Damn Spacers Fugged up my DR's

[DSG03COBRA]

Well, I found the other week that my driver's side rear tire was wobbling. After checking some stuff out, I found that the RR 3/8" spacer shouldn't have made it past quality control. The thing was thicker on one side than the other. I didn't know this was the case and had been driving around like this since MSC.

Anyhow, I got a new set of spacers sent out and most of the wobbling went away, but it's still there. After swapping between spacers on, spacers off, swapping which spacer was on which side, etc. I think I found that b/c I was driving on a wobbly tire for a while, the rubber wore REALLY awkward and now the entire tire is unbalanced. I'm hoping this is the case, and it's not the wheel got fugged up. I'll bring the wheels over to Walmart and have them thrown on their balancer to verify.

So now I'll be riding with my FR500's w/ F1's on the front, and my stock wheels w/ Nitto 555 Extreme Performance's on the rear. So I've got the ghetto car for a little while... :clap:

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[Cobra_DJ99]

that sucks, idk but i hear nothing but bad things when it comes to useing spacers. are you trying to fit a 315 o there? when i put on my nitto 315 all i had to do was shave off the irs bolt like 1/4 inch to get it to fit.

 

[DSG03COBRA]

that sucks, idk but i hear nothing but bad things when it comes to useing spacers. are you trying to fit a 315 o there? when i put on my nitto 315 all i had to do was shave off the irs bolt like 1/4 inch to get it to fit.

Yup had the Nitto 315's on there and didn't want to try shaving the bolt and thought the spacers would be a quick easy fix... boy was I wrong...

 

[Cobra_DJ99]

yea all it takes is a little shaving. and where i shaved the bolt i actually used clear nail polish so that it dident get rusted

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

Spacers can be trouble. Chances are the tire is out of round, I'm sure your wheel is fine. They'll be able to balance it and u shouldnt feel it anymore, but make sure they show you the tire on the balancer, you'll probly see it hopping around, and if the tech is a moron he will tell you its a bent rim. Just make sure to look at it for yourself. If the tire is out of round, they should still be able to balance it good enough.

 

[DSG03COBRA]

Spacers can be trouble. Chances are the tire is out of round, I'm sure your wheel is fine. They'll be able to balance it and u shouldnt feel it anymore, but make sure they show you the tire on the balancer, you'll probly see it hopping around, and if the tech is a moron he will tell you its a bent rim. Just make sure to look at it for yourself. If the tire is out of round, they should still be able to balance it good enough.

Will the balancing get rid of the visual wobble that I see? Even at low speeds, I can see the tire moving in and out of the wobble. That's why I'm hoping it's just the tire since this wasn't happening before adding in the spacers and driving on them for a while...

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

Will the balancing get rid of the visual wobble that I see? Even at low speeds, I can see the tire moving in and out of the wobble. That's why I'm hoping it's just the tire since this wasn't happening before adding in the spacers and driving on them for a while...

Were you seeing that visual wobble with the spacers on? If you took the spacers off and still saw it, its permanent. Chances are the tire is out of round and the wobble is permanent anyways. Balancing can get rid of some of the vibration, but if the tire is out of round theres no fixing it. The only thing you can have done is called match-mounting, which wal mart probly wont do. You need a special balancer to do it, what it does is matches the heavy spots on the tire with the light spots on the rim to eliminate vibration and even a little of the wobble. The only place i would trust to do this is discount tire, but they wont touch a vehicle with spacers or with bald tires. Even if the drag radial has a lot of passes left on it, they might still be bitchy about it.

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

Basically your best bet is to get it balanced, get rid of the spacers, and finish them off and get new ones.

 

[Dana]

I would suggest buying a new tire.
No amount of balancing is going to get the wobble out of the tire, if that is actually where it is.
Did you try a different wheel/tire on that corner to make certain there is no bearing or axle damage?
Try a different wheel and tire to see if the wobble is gone. At least that will narrow it down to the tire (as mentioned above, it is most likely not in the wheel itself).

That wobble will eventually take out the bearings and everything else conneted to it.
Dana

 

[DSG03COBRA]

Yup... I tried it w/o the spacer, and it was still there. Then I put on one of my stock wheels, and the wobble was gone... so I'm sure it's the wheel/tire on that one. That's why I'm running on my stock wheels now in the back... and I tell ya... 600rwhp running on 285's in the rear... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Anyhow... If my DR's only have about 5k miles on them and about 9 1/4 mile passes, do you think I can get away with just 1 being replaced, or do I need 2?

That's assuming I don't dump the Nitto's and get some BFG's...

 

[Dana]

I'm running Nitto's on the back for regular street use and they have zero traction for me too.
They are ok for lower HP cars, but 600 is a little too much for them.

I would just cut my losses and sell the one good one and buy a stickier set of tires.
And then I would complain to whoever made the spacers and see what they will do for you since their part wrecked your tire.

Dana

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

You can get away with replacing one, but then in another 5000 miles ur gonna have the same problem with one bad tire one good one. However, you could also try going back to where you bought the tires and see if they can credit you money for selling you a bad tire. This might not work if they know u had spacers on the vehicle. However, if they dont know about the spacers, then they'll think its manufacturers defect. Then you can get a credit for your 2 new tires and save some money. Some places do this, it just depends on how service oriented they are. Where did you buy them from?

 

[DSG03COBRA]

Some places do this, it just depends on how service oriented they are. Where did you buy them from?

DiscountTireDirect through SVTP.com. The spacers were Reichard Racing, so I'm not sure how much help I'll be able to get from them... I'll definitely be checking into it though...

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

K well take the spacers off the car and take ur reciept and the car into discount tire. They will definetely be able to help you. They should be able to send the tire to nitto as a defect. Then tell them u just want them to credit u the money for the 2 new tires, and it shouldnt be a problem.

 

[DSG03COBRA]

Well... I called Discount Tire Direct and they said I can bring the tire over to a local Discount Tire where they can take a look at it and see if it's truely out of round. If it is, they may pro-rate a refund based on how much tread is left... Gonna have to see what they say seeing as how I can't really just replace one of the tires... will keep you updated...

 

[rdsnake]

i had the same problem with lfp 3/8 spacers, after i cut them in half and thur them in the trash i got mm 1 inchers and 3 inch wheel studs...now its all good!

 

[Cobra_DJ99]

n20gt knows his stuff he worked at discount tire :biggthump

 

[DSG03COBRA]

So I went to Discount Tire and the spun my wheels... said they were a little off balance, but that they weren't out of round. They checked the wheels and they were fine as well. Then they went ahead and balanced them for me. I haven't put them back on the car yet, but hope to God that fixes everything.

I'm a little confused though... I put the stock wheels back on and I don't have a wobble... they said the tires/wheels were fine, just out of balance... if I put these back on and I see a wobble, does that mean something in the rear of the car is fugged up?

 

[ShelbyGuy]

loose axle nut (got dss?) and/or worn wheel bearing (loose axle nut makes the bearing eat itself) would cause similar symptoms.

chock the front wheels, and leave the parking brake off and put the car in neutral

jack up under the rear control arm.

take a carpenters framing square (or something similar) and put the little end on the ground and the big end against the face of the wheel&tire assembly.

spin the wheel

you should be able to see how out of round the tire is (thats normal, they are after all molded rubber) and how true the wheel is

check for slop in the rear wheel bearing at the same time. see if you can wiggle the wheel and tire assembly. fronts will have slop from the steering, but the rears should be pretty darn tight.

 

[DSG03COBRA]

loose axle nut (got dss?) and/or worn wheel bearing (loose axle nut makes the bearing eat itself) would cause similar symptoms.

chock the front wheels, and leave the parking brake off and put the car in neutral

jack up under the rear control arm.

take a carpenters framing square (or something similar) and put the little end on the ground and the big end against the face of the wheel&tire assembly.

spin the wheel

you should be able to see how out of round the tire is (thats normal, they are after all molded rubber) and how true the wheel is

check for slop in the rear wheel bearing at the same time. see if you can wiggle the wheel and tire assembly. fronts will have slop from the steering, but the rears should be pretty darn tight.

Thanks John... once this crazy weather gives me a break, I'll check that out...