I recently swapped out the stock 17" rims and 235/55R17 tires with 18" AFS Mach 1 wheels and 275/40R18 Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires--that's all the way around, by the way. The new tire wheel combo was balanced to zero before mounting. These are unidirectional tires, by the way, and filled to 35 pounds. I've got a few issues. One, on light to moderate acceleration, the wheel begins to vibrate/shimmy around 50mph and continues up through 75mph or so. It's most noticible when cruising at a constant speed in between that range. The wheels/tires were removed and checked for balance, and they all balance to zero and no noticable out of round problems. The tires were then swapped back to front, and the exact same vibration was noticable under the same conditions. The front suspension was checked and it's tight with nothing loose. Second, the tire/wheel combo has made the car really squirrelly under hard acceleration and the car wants to dart all over except in a straight line. It's like my old turbo Eclipse! Under controlled hard cornering it's like the car is on rails but from a standing start I have to struggle to keep it under control. I am not taking it to the track at this point! On glass smooth surfaces the car doesn't drift left or right, but I am having the alignment checked at the dealer asap. But the shimmy isn't indicative of misalignment, nor is the hard acceleration issue. I know several tuners use 275 series tires all the way around, and I don't think it's the width. Would lowering help? I have the Steeda springs but am worried about making the issue worse. Any ideas?!?!?
have the wheels checked and make sure they are "true". also did you take off the clips on the lugs before you put on thenew wheels?
You know, I don't recall if there were lug retaining clips on or not. if there are, you think this could throw the offset off enough? The AFS Mach 1 wheels have a 40mm offset...
It's not the wheels mang, it's the tires. I got the same wheels, but with different rubber. The tires we have are pretty noisy as far as road noise, but they have great traction on dry or wet pavement. Handles way better than stock.
Wheel Vibration My son had this problem on some Eagle F1's when he went from a stock tire to a wider rim and wider tire. The car tended to be harder to drive from my point of view and road walked. We found two issues with the dealer, one when they balanced the tires they balanced with weights on one side only, a Firestone dealer that we took it to for a second opinion balanced with weights on the inside and outside. This dealer also found one of the tires had a manufactoring defect. They found it through driving and rotating the tires. Balance and a tire which had a natural pull in it (some of you will know the correct tire term for this) was the problem. They replaced one tire and rebalanced all around with weights on both sides of the rim, gave a ride as smooth as glass. Just my thoughts........
Just removed the clips and took it for a test drive up to about 80mph, and didn't feel ANY wheel vibration of shimmy. I think this may have done it. I'll drive it around all day to be sure, but this appears to have knocked it out. Crap, it's always the little things... Thanks man... John
i put mustangtuning.com's black bullitt's on my gt 18x9 with 265/40 Dunlop SP sport 9000 and haven't even noticed a single "extra" bump in the road.... maybe your alignment is off for some odd reason, or the balancing isn't right like they said it was....
See above, it was the stud clips from the factory. The factory wheels have "cups" as seen from the inside, allowing for the stud clips. But my aftermarket wheels didn't, so the wheel wasn't truly flush with the rotor. Once the clips were removed, everything was fine... John
