tried everything, cars still shaking

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

I've had bent rims before, i kept them in the rear and i'll be totally honest...I had no clue at crusing speeds that they were bent. If your rims are repaired and when you get the tires balances, they can tell if the wheels would be causing the vibrations from the wheel balancing maching.

Alignment at times leads a car to pull to one direction or off center..but to the best of my knowledge it does not cause vibrations. Its the tires/balancing/suspension components that cause vibrations.

Have someone check all your suspension components.

And this below comment got the least respect...

are you using hubcentric rings?

^^ thats the FIRST thing i'd check. A lot of peep's here who have plus sized their wheels have at one time or another had this issued..where hubcentric rings solved it...Hari - just key in bubcentric rings here and on google and learn about it...and ask us more q's. To me it sounds like its your hubcentric rings thats causing your vibes at crusing speeds.

[tspinning]

I have a similar problem, up to 60, smooth as silk, 60-78 has a shake that gets quicker with speed, at about 80 it seems to settle down and feel better, i have no feeling of the shake in the steering wheel or the stick of the transmission, only the seats vibrate, I’m hoping my shop can find out the cause on Wednesday or Thursday when she's in for inspection and CEL fixing. I'll report on the findings then, but I'm hoping it's just a tire balance/alignment issue.

[hskrsolara]

yep, the hubcentric rings are most important on aftermarket wheels because rarely does the bore on your aftermarket wheels match the diameter of the hub on your solara.

The rings keep the wheel centered at all times and this was exactly what corrected my vibrations once long long ago.

It will be easy to tell if you have them, they sit right in the bore of the wheel or on your hub, when you remove your wheel. Mine were green in color, so they are hard to miss. I would bet that they were not sold with the wheels originally, unless you asked about them.

[that1mexguy]

same here and i too put the bent rims in the rear. Also, not too long ago a nut came loose and fell off from all the vibrating in the front left wheel, I really dont know what this is called but this nut kept this rod in place with the strut until it came loose, so after i was able to replace it and put a new nut in there, the shaking dramatically decreased. Might want to check all your nuts (and i dont mean those nuts you pervs) are tight and secure. Today I'm going to be in the downtown area and Friday will too so why dont you give me a call and we can probably meet somewhere and I'll show you.

[hari-bhari]

UPDATE:

I got a high-speed on the car balance done at the place where I got my wheels repaired. This reduced the shaking a good bit, and now its *almost* gone. I asked them about the hubcentric rings and they said that my rims have them (theyre pretty sure) but I suppose I should check it myself.

Are there variations in quality of these rings? What type of set should I pick up if I need to buy them?

[sydemoid]

from my past experiences, once you bend a rim, no matter what their machine reads... you might still get some vibrations.

Here is why:

The machines in the shop have specific tolerances, the manufacturer of this machine suggests that it gets maintenance every once in a blue. So, even if that tire balance machine reads 0.00... it may be off by a little bit.

Its good that you got a speed balance, but I would suggest taking it to another tire shop, and have them check the balance. You may find a difference in the balance metrics.

Just a thought.

BTW, this happened to a friend of mine.... we had to finally take his ride to a shop with brand new machines.... problem was fixed.

[hari-bhari]

after the wheels were repaired, the shop that repaired them mounted my new tires and did a balance. but the car was still wobbling. so then i took the car to firestone and got a balance and alignment done there, which actually made the problem worse (they said though that the wheels are not bent anymore). so then i took it back to the shop that fixed my wheels and got a high speed balance done. it has helped a lot but the problem is still not solved. should i try new hub-centric rings, are there any recommendations?

[hskrsolara]

you should have had the rings the instant you put the new wheels on your car.

[xavier]

I think I have this problem as well. I have just learned to deal with it because I work so close to home now. I'll see waht happens after I go plus size on my rims and tires....if I ever get any! lol

[onefiend]

must be the repaired rim....try putting your stock tires/wheels back on and see if it still does it.

[hari-bhari]

hehe, correction: rimS. three of them to be exact. but when i took the car to firestone they said that the wheels were balanced fine and i watched them do that lateral and vertical runouts at the repair shops and the wheels came within spec.

[tspinning]

Well, as of a few minutes ago we think my shake was a balance issue!! (Or so says my mechanic) My front tires were each off about 1 - 1.25oz. He balanced them, noted the lack of ware on tires (he thinks they're super close to new) and the original shop that mounted them didn't do a great balance job or the weights came off in a curb incident. I'll let you know how his fix helped after a test drive tonight post-work.