Another Hub Centric Ring Question

[Frankster]

Hello All,

Trying to solve a steering wheel shake on my Daughter's 1996 328i. Bought the car last year and the previous owner had installed Borbet 15X7 5 spoke rims and all was well until we had new Michelins mounted up at the Costco Tire Center.

First test run with the car and noticed minor steering wheel shake at 40 MPH. All other speeds and the car is smooth as silk. Took the car back to Costco today to have the tires checked and rebalanced, and the shake is at 50 MPH now and smooth at all other speeds. Guy at Costco said we need hub centric rings to center the wheels with the hub, and they don't have the right ones for our BMW.

I've been reading other posts about this, but I still don't get how I'm supposed to measure for the correct rings. I measured the center opening diameter of an extra rim of the same type and it's 2 7/8" or about 7.30cm.

Can you all advise which rings I would need to buy?

Thanks,
Frank

[Mdsessine]

http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f83/bmw-wheel-hub-sizes-hub-centre-bore-sizes-et-offset-t7759/

Check you're hub size here (72.46 rounded to 7.5) then find the bore of the rim. Give this info to the vender you are buying the rings from.

[Frankster]

Thanks...I think that's 7.25 right? if that's the case, my rims are very close to the hub size which makes me think I may have a bent rim and when they mounted the new tires, it ended up front causing the steering wheel shake. Sound reasonable?

Guess I'll know for sure when they rotate the tires.

Any more thoughts?

Thanks,
Frank

[Mdsessine]

Sounds like you're on the right track as you're rims will be slightly larger than the hub. Rotating the rims will help you figure it out or maybe they were not balanced properly. You can also try another set of rims on the front, as an example I have a second set of rims with snows.
You're hub is 72.46mm or 7.246cm (rounded to 7.25cm) or 2.85276 inches. 25.4mm/inch. Most common is people using a 74.1 rim on a 72.46 hub requiring rings.

[Frankster]

Good thoughts....Thanks for the help!