Problem With new chrome rims

[marteh]

I recently bought a set of 18" chrome rims for my 00 accord, they look great and all but the car doesnt feel the same when i get on the highway. at around 60mph the steering wheel begins to shake and the car rattles a little. I dont think its the tires cuz they are new, but so are the rims. i spoke with a couple of my friends and they told me the car shakes becouse of the weight of the rims, is this true? or should i get the wheels rebalanced or aligned? i would like to be able to keep the rims without damaging the ride of my car.

thanx
-H

[jhuckaby]

Anytime you alter the automobile (car, truck, jeep, etc.) with smaller or larger tires and/or rims you run the risk of altering the ride/handling characteristics as well as the accuracy of your speedometer. Mileage can and usually will be affected, too. That's just a given when you go up or down in size from what the car originally came with from the factory. Automobiles are usually designed with certain sized tires in mind as well.

[jeffcoslacker]

You need to go back to the installer. Most of those are balanced with the self-adhesive weights that stick on the inside of the rims so you don't see them....I've seen plenty where they don't clean off the corrosion inhibitor that's sprayed on the wheels at the factory before sticking those weights on, and the weights fall off before the car leaves the parking lot. If you loose a big strip of weights, it'll produce a very substantial shake at highway speeds. 55-65 is the speed range where bad balancing is most obvious, so that is most likely what you've got.

Also check and see if there is a white or other colored dot on the sidewall of your tires...this should be located right in line with your valve stems. The factory "pre-balances" tires after molding, and the dot indicates the lightest area of the tire. The dot is put there to indicate this, so the installer can clock the valve stem to this point, partially offsetting that light spot with the weight of the valve stem. By doing this you have less balance weight needing to be added to one area on the wheel, which can produce weird harmonics and cause shake at higher speeds.