Borrow alloy wheels for 1 hour

[MercC350Coupe2011]

Hi everyone, Does anyone near Leamington-Straford-Coventry have a set of front alloy wheels 18 inches willing to lend them for 1 hour? I want to find out if any of my front wheels is buckled. I changed tyres and balanced them but I am still getting steering vibrations above 55mph.

The wheels visually look ok but the whole alloy body might be bended and somehow the balancing machine doesn't capture it. I am willing to pay a small amount to whoever is wiling to help me out with this.

I am an automotive engineer myself so I know what I am doing. My wheels look like in the picture below.

 

[mioba]

Good luck,

Cant you rotate front to back to determine if vibe moves

 

[OneForTheRoad]

Have you got a spare to chuck on. ?

 

[GeeJayW]

Good luck,

Cant you rotate front to back to determine if vibe moves

I’m pretty sure that the OP’s car has a staggered set up with wider rims on the rear, so swapping front to back may well not be an option.

 

[suty455]

Hi everyone, Does anyone near Leamington-Straford-Coventry have a set of front alloy wheels 18 inches willing to lend them for 1 hour? I want to find out if any of my front wheels is buckled. I changed tyres and balanced them but I am still getting steering vibrations above 55mph.

The wheels visually look ok but the whole alloy body might be bended and somehow the balancing machine doesn't capture it. I am willing to pay a small amount to whoever is wiling to help me out with this.

I am an automotive engineer myself so I know what I am doing. My wheels look like in the picture below.

check your wheel bearings I had this it drove me insane for a few weeks Wheels were brand new same the Tyres both quality items yet I still had vibrations above 70 front O/S bearing had play only noticed it because my Wife has much better hearing than me and mentioned it made a odd noise at 45mph like an offset drone.

 

[MrGreedy]

What is the exact size of the alloys and tyres please?

I'm not a million miles away, but I have a spare set for an E class that might not be the correct size and offset for a C class.

 

[MercC350Coupe2011]

Good luck,

Cant you rotate front to back to determine if vibe moves

I have tried but the rear wheels are much wider than the front ones.

 

[MercC350Coupe2011]

Have you got a spare to chuck on. ?

I used the spacesaver that but I was still getting vibrations. It might be because it is not balanced. It's a smaller wheel afterall so it's not really helpful.

 

[MercC350Coupe2011]

check your wheel bearings I had this it drove me insane for a few weeks Wheels were brand new same the Tyres both quality items yet I still had vibrations above 70 front O/S bearing had play only noticed it because my Wife has much better hearing than me and mentioned it made a odd noise at 45mph like an offset drone.

I want to swap to a new set of front wheels+tyres to identify or rule out the buckled wheels before moving to bearings, brake discs, wishbones etc.

 

[MercC350Coupe2011]

What is the exact size of the alloys and tyres please?

I'm not a million miles away, but I have a spare set for an E class that might not be the correct size and offset for a C class.

They are 225/40/R18 (8 J X 18 H2 ET 50).

Rim Diameter: 18
Rim Width - Front: 8J
Offset - Front Wheel: ET50
Stud Diameter: 112
Number of Studs: 5

 

[Flyinspanner]

Or you could purchase a dial test indicator off the ‘bay?

Or a cheap way would be to get the car jacked up, place bricks next to wheel and rest some cowling/knitting needle etc on bricks, holding it firm - and close to the rim.
rotate wheel by hand and see if the gap between rim and knitting needle varies.

do outside edge AND the inside edge. They can just buckle inside edge.

if it does your wheel is buckled.

also try it against ‘edge/bottom” of rim to see if it has any flat spots on the rim.

 

[MercC350Coupe2011]

Or you could purchase a dial test indicator off the ‘bay?

Or a cheap way would be to get the car jacked up, place bricks next to wheel and rest some cowling/knitting needle etc on bricks, holding it firm - and close to the rim.
rotate wheel by hand and see if the gap between rim and knitting needle varies.

do outside edge AND the inside edge. They can just buckle inside edge.

if it does your wheel is buckled.

also try it against ‘edge/bottom” of rim to see if it has any flat spots on the rim.

Thank you very much for your thought but this is something I have already tried. I went to a specialised shop nearby(see below) to correct any buckles in both front wheels.

I paid 140 for both front wheels but I don't know if they are now perfectly fixed (I know that both of them had a slight buckle). That's what I want to find out!!

Alloy Wheel Refurbishment

alloywheelrefurbishmentuk.co.uk

 

[bob6600]

Thank you very much for your thought but this is something I have already tried. I went to a specialised shop nearby(see below) to correct any buckles in both front wheels.

I paid 140 for both front wheels but I don't know if they are now perfectly fixed (I know that both of them had a slight buckle). That's what I want to find out!!

Alloy Wheel Refurbishment

alloywheelrefurbishmentuk.co.uk

I can vouch for AWR. I had my wheels done there and I know the owner too. If they identified a buckle then they would have rectified it. If there is an issue on their part, I'm confident they will sort it.

 

[MercC350Coupe2011]

I can vouch for AWR. I had my wheels done there and I know the owner too. If they identified a buckle then they would have rectified it. If there is an issue on their part, I'm confident they will sort it.

I know that AWR is a good shop. It was recomemmended to me anyway. However in rare ocassions even if you remove the buckles(at least what you can see with bare eye), you can still get steerting vibrations. I know that most probably the wheels are fixed. But I want to rule out wheels+tyres to move to disc brakes, bearings, wishbones etc. The only way to be 100% is to put another set of wheels and drive for 10 minutes. If I had another set of wheels I could check it in 10 minutes. Do you think that they might provide me with another set of wheels to give it a try?

 

[bob6600]

I know that AWR is a good shop. It was recomemmended to me anyway. However in rare ocassions even if you remove the buckles(at least what you can see with bare eye), you can still get steerting vibrations. I know that most probably the wheels are fixed. But I want to rule out wheels+tyres to move to disc brakes, bearings, wishbones etc. The only way to be 100% is to put another set of wheels and drive for 10 minutes. If I had another set of wheels I could check it in 10 minutes. Do you think that they might provide me with another set of wheels to give it a try?

I know they have temporary wheels (bit like space savers) but not sure if they will be any good for what you are looking to rule out. As for another set, I'm not sure if they will have them in the workshop. Might be worth calling them and telling them what the issue was/is. They may be able to re-check the wheels or provide something to rule it out