[R/T INTERCEPTOR]

I recently installed new 22" Viper Reps w/ staggered fit, along with Nitto 420s tires 265/35 front and 295/30 rear. I just got the car out of storage last week and have put a 100 miles or so on the new wheels and tires, torqued the lugs again, but there is this steering wheel shake that is driving me nuts! It's most noticeable between 45 to 65 mph. It's not really a vibration but the steering wheel slightly shaking left to right. I'm not sure if there is something wrong with the new wheels or if there is a suspension issue. I put the stock 18" back on yesterday and the shake is gone so I'm assuming its the wheels. Is this normal of these particular 22" wheels or does someone think the wheels are bad/or need to be balanced again?


I guess I could deal with it but I just received my BC racing coilovers a couple of weeks ago and don't want to install them until I can sort out this issue. Plus I noticed my R/T has the famous suspension knock in the front end that everyone talks about so I'll probably have to sort that out as well. Then I was going to get aftermarket sway bars and bushings but the factory police interceptor bars are larger in diameter and I don't want to downgrade.


Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Fireman2118]

I'd have them balanced again or remounted and balanced.

 

[R/T INTERCEPTOR]

I was thinking the same thing. Discount Tire installed the tires and balanced them but they had to use a ton of weights! Maybe something is just a little off. Thanks

 

[Whatrlaws4]

Are those wheels hub-centric? If not, look at getting some hub rings. That should solve it. If it is hub-centric, have them spin just the wheel on the balancer. If that spins true, then its the tire. Sometimes, the tire just won't balance out. Have the shop swap the tire out for a new one, and that could solve it.

 

[R/T INTERCEPTOR]

Yes the wheels are hub-centric. I will ask them this weekend when I take the wheels up there. Thanks

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[NOTPAID4]

If they had to use a lot of weight, have the spin the tire on the wheel and rebalance!

 

[Demon]

Should NEVER need to use a ton of weight. Good tire guy will remount the tire 180 degrees so that they can use less weight. I've got one tire on the SRT that used NO weight, very rare but it does happen. With the Nittos I would expect a smooth ride, I would have the balance issue taken care of first.

 

[R/T INTERCEPTOR]

Ok here is update: Just got back from taking both front wheels back to Discount to get rebalanced. They put the first wheel on the balancer and it was almost 3 oz off in the exact place where the other mountain of weights are. But the tire was set correctly on the wheel so the difference between tire and wheel weights were 180* from each other. They added the weights and zeroed it out and showed me. All good except I still have a pile of weights to look at.

Next wheel not so good. Balancer showed wheel needed another 7 oz of weight where the other 6 oz pile of weights were!!!!! I can't believe they balanced them like this when I first got the tires put on. So now I'm pissed. So they took all the weights back off and broke the bead loose to painfully force the tire 180* around the wheel with 3 guys. Put it back on the balancer and it showed the that the wheel still needed the 6 oz of weight they just ripped off, but the heavy side of tire and wheel were opposite of each other now. The big issue with this wheel that they pointed out to me was the wheel has a real heavy side to it that we could see pretty easily when rotating on balancer. It looked like the wheel was wobbling around. Like there appeared to be a flat spot of something.

So now I don't know what to do. They put new weights on and it balanced out but I basically got a lemon rim, right?! I don't think I could get a warranty exchange with Factory Rep could I? It just looks ridiculous with the wheels having all these weights. Sorry, i'm just a little frustrated as I'm starting to mod the car this year after fixing all the main issues with the car last year and it's not starting off well, at all. I was going to install the coil over's this weekend but I don't know now. I might just wait until I have the rest of the suspension parts i want in hand and ready to install before I put these wheels back on. Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it.

 

[Demon]

That would be my next step is you just got the wheels. let them know that the wheel itself appears to be bad. It's at least worth a try especially if you just got them.

 

[Mikelo320]

I got my 20's from the same place and didn't have a problem with balancing them. I would give them a call and see if they can replace them for you.

 

[R/T INTERCEPTOR]

I decided to put the BC racing coilovers in this weekend and will put the 22's back on and see what happens, then go from there. Almost done

 

[Whatrlaws4]

I would try and warranty out the wheels. Problem wont go away after lowering it. Im not sure where you purchased them, but i would start there. Or call factory productions and advise them of your issue. I spoke to Jason over there today, seems like a straight up dude. Nothing worse then a out of round wheel. I would get it handled pronto before putting them on the car again.

 

[waldo]

I had an issue with a Factory Reproduction wheel... though not the same as you. Over a period of a couple of years, mine developed a crack running parallel around the center opening where the center emblem installs.

I live within a few miles of Factory Reproductions facility, so at their request, I drove out there. When I arrived, I was immediately directed into the shop area, a rep looked at the wheel, confirmed the crack and authorized a replacement on the spot. Within 20 minutes, I was back on the road, not a penny out of pocket.

There are actually companies out there that stand by their products and take care of their customers... hopefully, you'll receive the same treatment.

 

[NorCalSRT]

Ok here is update: Just got back from taking both front wheels back to Discount to get rebalanced. They put the first wheel on the balancer and it was almost 3 oz off in the exact place where the other mountain of weights are. But the tire was set correctly on the wheel so the difference between tire and wheel weights were 180* from each other. They added the weights and zeroed it out and showed me. All good except I still have a pile of weights to look at.

Next wheel not so good. Balancer showed wheel needed another 7 oz of weight where the other 6 oz pile of weights were!!!!! I can't believe they balanced them like this when I first got the tires put on. So now I'm pissed. So they took all the weights back off and broke the bead loose to painfully force the tire 180* around the wheel with 3 guys. Put it back on the balancer and it showed the that the wheel still needed the 6 oz of weight they just ripped off, but the heavy side of tire and wheel were opposite of each other now. The big issue with this wheel that they pointed out to me was the wheel has a real heavy side to it that we could see pretty easily when rotating on balancer. It looked like the wheel was wobbling around. Like there appeared to be a flat spot of something.

So now I don't know what to do. They put new weights on and it balanced out but I basically got a lemon rim, right?! I don't think I could get a warranty exchange with Factory Rep could I? It just looks ridiculous with the wheels having all these weights. Sorry, i'm just a little frustrated as I'm starting to mod the car this year after fixing all the main issues with the car last year and it's not starting off well, at all. I was going to install the coil over's this weekend but I don't know now. I might just wait until I have the rest of the suspension parts i want in hand and ready to install before I put these wheels back on. Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it.

I had the EXACT same thing happen when I bought my 22"s from Factory Repro about 3yrs ago (I'm running the exact same tire set up as you are as well).

My tire guy called me to show me how much weight he needed to use on one wheel, and told me that should not happen. I called Factory Repro and after a bit of arguing with the guy, he said that he had his team test a few wheels in their inventory and the same problem came up. They ended up overnighting a replacement wheel to my tire shop.

 

[TheBlack1]

R/T INTERCEPTOR, Have the wheels rebalanced I've had the exact same problem with the exact same wheels but different tires but same size on a SRT8 an I also went with a realignment on all 4 corners. I was told that for such a big wheels that they will require a lot of balancing weights to get the look you have to give up something over the winter I took the wheels off one at a time an a few bottles of glue-go an took off the old weight tape and they look a lot better.

Also with each suspension upgraded made the problems went away an now I'm good to go on 22"!

 

[diego4qwk]

wow, these were the rims i was gonna upgrade with....i'm kinda on the fence now because I want the look but I dont want that problem!

 

[JL-KA]

Was the car sitting with the tires on the ground while it was in storage? Meaning, could they have developed a flat spot? Car should always be raised on stands during long storage.

 

[TheBlack1]

A little bit of extra work for a great looking set of wheels! I'm just glad to know that I was not the only one with this problem!! Easy fix!!