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vibration at certain speeds only

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rh71

rh71

No Lifer
08 X5 with aftermarket wheels 275/315 staggered... already did a wheel alignment.

When I had it stock, it never vibrated so unless something else is failing since then, it's gotta be the wheels right?

Because the place that put these wheels on initially didn't have a road-force machine, the weights weren't accurate - they tried twice but it still vibrated. Fast forward many months later - this shop today said they were really off and road-force balanced but the vibration persists, which is only when accelerating (think highway on-ramps) through 60mph+ to about 80mph... I can also feel it when coasting down (no brakes) from 80mph-->60mph. Those are approximations, not always the exact same everytime.

There are taped weights on the inner side of the rims on 3 near the outside edge and on the inner edge on 1. Previously it was all 4 on the outer edges on the inside - goes to show you how much it has varied. I can actually see the headrest shake during this vibration, which is only in the seats and not the steering wheel. At first I had them road force balance the rear 2 because of that but it felt a little worse... then had them do the 2 fronts and while it's better, the vibration is still pretty consistent at those speeds. They say each wheel is spinning perfectly round after the balance, rims are not out-of-round and the tires (5k mi) are good.

Thoughts? Mechanical issues?
 
I've heard that this is a common problem with aftermarket wheels for German cars. Not sure why they are like that but this was one of the main reasons I never changed out the wheels on my wife's BMW when we owned it.
 
yeah, if the wheels aren't made for your car, you need centering rings.

you should also make sure they're giving you a dynamic balance and not static.

it could also be the tires. even though a tire is 'balanced,' it can still have enough lateral or radial runout to cause a noise or vibration.
 
the tires are asymetric and unidirectional so it can't really be rotated.

is this what the centering rings are for? sample pic of another vehicle You'll notice there's a clip there that they say OEM wheels will account for but aftermarkets (which mine are) probably doesn't.
 
*UPDATE* I spoke with the company that sells the rims - they say the vehicle won't even accept hub centric rings and their wheels don't require them. We had a good 5-10 min conversation and he was pretty knowledgeable so it wasn't like he was trying to squirm out of responsibility. He couldn't do anything for me after a year of use anyway. He thinks the guys never actually did the road-force, which usually accounts for up to 120mph. All I saw was a spinning wheel and unsure if anything was pressed against it from my angle. He thinks it's the actual Toyo tires that are bad because when a store gets a new rim they are supposed to spin the rim... 2 places have confirmed the rims are not out-of-round. At least I get lifetime roadforce from that shop now so I'm probably going to go back and have them do it over - taking the tires off to ensure every step. I can't really do anything else other than buy new tires to try and I'm definitely not doing that.
 
so is the hole in the center of those wheels the same diameter as the hub or not? if not, dude's full of shit. in addition to possible vibration and noise issues, non-hubcentric wheels will probably eventually have the lug seats destroyed by tire monkeys.

road force doesn't magically fix anything. all it does it provide a number, and the guy using it can then decide if that amount of 'road force' is high enough to warrant match-mounting your tires (which will still only fix so much). if they didn't break down the tire and spin it on the wheel, they weren't doing anything by using road force.

each wheel should have one group of weights toward the inner lip, and one group of weights toward the outer lip. this is a dynamic balance. if there's more than one group of weights, the wheel is counter-balanced. this can cause vibration. if the weights are only on the inner lip of the wheel, this the wheel is static balanced. this can also cause vibration, as static balancing accounts for radial runout but not lateral.

you could also just have a bad tire. someone who knows what he's doing should be able to look at the tire as it's spinning on the balancer and determine if this is the case. most will not pay any attention, however. if you have to, look for yourself. if the tire appears to 'hop' as it rotates (you can see a slight difference in the height of the tire once per rotation), is it out of round. tires can also make this motion from side to side, which is sometimes harder to catch.

a vibration that comes at about 60 and and gets a little better at higher speeds is generally indicative of a bad tire. that's where i would look.
 
Originally posted by: brblx
so is the hole in the center of those wheels the same diameter as the hub or not? if not, dude's full of shit. in addition to possible vibration and noise issues, non-hubcentric wheels will probably eventually have the lug seats destroyed by tire monkeys.
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the guy mentioned 70.1mm or something like that, so it seems they know/match the measurements. They state the fitments as well, and it is only for this vehicle, 07/08.

road force doesn't magically fix anything. all it does it provide a number, and the guy using it can then decide if that amount of 'road force' is high enough to warrant match-mounting your tires (which will still only fix so much). if they didn't break down the tire and spin it on the wheel, they weren't doing anything by using road force.
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understood... it was difficult to tell if the guy knew what he was doing from me sitting in the waiting area and just peering through the window... I will have a closer look if they let me. The info I gathered from the tech was that they were now spinning perfectly round. What I'm gathering from this and your last paragraph is I may end up having to replace a tire (either of the rear 2). I suppose if they spin the rim and see that it is perfectly round, then it MUST be the tire itself. With the weights on now, it's considering both the rim and tire though...

each wheel should have one group of weights toward the inner lip, and one group of weights toward the outer lip. this is a dynamic balance. if there's more than one group of weights, the wheel is counter-balanced. this can cause vibration. if the weights are only on the inner lip of the wheel, this the wheel is static balanced. this can also cause vibration, as static balancing accounts for radial runout but not lateral.
Click to expand...
I checked again and indeed it has weights on both inner and outer edges on each wheel. Sometimes the inner edge has 1 single weight, another has 3, counterbalancing the outer edge of many weights. But you're saying it can still cause vibration...

you could also just have a bad tire. someone who knows what he's doing should be able to look at the tire as it's spinning on the balancer and determine if this is the case. most will not pay any attention, however. if you have to, look for yourself. if the tire appears to 'hop' as it rotates (you can see a slight difference in the height of the tire once per rotation), is it out of round. tires can also make this motion from side to side, which is sometimes harder to catch.

a vibration that comes at about 60 and and gets a little better at higher speeds is generally indicative of a bad tire. that's where i would look.
Click to expand...

I'm leaning toward this as well and I'll try to get them to prove the rim is good, then I can turn back to Toyo and get them to replace 1 or 2 under warranty. Toyo certified dealer is an STS tire shop around here and they don't have a road-force machine... so I may end up having more hoops to jump through - like getting these guys to do roadforce again on new tires - if they also vibrate.
 
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