User 42426

iTrader: (29)

Hey guys,

So I swapped out my old wheels for new ones, and now the ride seems to loose grip when going over bumps on the road(when going over the reflector thing on the ground my ride will loose grip and swerve slightly). And not to mention the obvious increase in vibrations during 55+ mph drives. Wheel specs before: 9.5/10/5 +12 235/35/19_255/35/19. Specs after: 9.5/11 +0 255/35/19_295/30/19. I have 10mm spacers WITH 10MM EXTENDED STUDS up front, im thinking the spacers and the offset of the new wheels might have something to do with the vibrations. I took off the front lugs and the top part that meets the wheel/stud looks to be strippped off, like it wasn't seating properly. Do you think the lower offset could have something to do with this? The stud isn't long enough? Thats the only reason I can think of for the ride quality change. I kept the front tires the same, and rears were replaced with michelin pilot sports. Any help appreciated, i plan on removing the spacers soon.

NoQuestionZ

iTrader: (93)

Remove the spacers, then check back. are the spacers Hubcentric?

Also, Lower offset wheels put stress on the hubs and associated equipment. (think of holding onto a ledge with your whole fingers vs holding with your finger tips, more weight on a "smaller" surface)

If it's not the spacers, then jack the front of your car up, with the lugs tightened down try to push the top of the wheel and pull the bottom of the wheel. there should be little or no play in the wheel. You may need a new wheel bearing if it's loose, or you can move it a lot.

I had the "loose" feeling that you're talking about. Check your toe settings. My driver rear was out of whack for some reason and bringing it back to spec settled the car a lot

Jbakes727

iTrader: (3)

Your getting vibrations at higher speed because yours wheels are not hub centric. You need to find out your wheel bore and buy the correct hub centric rings. Our wheel bore is 66.1mm I believe. If the spacers that you put on are slip ons then they will require you to re-stud the front. The most you can get away with without re-studding is 5mm from what I've read. If you didn't re-stud I would take those off immediately as your lugs are not secured properly. All this information that I'm telling you can be found on the forum you just have a to search. Read this https://my350z.com/forum/wheels-and-...er-thread.html

User 42426

iTrader: (29)

thanks for the info, i appreciate it. I do have hubcentric rings on there, but didn't know I had to re-stud them. Is that something you do everytime you take off the wheel and put on a new one of a different offset?

User 42426

iTrader: (29)

I may have misunderstood what you wrote. What do you mean by re-studding? When i bought the 10mm slip on spacers, it came with extended studs. It doesnt seem to sit right however, after putting on +0 offset wheels as opposed to my earlier +12. Do I need even longer studs??

User 42426

iTrader: (29)

no question z, thanks for the info. I did have my car up on a ground jack, and i think i did notice the sway/play in the wheel bearing, but ill have to check again today. I can't get the spacers off the car, thats the problem. I had my mechanic install it, but he doesn't have the socket he used, and ive gone to a couple other mechanics/tire shops, and they don't have that socket size because its a very uncommon size. And they do have hubcentric rings, the ones that come on the spacers and the rubber ones I bought specifically for the aftermarket wheels.

mr. sparco

iTrader: (13)

Get an alignment check.

Jbakes727

iTrader: (3)

No the offset does not affect stud length. If you put a 10mm on a stock stud you're shaving 10mm of thread off that stud relative to when you put on your wheel. So when you put on your wheel (offset doesn't matter) it has less room to secure it on there correctly.

Re-studding by taking out your out your stock stock studs and putting the extended ones on which will probably be 10mm longer to compensate for the spacer.

You really need to read that link I posted for you. It will answer all of your questions and help you understand everything.

User 42426

iTrader: (29)

^^ i misunderstood what you meant by re-studding. The spacers already have 10mm extended studs on them, they fit fine when I had +12 offset wheels, i now have +0 offset, and im asking/thinking if the 10mm extended studs are not long enough for the lower offset wheels. I cannot take off the spacers right now, no tools i have will fit. And hubcentric rings are already on there.

And thanks for the help and link, ive read that thread a few years ago and pretty familar with spacers/lug nuts/offset. I don't need help trying to understand how those things work, just trying to figure out where the vibrations might be coming from.

User 42426

iTrader: (29)

Everything was fine from one set of wheels to the next. Only things that changed that might have caused the vibrations are bigger tires, wider wheels, lower offset. Car rode fine till noon when I went to the tire shop and swapped everything. I had an alignment before putting on the new wheels. Its my understanding that an alignment is not needed when only changing wheels/tires, no suspension/height change. Again, i have hubcentric rings for my wheels and my spacers are hubcentric

AdvanZ33

iTrader: (105)

Did I read that correctly? You put on a 10mm slip-on spacer without installing longer studs?

mr. sparco

iTrader: (13)

You've changed several variables that would possibly affect the alignment: spacers, wheel width, tire contact patch, and wheel location with change in offsets. Check alignment, it's usually free.

Steering wheel vibration = unbalanced front wheels or bent wheel at the hub. Vibration in your bum = unbalanced rear wheels or bent wheel at the hub.

Hubcentric rings only ensure that you mount the wheels on perfectly so the lugs are not off center. I've never used hubcentric rings and I have several sets of wheels that I switch around.

mr. sparco

iTrader: (13)

Bolt on or slip on?

User 42426

iTrader: (29)

Spacers were already on the car with the old wheels. I do plan on getting the alignment checked again, just not my priority as I have to drive an hour and take some time off work since they only work mon-fri. I also made a thread asking if an alignment is needed after simply switching out wheels/tires(tire contact, tire width/height change were my exact reasons for making that thread) and the consensus was no, but doesn't hurt to check. Im going to try and take off the spacers first, and see if that helps. Yes, 10mm spacers with extended studs.

I wasn't running hubcentric rubber rings on my wheels with the spacers a few months ago. I had vibrations then as well. I bought rubber hubcentric rings, and bought new lug nuts, that eliminated the vibrations. Now they are back with the new wheels. But I have the same setup with spacers, rubber rings, and lug nuts, but different size offset wheels.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Ok from what I understand from the reading , the OP is running most likely some GayDM Kics spacers 10mm with built in studs. What he needs to do is install some ARP studs , remove the studs from the spacers and run them as slip on spacers.

I bet the OEM studs are hitting the backside of the wheel and the wheel is actually mounted to the OEM studs and not the hub. That would suck.

User 42426

iTrader: (29)

No, these aren't bolt on with built in studs. I bought these off ebay and they came with extended studs that I had to install myself. The OEM studs aren't hitting the backside of the wheel, I can see the oem studs with my eyes. The extended studs are "extended" _mm bigger than oem, size depending on spacer width, is that correct?

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

I wonder if your lug nuts are bottoming out on the studs. You may have longer studs than needed and have closed end lug nuts.

Install a cheap set of open ended nuts, see what happens.

User 42426

iTrader: (29)

^^I am running cheap open ended lug nuts haha. I have attached a picture as an example of what the lugs look like. They are stripped on the top, not sure why. They weren't like that prior to the new wheels, only after did they get stripped. I bought these wheels off a 370z, so bolt pattern should be the same.

I took off the spacers earlier today, and while some of the vibration is gone, front vibration is still there and car doesn't grip as well as it did with smaller tires. I'm going to try and get my alignment checked again.

TheWoo

iTrader: (2)

Good god, how much torque was used to tighten that lug? I hope you got new ones, and didn't use an impact wrench to put them on.

Your grip problem may be because you are running your new front tires at a much higher pressure than that of your old ones, or from an alignment issue. Vibrations may be from improperly torqued wheels, or needing to have those wheels balanced.

User 42426

iTrader: (29)

haha those aren't actually my lug nuts, its just a pic i found online as an example of what mine look like at the top, stripped.

-Ive checked tire pressure on all four tires, all equal at 35psi.
-I took off the front spacers earlier today
-Mounted tires and had all four of them balanced on the same day
-I retorqued the lug nuts at home with my torque wrench at 85lbs.
-Checked to see if wheel bearing is bent/some play, there isn't.

Im convinced its the alignment at this point. I left the hubcentric rubber rings for the wheels on the front on, vibration has been reduced. I am going to install hubcentric rings on the rear too, no spacers on the car anymore, but hoping that helps.