Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

Ok as some of you know I have had a vibration since I got the car. Multiple balances, new tires, checked car over several times both by myself and the best Vette tech in town, still has vibration. The Vette guy thinks problem is because the aftermarket "OE Wheels" are not hubcentric. And they are loose on the hubs by about .036-.038. I finally got ahold of a guy at OE Wheels and this is part of what he sent back: The only thing I can think of is that maybe the hub on the true c4 ZR1 is smaller in diameter than the base Corvette of that year. We would not have any hub rings for that because the center bore on the wheel is 70.7 mm. I don’t know if there are any hub rungs even available in the size that you indicated."
Is that a true statement? My hubs measure 2.75. Wheel center bores are 2.786 (70mm and 70.7mm). I have been trying to Fab some shims that fit inside the wheel bore, tried .020 aluminum last night and its too thick. Gonna see if I can come up with some .016 stuff and try that. Any other ideas?

Re: Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

Do you still have your stock wheels? If so you could mount those to rule out bad hubs, warped rotors, problems with your Wheels or something else etc since you have already ruled out alignment and balance issues. PITA but would answer the mail on the hub centric issue if there is indeed a difference or as suggested spacers. My son had to go to spacers due to this problem on his Mustang GT when moving up to 20inch Foose wheels. The spacers solved his vibration problem. That and and removing the factory lockwashers Ford had placed on one of each of the wheel studs to retain the rotors in place which would not allow the wheels to get to flush with the mating on the back side of the wheel to rotor hat. He since has bailed on the Mustang and is throughly enjoying his Scion FRS. The kids love those.

Re: Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

I had a similar problem - Discount Tire balanced wheels several times & even replaced both rear tires. I checked the rear wheel bearings & I found one to be slightly loose so I changed both out & that seemed to fix the vibration. I had just put different rims & new tires on my car.

Re: Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

Yep I had a vibration issue after my last thrust angle alignment. Replaced a loose axle hub and it was like driving a new car. Ended up replacing the other side when I could hear a clunk when backing up and you could hear the hub when running on the freeway. Went with a NOS OEM unit and happy with that result. Next time will try a Timken a few folks hear have reported them to be good replacement rear axle hubs

Re: Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

I have a set of factory wheels - but like an idiot I had the old tires mounted on them for "winter tires" thinking the new tires were gonna fix the problem. So to check that option would be another chunk o change to swap them all around again. Got some aluminum tape so gonna try that next...

Re: Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

There is no problem with using your wheels as lug-centric as long as they're tapered seats with conical lug nuts. My complete and utter total abuse with slicks has proven this time and again as my CCWs have a huge receiver and are No.Where.Near hub centric.

I am really surprised to hear hub play turn into vibe as I run my hubs next to death but of course I never take this car on the highway either...

I will say I have had quite an interesting variety of hub snout sizes among all the hubs I've changed. I still believe all the hubs found today are from the same factory in China and you get whatever snout/flange/label/etc were rolling around the bin at the time.

Meanwhile, did you try just changing to your factory wheels/winter tires? Will help pinpoint whether it's wheel/tire or car...

If it's tire/wheel I will guess bent wheel, if it's the car I'll guess bent axle or maybe (as above) bad hub.

Best,
- Jeff

Re: Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

Yeah I tried bolting on the factory wheels with the bad tires. About the same vibration with them as I have now with the aftermarket wheels and new tires. But of course - the tires that are on the factory wheels failed two "road force" balancers - so that vibration could be the tires themselves?? I should have left the old tires unmounted until I figured this out I guess - then it would only cost me $100 to switch em and try new tires on factory wheels..:rolleyes:

I do have the correct angled lug nuts. The nut seats are angled too - looked at em on the one wheel I had off last night and they are somewhat scarred up. But I would still think they should center the wheel? I've read a bunch of stuff and pretty much the concensus is that hub centric is best??

How do I check for loose bearings in the rear? Wouldn't think so with 19k miles but I guess its possible. No noises or anything that I've heard...

I got some "500 mph tape" that they use as temp patches on planes. It is aluminum and thicker then the "foil tape". Gonna try that tomorrow and see if I can get them tight and go from there I guess. This has been THE MOST frustrating thing with this car...:mad::mad::mad:

Re: Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

Stupid question maybe but if a bad hub was the problem,would the road force balance job know the difference?

Yes,it is possible for wheel bearing to be bad at only 19K miles.

Re: Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

Tire off the ground, E-brake off, grab tire at 12 and 6 pull-push. There should be no play, but I have run with as much as 1/8" play with no vibration. And all C4 bearings are the same - ZR-1 and base car. You might have a couple of bad half-shaft u-joints ...

Re: Wheel Question Again... the saga continues
 

This will work but the best way is to pull the tire and grab on the rotor/hub at 12 and 6 and the 3 and 9. There should be little to no play while trying to move it left to right