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So after months of balancing and rebalancing and changing bushings and alignments and strut replacements we finally got to the bottom of my E's vibration at highway speed. I took it to the dealer with 3/4 a tank of gas and said there's enough gas to drive it for a while. Figure out what's wrong. $59 diagnostic fee later, it turns out that the aftermarket wheels I have on (that I bought online) didn't have hubcentric rings. I found a set at a local tire and wheel place and $8 later it's smooth as silk.
So for those of you who are getting a vibration with aftermarket wheels and you bought them online, check into Hubcentric rings.
The basic explanation is when you take the wheel off there is a raised ring around the center of the hub (inside the wheel studs). This is what the wheel centers itself on. The diameter on the element is 64.1mm. The center hole in my wheels was 73.1mm. The wheel wasn't centering properly on the wheel and had about 1/8" of movement while on the studs. And even if you were uber meticulous in tightening them it would be damn near impossible to get the wheel to center using just the lugs alone.
The hubcentric rings fill that 64.1mm - 73.1mm gap and allow the wheel to center properly on the hub before tightening the lugs. Took about 20 minutes to put them on and once it was all tightened back up the difference was amazing. Kinda ridiculous how $8 worth of plastic could make that big of a difference.
So for those of you who are getting a vibration with aftermarket wheels and you bought them online, check into Hubcentric rings.
The basic explanation is when you take the wheel off there is a raised ring around the center of the hub (inside the wheel studs). This is what the wheel centers itself on. The diameter on the element is 64.1mm. The center hole in my wheels was 73.1mm. The wheel wasn't centering properly on the wheel and had about 1/8" of movement while on the studs. And even if you were uber meticulous in tightening them it would be damn near impossible to get the wheel to center using just the lugs alone.
The hubcentric rings fill that 64.1mm - 73.1mm gap and allow the wheel to center properly on the hub before tightening the lugs. Took about 20 minutes to put them on and once it was all tightened back up the difference was amazing. Kinda ridiculous how $8 worth of plastic could make that big of a difference.
