Brand new rims/tires can't be balanced
 

Hey guys, I have a 2010 maxima sv with 70k miles on it. I ended up getting rid of the stock wheel set up and upgraded to 19's wrapped in bf Goodrich tires. I got them from tire rack already mounted and balanced and noticed shaking so I went to have them road forced balanced at a local shop and the guy said "all 4 tires seem to have a hot spot and he could only get 2 of them down to 25 and the other 2 to 34." I find it pretty crazy for all 4 tires to be crap. So I brought it tout Firestone and they said they balanced them out fine but yet I still feel vibrations at high speeds and in the steering wheel. What do you think?

It may very well be the wheels. I had some nice custom wheels on my old 300m that would never balance. A friend had me take it to a "wheel repair" shop. A few bucks later i finally had a set that didnt rattle my teeth. The wheel repair shop didnt sell tires (of course they would mount and balance) but made their money and reputation one wheel at a time. I actually have a recalcitrant wheel being repaired as we speak! Granted, it is an oem one damaged by some detrtus on the highway, but after my experience of the past, tires that cant be balanced are wheels or spacer issues.

If they're aftermarket, you may need an o-ring spacer between the wheel and hub. It's a small ring, helps center the aftermarket rims to the hub. Firestone lost one of mine but didn't say anything, spend the next 2 months in and out of the shop, here's the best part, when it was discovered missing, I was about to order a new one from tire rack (the rings actually came with the rims original purchase), when the guy at the desk said, wait, I think we found one that will work. Held it up to one of the others and I'll be damned same one. I smirked and said, could this be the one that got lost 2 months ago??? He wasn't as giddy. Anyway long story short, with the ring in place I never had a bounce problem after that.

You think I should try to do the o-ring spacer? I just find it hard to believe that all the rims are out of round and can't see it with the eye. Sorry guys but this is new to me about the o-ring. What will this exactly do and which one should I get. Thanks for the replys

Even on the balancer they would still hop with out the o-ring? It's smooth up to 60mph but 65-80mph I can feel it and it's comes and goes and at times it is worse. Thanks.

Also I have noticed I have been getting bad mpg since changing wheels and the ones I just got are a lot lighter. I was getting 20.4 now I am getting 17.8 if that helps. Thanks.

You said you got the rims from Tirerack, give them a call, tell them what's going on. They will pull up your order, match the brand wheels, cross reference it to your car, then they will tell you what rings you need. They aren't very big (5 or 6 inches diameter), and almost seem unnecessary, but trust me, they make a difference. TR *should* have sent the order with the appropriate rings if they are required. It's possible they did and the wheel shop tossed them out with the boxes. Either way, call them, because if the tires/wheels are theirs, they will make it right one way or another.

If you do have hub rings then whoever is balancing your rims doesn't know how to. Find a shop worth a Road force balance machine. It will balance any wheel /tire correctly. Also the person who first balanced your wheels should of broke them down and spun the tire on the rim to another position. This often fixes balancing. This is where a road force machine would calibrate for all that.

Had this.. You should go through all the handling system swaybar swaybar end link monts els.. Then do wheel elegant balance hop it will help

My experience is aftermarket wheels have never been as good as factory. You can get close.

Make sure there is a hub centric ring, check each rim for run out, check tires for run out and have them road force balanced.

Whats the difference between o rings and hubcentric rings? I called tirerack and they said the hubcentric rings were installed already in my wheel package and I asked do I need o rings for my wheels with the problem I am having. They said that they are not necessary. I don't know what to do next, getting annoyed with this vibration issue.

I was calling hub centric rings O rings...my mistake. That said, then your wheels do require them, are you certain that one hasn't bee removed by the tire store, or even all of them? To get things going, I'd order a set of 4 from TR, (the ones they said they installed), have them in hand, go back to the tire place and make sure they have them on the new wheels. If not, have them install missing rings with the ones you bring in. Probably less then $20, and you could always return them to TR if they aren't used. But that's the way I would go with this. I'd even go so far as to have the tire place show you all 4 wheels with the centric ring installed just to be sure.

are tires new the same circumference as the old ones???

hubcentric rings are your friend as others said