New wheels & Tires on OBXT

My new wheels and tires arrived yesterday and I put them on before my wife and I went to see Jimmy Buffett at the Tweeter Center. At 60 mph the steering wheel starts to shake slightly - do I need an alignment or are the wheels/tires not ballanced correctly?

 

The wheels are Kazera KZ-A in 17x7.5 and the wheels are Pirelli PZero Nero's (235/55/17). The tread pattern on my tires is different than those on TireRack's website. I noticed that the tires handle and grip better than the Bridgestone's. Overall, I lost about 4.5 pounds at each corner (18 lbs total).

 

Here are some pics:

http://photos17.flickr.com/21152631_b7f75cd0f0_o.jpg

http://photos17.flickr.com/21152632_7324df57a5_o.jpg

http://photos17.flickr.com/21152633_2e6393b6fa_o.jpg

http://photos15.flickr.com/21152635_a55a5b4402_o.jpg

http://photos17.flickr.com/21152636_f0b6f81b05_o.jpg

http://photos15.flickr.com/21152743_bb6a993765_o.jpg

http://photos17.flickr.com/21152744_7745639c10_o.jpg

http://photos17.flickr.com/21152634_a6d4fb0564_o.jpg

http://photos15.flickr.com/21152745_376c8e04cf_o.jpg

http://photos15.flickr.com/21154962_323795f7ed_o.jpg

Looks good! Definitely check if the wheels/tires are balanced and if they are, then I guess it must be an alignment.

another issue might be if the center bore is not the right size, and basically the wheel is not hubcentric. So, when you mount the rim on the hub, it is not fully centered, and stays that way when you tighten it down.

 

as I know, with our size tires and rims on the outback, either 17" or 18", it is best to have the rim "road force balanced". This issue used to happen all the time with my Audi Allroad, same rim and tire size as our new outbacks, both in 17" and 18" applications, and if the rims and tires were not road force balanced, you would notice the vibration.

 

So, there is a small list of things to work through. if it comes to the hubcentric part, you will need a centering ring, and you can call Tire Rack, and they can get them for you easily, or even a local wheel/tire store....

 

hope that helps and you find the solution soon

 

cheers

jon

looks great BTW....

Jon,

Thanks for the info. I'll give TireRack a call and see if I'm supposed to use a centering ring.

Ummm.....recheck to torque on your lugs as well. They might not be tight. Do this ASAP before going anywhere.

They are torqued to 78. I believe that Subaru recommends between 75-80 for the XT.

03indigo has it right with the road force. Ive yet to get it done to a car of mine but on any car Ive had aftermarket wheels I had that annoying shaking/vibration.

 

Im not sure where you can go to get it done but I know Tire.com provides it as a service for a small extra charge

They are torqued to 78. I believe that Subaru recommends between 75-80 for the XT.

 

does that mean you rechecked it? If I'm not mistaken, it's proper procedure to retorque after a day or two of driving. I only bring this up because when I sold my Volk's to a guy on this board, he claimed they were acting as your set were (yet they were perfect on my car) - turns out re-torquing them fixed the problem as the lugs had loosened up a bit after some hard driving.

Yeah - I did retorque them - after about 80 miles of driving and one lug was a little loose. However, there still is a tiny bit of vibration - when I let the steering wheel go at around 70mph it wobbles back and forth a tiny bit and I can feel it with my hands on the wheel.

 

I believe that Tire Rack, where I got the wheels/tires, does do road force balancing. I'm driving down to Cape Cod tomorrow and will be having my car serviced (7500 mile). If I notice more of the shaking I'll ask them to check it out.

Tirerack seems to have 2 tread patterns for that size. The OE ones for the new Mustang, and then the standard pattern. You might check to see that you got the right tread pattern, yours look different that the ones I used to own on my WRX.

I ordered the tires that were not the oem for the Mustang. I have heard a few other people that got the mustang tires and they did fine in the snow. The only difference is the plain tire band in the middle of the tire that I assume is geared more toward performance than all weather. However, I'd be willing to bet that they will still be much better than the Bridgestone's.

I really don't feel like going through the hastle of sending them back if they are the wrong tread design - they're still allseason and have a 400 treadwear rating.

sometimes the tread pattern depends on the series of the tire. for lower profiles, you get one tread, and the higher profiles, you get another. Case in point, the RE92's, for the GT they look one way, and for the outback, they look another. I also had this happen with my winter tires for my passat, depending on the profile, one was a directional pattern, the other was not.