to about 100, let off and coasted untill the next exit (about 2 miles total distance) and all I can say is this was def the problem. It feels nice and smooth now, not even a hint of vibration.

I will post pictures a little bit later of the new spacers vs the old, I need to jump in the shower now. Been working for the last 12 hours, and let me tell you, I smell like metal cutting coolant, wd40, grease, brake cleaner, and brake dust all mixed together. ( not good )

[NewGenSTi]

Old next to the new

New one installed

[GarageSpec.com]

^^^
there lies the problem. The generic spacer you have on the left is only a temp fix that ends up causing problems later down the road. I know of a few that have 90% success rate with those, heres some pointers for those who may be thinking about using these types of spacers. They do work, just takes a bit of adjusting.

a) right before you tighten the lugs on, make sure that the spacers themselves are centered to the hub. a good way is to push them up with your fingers from the bottom, then center your wheel. I know a few people who have tracked their cars with up to 4 of those 3mm spacers without any vibration for over 2 years.

b) make sure they are prefectly flat as over time the heat causes them to warp, so depending on how long they have been used they may or may not be usuable.

[fuzz]

The problem with generic spacers is they take all your hub away(which isn't much on subies) If you are not catching enough hub you are going to get a vibration for sure. Also not having hubrings won't help either. Hubcenteric spacers are the way to go for sure. Congratulations on fixing your problem.