Pretty bad shake in steering wheel

[sdhakko]

Originally Posted by Yahooligan

Ok, so to be clear the vibration has been there since the day you bought it?

If so, I would take it to a decent wheel shop and have them check the fitment. Most aftermarket wheels are lug-centric which can lead to vibration problems like this either due to not truly being centered on the hub or, even if they are, there being too much space between the wheel hub and the axle hub, one decent bump or pothole can knock the wheel off-center and now you get a horrible vibration because the wheel itself isn't rotating around the exact center anymore. The lug nuts taking the brunt of these forces can also end up bending, making it impossible to properly mount the wheels. Wheel weights won't fix a problem of a wheel physically being out of position.

OEM wheels are hub-centric so proper mounting doesn't rely on getting the wheels centered as the lug nuts are tightened.

Well where I bought the tires they are good at what they do. I mean they mainly do tires so I would think they would have caught this if something was out of wack. What I don't get is why my steering wheel will shake really bad for awhile when on the interstate, and then all of the sudden it will be fine, almost no shake at all. Then right back to being terrible. So I feel it must be something other than the wheels, but I am no expert!

[Yahooligan]

You never know, my local tire shop is usually pretty good, too, but they couldn't diagnose a TIRE that was out of round and defective. Just letting you know that vibrations caused by lug-centric wheels are, unfortunately, quite common and that's where I would look next.

[sdhakko]

Originally Posted by Yahooligan

You never know, my local tire shop is usually pretty good, too, but they couldn't diagnose a TIRE that was out of round and defective. Just letting you know that vibrations caused by lug-centric wheels are, unfortunately, quite common and that's where I would look next.

Ok I appreciate that. Going to take it back to the tire place today and I will mention this. Can this be fixed with new lug nuts then? Or does this mean that it needs new wheels?

[sdhakko]

Just an update if anyone cares:

Turns out two of my wheels are bent, and they were this way since I bought it. Fun times. Currently I am contacting the Honda dealership that sold me the car used as they told me that they put these wheels on and turns out they were off a trade in. Sounds like they will sell me a set of stock wheels at their cost and is going to drive them the 2 hours to deliver them to me. Don't have numbers yet on everything but hopefully this won't end up costing me too much more $$. Should never have purchased a car that had this big of wheels on it already, you never know what they have been put through.

[Yahooligan]

Glad you finally got the problem figured out, too bad it could be a potentially expensive fix.

[RinconVTR]

Originally Posted by sdhakko

Just an update if anyone cares:

Turns out two of my wheels are bent, and they were this way since I bought it. Fun times. Currently I am contacting the Honda dealership that sold me the car used as they told me that they put these wheels on and turns out they were off a trade in. Sounds like they will sell me a set of stock wheels at their cost and is going to drive them the 2 hours to deliver them to me. Don't have numbers yet on everything but hopefully this won't end up costing me too much more $$. Should never have purchased a car that had this big of wheels on it already, you never know what they have been put through.

Somehow I thought to hit "refresh" before I posted my reply, because this was one items I listed to check! I had a very similar nightmare experience with multiple NEW tires/wheels being bad from the factory. (referring to aftermarket wheels)

When something like this happens with big aftermarket wheels I learned these things:

1. Center rings. Do not fit center rings inside the wheel and then mount the tire. Make sure they are metal, not plastic, and tight fit to the hub. Then mount the tire! In fact, the best rings need to be warmed up slightly, fit over the hub and when cool they cannot be removed with fingers.

1a. If you leave the ring in the wheel and mount to the car, your chances of destroying the centering and/or wheel are extremely high. Imagine getting the ring cocked so the wheel doesn't seat flat and you torque the wheel down before you notice...you just bent the center ring and probably your wheel too.

2. Find a shop with a "Hunter Road Force" balance machine, and ask them to "road force" balance the wheel/tire...AND ASK TO WATCH. Why big bold letters? Because I found 3 of 3 shops were NOT Road Force balancing even when paying extra for it. They would only spin balance. It was not until the Road Force balance that we finally found 3 tires (yes 3) were bad from the factory. They would actually error out the machine and not allow balancing to continue!!!

3. Hunter Road Force machines also check the wheels. Old use s physical follower, newer machines use a lasers. If your wheel is bent or out of spec, this machine will find it before balancing begins.

4. Once the balance is complete, take the wheel off, and ask the tech to put it back on, and spin balance it again. You wont make any friends doing this, but I gained respect by asking the shop to do it because I proved is was effective. Even with good tires, this method proved itself out it out more times than I want to share. We were finding most would still be out by 0.25-0.5oz. The managers related it to the machines set tolerance (and I completely agree).

5. Bigger wheels move the weights further from center, making any small amount out of balance MUCH more noticeable. Hence removing the wheel and spin balancing again. These machines have shop set tolerances at times, and by dismounting/remounting/redoing the spin balance, you can find a wheel that is on the limit of the tolerance.

5b. Know the maximum total weight a tire should receive. Tirerack says 4oz, and I believe it. Any time we found more than 4oz, somebody goofed, or something was bad.

6. I see why Honda is slow to get rid of clip on weights on many of their wheels. They are mounted much better positions than stick on weights could ever be.