crystallinity

Hi all, I purchased some aftermarket wheels from a vendor on here florida speed shop. Went to the dealer to get the wheels mounted and balanced with new tires and got steering wheel vibration at 65mph+.

I thought maybe they messed up the balance, took it back to get it checked, balance was fine. Service manager told me to come back when the vette tech was here, maybe he'll be better. I'm waiting here now as he checks it again, but he told me most afm wheels on a vette will cause vibration and he probably can't fix it. I asked about road force balancing, and he said it probably won't make a difference since these issues are usually at the hub.

I just read on here - "An out of round issue (either wheel, wheel to hub/rotor, or tire) will start at a certain speed(when you notice it) and continue to get worse as speed rises. Vibration at 65, worse at 70, still worse at 75, etc." - this is what I'm experiencing. Is this accurate?

Is this a problem with most aftermarket wheels or am I just unlucky? It seems the vendor, florida speed shop, has had a lot of praise and good reviews on here so I can't imagine that their wheels are funky. Any resolution to this besides throwing the OEM wheels back on? Had no vibration with them. Thanks...



UPDATE: Happy Ending

Took it to a place that had a road force balancing machine. The front was off by .25 and .5, the rear .5 and one was fine. I had them done 3 times at the dealer, and they were still off... They didn't have to do any of the actual moving of the tire, so they didn't charge me for the road force balancing, just regular. I saw that the tinnerman nuts were in fact on the studs as well. Smooth as butter now!

I'm surprised how insistent the techs at the dealer were that the wheels were bad, telling me I won't resolve this without swapping back on my OEM wheels. I'm also surprised that the corvette tech didn't check for those tinnerman nuts on the studs as well.


Thank you so much for everyone's input here, this was driving me absolutely insane -especially because I'm in love with the wheels and didn't want to have to put the OEM ones back on. You guys are awesome <3

mcandrew67

I have had aftermarket wheels on mine for years with no issues, I would suggest you try an alignment.. where are you located?

Corvette_Ed

I have a set of aftermarket wheels and had no problem at all getting them balanced. I didn't get them from FSS, but my understanding is all of the replica wheels come from the same manufacturer. Did the tire shop check to make sure the wheels were in round?

crystallinity

I'm in VA. If there was no issue with the alignment pre-wheels, why would there be now? None of the suspension components were tweaked. I imagine it's just like taking your OEM wheel off and back on and needing an alignment everytime. Maybe the new wheels are more sensitive to an absolutely perfect alignment? Car only has 11k on it btw.

07MontyRed

What kind of balancer are they using? I would definitely find a shop with a newer Road Force and try that before you get too concerned ... it really does make a lot of difference. Sometimes deflating the tire and moving it a quarter turn around the rim can also help, even if it balances out okay (not so true on a road force that takes wobble into account). There is no reason a good aftermarket wheel should vibrate (a cheap one, very likely will, hence why they are cheap).

crystallinity

One of the techs said that when it was rolling on the balancer they look "90% straight" and not perfect. Dunno if that's an accurate representation of being out of round or not, tires were on ofc.

I'll try it. RF balancers can get rid of the wobble if normal balancers can't?

jaredtxrx

Just because a guy is a "Vette Tech" doesn't mean he knows squat about how to use the tire machines.

Have them Road Force balance the wheel. If it still gives issues have them check the wheel w/out the tire on it for run-out and such. If the wheel is still bad then you may have a bad wheel, it happens, just talk with Florida Speed Shop about getting it replaced. If they are a good shop they will do so without an issue. If the wheel seems fine without the tire then you have a tire issue. Again, it happens, get it replaced.

J3TVETTE

I have had 8 sets of aftermarket wheels and have never had this issue. But it is true, some wheels could be bad from manufacturing.

Exact1

I purchased wheels and tires from Florida Speed Shop a few months ago. Had them Road Force balance everything. No problems at all. I would agree with having this done first before you proceed.

LoganExplosion

Another vote for road force balance. A buddy of mine got a C5 that came with two bad tires from GM. Road force balancer found them. It's not that crazy an idea. If the shop doesn't have a road-force-balancer, I take the wheels/tires to another shop that does. That simple.

Knoxrower

I've got the same exact problem. But I got mine from House of Wheels. I've had them balance at three different shops, last two were Roadforce shops. I still have the vibration at those speeds.

NashvilleGrandSport

Got mine from Florida Speed Shop (although they came from China via California from FACTORY REPRODUCTIONS) back In February.

Balanced out fine when we swapped the tires (Cooper ZEON RS-3) off the OEM wheels. Discount Tire checked the wheels before mounting the tires in case there was an issue with the wheels.

crystallinity

Thanks for the input all. Seems general consensus is to try road force balancing first.. I'll give it a go. Really really like these wheels and don't want to have to swap back... hopefully this will work out.

Garry in AZ

For those who are having balancing issues with aftermarket wheels... Make sure the OEM rotor hat retainer clips have been removed from the wheel studs. Most aftermarket wheels will cause a vibration if these clips are not removed before installing the new wheels. No amount or type of balancing will fix it. Make sure the clips are removed.

Garry

jaki30

Did you have the wheels spun before the tires were mounted?
Sometimes the wheels could be slightly off. I bought new wheels for my C7 and used a place here in Williamsburg to spin them first and then mount new runflats. No problem.
You need to determine whether the wheels are 'true' or not.
Also, make sure the tinnerman nuts on the rotors were removed since most after market wheels don't have the counter sink to allow the hub to sit flat on the rotor hub face.

crystallinity

If I take the wheel off, these would be on the stud that the lugnuts thread onto sitting pressed against the rotor?

Garry in AZ

Yes. They are easily removed.

crystallinity

Ok, thanks, I'll check these when I'm home. I've taken off the wheels a few times and never noticed them, but also never looked for them. I feel like the vette tech that worked on it today should have known/noticed, but I'll do a double check when I'm home.

Corvette_Ed

Mine had two on each corner, so make sure you get both if yours are the same.

enventr

I had aftermarket ZR1 wheels on my old C4. I ordered it with tires as he matched my price. He used RF balance. He said one wheel was defective so he used another wheel which was not. They came to my house and I mounted them. I never had a problem. Some wheels are defective especially coming from China