shumax

Ok..this is an ongoing thing with me. I had the cars tires balanced and they said I had a bubble in the tire. Tire Rack gave me anew tire and I took it to another sop b/c the first shop gave me problems. This shop told me that the tire was fine and that the rim is bent. I spun the wheel while it was on a jack and you can see the tire is not round, but the rim seemed fine to my eyes. Now, I know your eyes don't mean a thing...a slight bend should be able to be corrected by weights. Afterall, thats what causes a vibration.
My question is this...should I spend $200 on another Borbet Type E? Or should I take it to another shop for an opinion? The guy said when he balanced it that the new tire/rim was "All over the place." I never noticed a HUGE vibration...just at 80mph really. I just hope that they got the NEW tire on and it doesn't vibe as much as the old one did. If it vibes more than it did before, I am driving the car off of a cliff! I hate repair shops..one shop says this..the other says that..who do you believe?

Any suggestions?

SHUMAX

Shingles

Neither...

All bents, no matter how small, you should be able to tell visially. Take the wheel off of the car and roll it around. With the type e's they usually bend on the inside lip. Look closely. There are several reasons that you could ahve a small vib:

1) tire out of round
2) irregular tire wear - my problem
3) bent rim
4) bad balance

and also, I've never really be able to get any after market rims that used tape weights to balance right. BTW what kind of Balancing are they doing? You should be asking for "Alloy II". Now if your rim is really bent, don't spend $200 for a new one, get it fixed, will save you about $100-$150.

-Shing

shumax

Well I called a place around Cleveland and they said $175 to fix it because of the way the rim is made?!!? I didn't know anything about an alloy II balancer? I know that the stick on weights don't work unless they really clean the rim with brake cleaner and even then it may come off. They are using hammer-on weights to the inside of the rim right now and that seemed to work on the car until now.

Where do you know of to get a rim fixed as cheap as you mentioned?

I know that the rim isn't THAT bent b/c when I rolled it on the floor it looked fine to me! It rolled smooth but it wasn't standing flat on the concrete. In fact it was tilted to the left telling me that the inner portion of the tire was worn more than the rest. I am hoping that the new tire will stand up straight and that it will then be smooth. I can tell you that when I stood the tire up I could 'see' the 'dip' in the tire on the inner edge; thats why I believed that the tire was defective. There was no sign, at all, of any physical damage at all!

Damn I hate cars

SHUMAX

Shingles

$175 to fix a rim? Man talk about being ripped off. I've never paid more than $75 to fix a rim, I've bent mine three times, different rims. The one time I got charged $75 was cause I had them mount the tire back on and balance it.

BTW, if you car is lowered, you will have more wear on the inner edge.

Alloy II is not a machine but a method that they balance. Donno the details but that's the type that seems to work for my Type Es.

BTW a tire being out of round is ahrd to see... you have to have it spin on the balancer and carefully look at it for a while.

-Shing

shumax

Tell me about it. I can't believe it is that much! I think that I am going to drive and see if it drives me nuts. Let me know where you got yours fixed for $75, I'll call them! I am just afraid to drive the car now on the crappy Cleveland Roads! Man...this sucks. I know the car needs shocks which can only make the matter worse for the wheels! God, when winter it over I am going to be soooo happy! This car is being sold in 8months so I hate tp put a bunch of $$ in it if I am not going to keep it. What would you do?

SHUMAx

Shingles

Well I got two shops locally that fixes them. Go to your local discount tires and ask them for a recommendation. They should know.

Have you tried rotating the tires? If the car is being sold, see if that helps, if it does, let it be for 8 months.

-Shing

shumax

Well the wheel was up front and I really didn't notice it all that much. I moved it to the back and it went away even more. Its only noticable above 75mph which I don't do much anyway. I must admit that I hate my car being 'less than perfect;' it eats at me I thought that Borbet rims were suppose to be amoung the strongest...thats why I bought them to begin with. I almost got Konig Villans but heard they weren't very strong and would bend very easily!

If you don't mind posting those places you know of that would be great. I don't have a discount tire around me nor a shop that I really trust.

Thanks a ton!

SHUMAX

Shingles

Well keep in mind that I've never had any real success at getting aftermarket rims to balance properly... believe me I've tried... at one point, I've gone to 3 different discount tires 5 times in one week. Borbet rims are very strong, believe me, I've hit some nasty potholes... Your rim isn't bent if all you are getting is at 75mph. A bent rim will give you a vib from say x mph on up.

-Shing

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

Did you have any tranny or CV joint work done on your car?
I've found that the axles can cause vibrations too.. I had a NASTY problem for a long time and bought new springs, struts, 3 sets of tires on 2 sets of rims before I learned that it was my left axle. I had a tranny seal go bad, which they had to pull the axle to fix.. it had been vibrating at 75-80 ever since. then a few months ago, I had to replace a CV boot so I pulled that axle and when I put it back together, the vibrations were magically gone!

As for the bent rim problem, you should be able to see that on the rim.. if anything, just rub your hand along the inside of the rim, and you'll feel it any place that there's a problem.. I'd say it's most likely a bad tire if anything. a bent rim will be easy to see, on the car or off.

the best way to check the rim would be to rotate it on something and watch or stick a dial gauge on it and look for out-of-roundness. usually I'll just get a red or black marker and tape it to a bucket, so it's jsut barely away from the rim.. if there's a bend in the rim, it'll either visibly pull away from the marker or get a mark on the rim right there. if it's less bend than you can see in that situation, then it's nothing to worry about.

shumax

An expert? Neither am I! I am just sick of this with rims. When I got them from the Tire Rack they were sooo smooth it was unreal!! Then after about 8months they started to vibe from wear...I had them balanced and it was back to normal. Then the tires wore out and here I am...new tires and a vibe. I think I will not buy aftermarket rims again...just buy the stock ones and be done with it! I hate to say that, but this isn't worth the trouble to me.


I am off to pick the buggy up. Cross your fingers for me that it won't be that noticable...god I pray its not!

SHUMAX

You are right about the bend. If it truly was bent it would vibe all the time like you said. I doubt it to be as bad as it sounds....god I hope we are right

shumax

I jacked it off and took the rim off and mounted it on a homemade axle to spin it. You can see the wheel is not round but it is soooo slight that I had to look at it and then look away and then back at it to let my eyes adjust. If you run your hand on the rim it is perfectly round to me and you feel no imperfections. The tire is brand new...0 miles! I would have thought that if you had that minor of an imperfection that it could be balanced and that would be the end of it!?
Point is that I am not going to spend $200 on it. I am going to just live with it for 7 more months and then sell it. It pisses me off that the only problem with this 7 year old (bought May of 94) 95se is that damn wheel.

Oh well...

SHUMAX

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

So I take it the vibes are still there?

The first time I had my Pirellis mounted on these Enkeis, they used the stick on weights on the center of the rim. The ride was smooth as glass.. then I got a flat and the guy at the tire shop (1000 miles from the last place, so I had to settle for some place that would agree to mount a tirerack tire) balanced it with the hammer-on weights, even afte I asked him to use the stick-ons- which I bought at a store and took with me to the shop..
he refused to do it, and now I've got a vibe in the car. I've taken the wheel to 2 different shops and even had them check the roundness of the wheel and tire. eveyrthing is perfect in that aspect, but they just can't balance the **** with those stupid hammer-on weights.
Guess when you have a set of $$$$ rims, noone cares how they ride but the owner. GRRRRR

Mark96SE

I live in Corpus Christi and I need to get one OEM rim fixed where i took off about 3 inches of lip on a curve. $75 sounds very reasonable.. Any locations in SA.. Thanks,

Mark

Shingles

WEll if you took of material, they can only blend it in... they can't add any materials back on. There's a place in town call Downtown Wheel and Tire. Does good work.

-Shing

shumax

It still vibes but it is on the back of the car. I don't think the CVS are a problem either. I looked at them lastnight and they are fine...no leaking or clicking. I am just going to have to live with it or shell out another $200 for a rim I guess.

SHUMAX

shumax

Hey-
How do I make the pics in my sig line up right to left and not straight down the screen. Also...how can I make them a bit bigger so you can see them better. DOn't worry...if it chews up to much space I will take a few of them down!

SHUMAX