New tire wobble issue....

echo7 · 06:03 PM

Alright, i got some new bullit style rims, 17" for my v6, and i had those pirelli tires put on that they use on the GT's, 235/55/17. The second i pull out of ford and get up to speed, my steering wheel starts shaking left to right, at about 50mph. I take it back to them and one of the guys there tells me its because they're are wider tires and that i'm just feeling the road more. He also says that my car was tuned for the stock tires, is he b.s.-ing me or no?

vb101 · 08:04 PM

I have a V6 Mustang also and bought some 17x8 black Bullit rims a few weeks ago with Continental 235/55's mounted on them and have had no trouble at all. Car drives quite smoothly at 70 mph. I'll have to say he's BS'ing you.

Sounds to me like the tires were not properly balanced. Of course, they could have been improperly mounted on the car, you never know. Some people just don't know what the heck they are doing. Whatever the problem is I can tell you it has nothing to do with the car being 'tuned for stock tires' or 'just feeling the road more' because the tires are wider. Wider tires will give you more road noise and improve the handling slightly but thats about it.

Hope this helps.

Darn! I should learn to proof read better so I don't have to edit my posts so many times!

LIZARDKING · 04-05-05, 08:22 PM

I put stock GT takeoffs on my V6, ride quality is the same. Im guessing a tire out of round or a bad balance.

Sometimes it happens.

echo7 · 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vb101

I have a V6 Mustang also and bought some 17x8 black Bullit rims a few weeks ago with Continental 235/55's mounted on them and have had no trouble at all. Car drives quite smoothly at 70 mph. I'll have to say he's BS'ing you.

Sounds to me like the tires were not properly balanced. Of course, they could have been improperly mounted on the car, you never know. Some people just don't know what the heck they are doing. Whatever the problem is I can tell you it has nothing to do with the car being 'tuned for stock tires' or 'just feeling the road more' because the tires are wider. Wider tires will give you more road noise and improve the handling slightly but thats about it.

Hope this helps.

Darn! I should learn to proof read better so I don't have to edit my posts so many times!

See, that's what i thought at first, but its not a constant shake, sometimes when i hit 55, it will be shaking the steering wheel left and right almost a full centimeter, and then if i go to like 65, and drop back down to 55, it will be smooth. Also ive seen it where i'll go around a smooth corner at 55, and it will start, then when i go through another, it will completly stop.

The only thing i can conclude that could be wrong is the fact that they're not OE rims and that the offset is smaller than original 29.5 mm compared to i think 45mm. It makes the wheels stick out farther, which makes it look very meaty

, but i also think it might make the stance wider, do you think this could be my issue?

Thanks for the help, and i too have to proofread more!!

vb101 · 04-06-05, 04:56 PM

That does sound strange. Anything is possible but I have read of other people putting rims on their 05 Mustangs that have different offsets than the originals without any problems. I admit I hate problems like that which are not consistent because it makes diagnosing them much harder.

I still say it could be a balance problem and has nothing to do with them being wider tires or the rims having a slightly different offset than original. The Bullit rims I bought are essentially the same as what came on the GT, which has a different offset than the stock V6 rims, and I haven't noticed anything but a bit more road noise and slightly better handling. BTW, I got mine from Ford racing.

I'm curious to know what it turns out to be so when you find out for sure let us know.

echo7 · 04-06-05, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vb101

That does sound strange. Anything is possible but I have read of other people putting rims on their 05 Mustangs that have different offsets than the originals without any problems. I admit I hate problems like that which are not consistent because it makes diagnosing them much harder.

I still say it could be a balance problem and has nothing to do with them being wider tires or the rims having a slightly different offset than original. The Bullit rims I bought are essentially the same as what came on the GT, which has a different offset than the stock V6 rims, and I haven't noticed anything but a bit more road noise and slightly better handling. BTW, I got mine from Ford racing.

I'm curious to know what it turns out to be so when you find out for sure let us know.

Well i think i might put the back wheels on the front, and if the shake goes away from the steering wheel, then i'll know it's one of the tires/rims, if it still shakes, then i'm either having to assume ford is right

or that my rims were cheaply made (eBay) or i have alot of bad tires (highly unlikely)

very fustrating and takes the fun out of zooming around in my stang, but its very nice when it stops

kevins05v-6 · 04-07-05, 12:22 AM

who made your rims?
and if they are the tires that the GTs use there shouldnt be a problem there, unless there is a chunk out of one. Did they balance them?
I have seen many people on the forums with GT wheels on the V-6s and have not heard one complaint like this.
Maybe take it somewhere else and get a second opinion.

echo7 · 04-07-05, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevins05v-6

who made your rims?
and if they are the tires that the GTs use there shouldnt be a problem there, unless there is a chunk out of one. Did they balance them?
I have seen many people on the forums with GT wheels on the V-6s and have not heard one complaint like this.
Maybe take it somewhere else and get a second opinion.

I got them from a company who sells off eBay called O.E. Wheel Distrubutors i believe, and they have a very high amount of customers and a good feedback rating. I also watched the guy put them on and he told me that he thought they were very nice rims and that they balanced perfectly and that it would be one helluva ride. If my switch doesnt work, i'll prolly run down to tire kingdom to see what they have to say.

NJstangpilot · 04-07-05, 10:47 AM

Echo,

Try your car at 50 – 60 mph on a bunch of different roads. My 91 Formula had 245/50-16s on all four wheels and I noticed quite a bit of “wandering” when driving on less-than-perfect road surfaces. The wide tires seemed to grab/hold onto the irregularities and try to make the steering wheel move around a bit. I believe this is somewhat normal for very wide tires on an inexpensive car (a $70K Benz has better steering, damping control and tech development, etc.). If memory serves correctly, I believe this phenomenon occurred at around 55 mph on my car as well.

If you continue to notice the same effect after testing it on many (very smooth/ new) roads, then I would suspect something to be amiss.

vb101 · 04-07-05, 02:34 PM

NJstangpilot has a point. I don't know why I didn't think of that because my brother's Mustang has tire wander on less than perfect roads because he has rather wide tires, 255's on front and 275' on rear.

Good point. Something to think about.

echo7 · 04-07-05, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJstangpilot

Echo,

Try your car at 50 – 60 mph on a bunch of different roads. My 91 Formula had 245/50-16s on all four wheels and I noticed quite a bit of “wandering” when driving on less-than-perfect road surfaces. The wide tires seemed to grab/hold onto the irregularities and try to make the steering wheel move around a bit. I believe this is somewhat normal for very wide tires on an inexpensive car (a $70K Benz has better steering, damping control and tech development, etc.). If memory serves correctly, I believe this phenomenon occurred at around 55 mph on my car as well.

If you continue to notice the same effect after testing it on many (very smooth/ new) roads, then I would suspect something to be amiss.

Well see, i drive over 50 miles a day and i never take the same road back home, i make a huge circle from college, work, the gf then back home. Sometimes on the smooth 60mph road, it will do it, but then the next day it won't, and sometimes all it takes is a smooth turn to make it start shaking back and forth. If its going to do it at all, it usually starts at 50, and stays almost the same until 60, then on up to 100 i noticed it kinda got better, but you could still feal it, but that might have just been the fact that i was going 100 on a semi good road.

kevins05v-6 · 04-07-05, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by echo7

Well see, i drive over 50 miles a day and i never take the same road back home, i make a huge circle from college, work, the gf then back home. Sometimes on the smooth 60mph road, it will do it, but then the next day it won't, and sometimes all it takes is a smooth turn to make it start shaking back and forth. If its going to do it at all, it usually starts at 50, and stays almost the same until 60, then on up to 100 i noticed it kinda got better, but you could still feal it, but that might have just been the fact that i was going 100 on a semi good road.

you found a semi-good road in FL?? where I need to drive on it..
anyways I would still take it in there is nothing worse than the wobble you describe, my 02 altima has it and I have taken it everywhere but to no avail.

Openminds · 07:50 PM

Sounds like Tire Balance to me. Call around and find a tire shop that uses the Hunter 9700 Road Force Balancer. This machine will tell you for sure if it's your rim/tire combo or not. This machine cured an un-balanceable rim/tire on my truck. Man, 3 years of 'tire wobble' to find that the rim was manufactured slightly out of round. Got it replaced free!

echo7 · 04-10-05, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Openminds

Sounds like Tire Balance to me. Call around and find a tire shop that uses the Hunter 9700 Road Force Balancer. This machine will tell you for sure if it's your rim/tire combo or not. This machine cured an un-balanceable rim/tire on my truck. Man, 3 years of 'tire wobble' to find that the rim was manufactured slightly out of round. Got it replaced free!

Wow, i hope that's not what I have to do, because I don't think I’ll get a free one, lol. Also i rotated my tires, (switched fronts and backs) and took it for a test drive on my curvy road, and it never wobbled, smooth as ever, so hopefully it will stay that way. I also put the lugs that came with the rims instead of using the stock ones (thinking maybe they're the problem) even though that’s almost impossible. If this doesn’t work, I’m definitely going for an alignment somewhere, and I’ll look for that Hunter balancer

Openminds · 04-11-05, 08:36 PM

I would get it looked at soon. You could still wear the tire wrong and never be able to rotate them. That Hunter will tell the operator how to remount the tire on the rim for the best possible balance.

Good Luck!

echo7 · 04-12-05, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Openminds

I would get it looked at soon. You could still wear the tire wrong and never be able to rotate them. That Hunter will tell the operator how to remount the tire on the rim for the best possible balance.

Good Luck!

Yeah, i'll probably have to wait till summer (3 more weeks) until i have time to find it and get it done. I know my rotation i did helped alot, but its still there, though not nearly as frequently or nearly as harsh. It's actually nice to drive again, but that definitly means its more than one tire/rim thats messed up. weird