ok guys, my little brother needs your help.
he's got a 2004 VW golf GL. after having it for about 6 months, he got a set of 17" rims. car was fine. he's had the rims on the car for about a year now. last month it started acting up.
while on the throttle the car pulls to the right slightly. off the throttle the car pulls to the left slightly. there is a vibration in the steering wheel but its not constant. he'll be on the throttle and everything will be fine. he'll lift for traffic and then when he gets back on the throttle there will be a vibration. but its not like that all the time. there's also days where it'll be vibration all day long regardless. either way, it ONLY vibrates while he's on the throttle.
when it first started he went and had the tires rotated and balanced. that didn't fix it.
he put his stock rims back on and the problem went away. so it has to be SOMETHING with the aftermarket rims/tires. i was looking at his hubcentric rings and they were made of plastic instead of metal like mine. i noticed that all of them but one was chipped along the edges of the rings
we took it to the tire shop today and they rebalanced the rims, replaced the rings, checked to make sure the rims weren't bent, and made sure the tires weren't flat spotted. everything checked out fine.
drive it home from the shop, still vibrates.
only thing left that i can think of is an alignment. but, i would think the alignment would mess it up ALL the time. the alignment would cause the same symptoms regardless of the aftermarket or stock rims as well...so that just doesn't make any sense.
any suggestions/comments/solutions are welcome. thanks in advance.
GO PATS!!!
ok guys got some more information. we just put my brothers rims/tires onto my cavalier. no problem at all. car didn't vibrate or pull whatsoever....how does that make sense?
we've got my rims (which i know are fine) on his car now. getting ready to take it out and see what it does...
GO PATS!!!
are the rims made for the VW , i know alot of the VW's use a bolt and not lug nuts , and the thickness of the lugs holes is different
VW being a thicker lug holes
i had the problem when i was gonna get a set of used rims from a friend whos brother ran a discount tire , they were take offs from a VW the guy didnt like them or something stupid , the fit offset and tires size fit my cav perfect
but i could only get 1 turn on the lug nut , so i couldnt use them
so check and see how far the lug bolts go through all 3 sets of wheels
ok i've got yet another update. my rims on his car don't vibrate. its ONLY his rims on ONLY his car. we've gone to 4 different tire shop and they all have no idea.
97cavie, we're going to pull all the tires off again right now to put his stockers back on. we'll check the depth.
we're also going to get a weight check on all the rims.
anything guys?
GO PATS!!!
ok here's my last bit of info before i let you guys talk...
my rims are 16" rims wearing 205/55/16 tires. my rims weigh 40 pounds even.
the VW's stock rims are 15" rims wearing 195/65/15 tires. they weigh 40 pounds even.
the VW's aftermarket rims are 17" rims wearing 225/45/17 tires. they weigh 44 pounds even.
the VW setup is opposite of my car. i have the wheel studs coming out of the hub. VW's have the wheel stud with a lug nut on the end. the stud goes through the rim and into the hub.
the stock lug nuts with the stock rims go into the hub 1/8th of an inch more than the aftermarket lugs with the aftermarket rims.
VW replaced the axle thinking that was the problem, its been balanced 3 times by two different shops, the alignment is fresh, the car is NOT lowered. the rims have been check and aren't bent. the tires have no flat spots.
thats all the information i can think of to give you guys. if you have any questions that can help you help us, go for it. thanks for any help guys.
thats all the information i can think of to give you guys
GO PATS!!!
I think eric said it.
It might be how the stud seats with the rim.
it could be that or it could be one of the motor mounts... I've got a 00 passat and we were having the same type of situation just with out the aftermarket wheels... it could be that with the different size wheel, its causing the motor to have to turn harder to move the bigger wheels causing the motor mounts to shift more... just an idea... I was also going to say the axle as well but it looks like you've already taken care of that...
M I N I O N - Sinbird wrote:I am going to agree on the rims not being seated correctly.
the weird thing is, he used the same lugs for his rims as he did when we had my rims on the car. with my rims on the car, it was fine.
we don't get it. we talked to one of the installers at a shop we went to. he has a 2003 golf and had the same problem. says he finally just gave up and learned to deal with the shaking.
i don't know...we're open to more suggestions though...
GO PATS!!!
I don't think that you are getting what we mean by "seated."
Try this.... Put the wheel on the car..... finger tight all the lugs and then lower it. If the wheel moves up a little from the hub, that is the problem. When you have something that large spinning that fast, the slightest difference in center will cause terrible vibrations. There should not be any available play when you tighten the lugs, it should snugly seat to the same point every time. That is probably why it is acting differently with the threaded VW hubs.
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