I put some 10mm Eibach spacers on my car and now it is out of balance. My car gets some heavy vibrations at 80mph. The repair shops told me I should get on-car balancing, but nobody has one of these old machines. Beside buying new wheels, does anyone know what I should do to fix my balance problem? If their is a thread on this can I get a link. Thanks

 

If you added spacers and now it's out of balance, the problem isn't with the wheels or tires, it's the addition of the spacer.

Unless the spacer was specifically sized for your wheels or hub, chances are it's not sitting perfectly centered on the hub or the wheel isn't centered on the spacer. That would leave you out of balance.

When we buy aftermarket wheels, most of the time we need hub rings. They take up the difference in size from the wheel opening to the hub. You need the same thing for your hub/spacer or spacer/wheel mating.


You can test this "theory" by jacking up each wheel and slowing spinning it. Watch a point on the outer circumference to see if it rotates smoothly or moves up and down or in and out.

 

Once you start adding things, like spacers, you complicate balance. Its the price that you pay. Good luck.

 

proper spacers shouldn't cause any issues, the only way you complicate balance is if you got the wrong spacers or installed them wrong (didn't clean off the surface leaving something between the spacer and hub or spacer and wheel, etc), basically all the stuff DavesZ#3 pointed out...

 

are you using aftermarket wheels?

if yes, did you install the hubcentric rings?

if no, or yes, did you ensure the spacer and wheel are torqued to spec, in the proper sequence? If your vibration started immediately after the spacer was installed, it is without question one of these causing it

 

The easy test is to remove the spacers and see if the wheels-alone ride smoothly or not.

 

Thanks Guys, I will try everything that you said. They do have hubcentric rings on them already. I talked to the guy at Eibach and he said to check basically everything Dave told me and if it is still out of balance then the hubcentric ring was not centered and the spacer could be warrantied. I will take apart my set-up today and check it out, but the car is in balance when the spacers are off. If it is the spacer, does anyone know where I can pick up some good open ended lugs?