wobble at 45-50mph on new rims and tires...

[supark]

I just got my new m-parallels installed last night with new tires (General UHP 245/40-18). From 0-40mph I feel nothing out of the ordinary, but at about 50mph I feel a pretty bad wobble. When I speed up a bit more up to about 65-70mph though, the vibes disappear.

I'm going to bring it to the shop to have them balance the wheels again. But I'm wondering - could the slightly larger wheels be magnifying some sort of fault in my suspension that I didn't notice with my 17" rims and fatter tires?

[Jim@tirerack]

I would just have the wheels rebalanced and see if that solves the problem. You can also check this link for further answers.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=49

[supark]

awesome thanks man - we'll see if the rebalance helps.

[NY550i]

I have the same problem.

The vibration comes in at about 45mph and ends at 55 but i do know the wheels are all messed up.

It might have nothing to do with wheels,the E39s are known for some shimmy problem at those speeds....do a search on "wheel shimmy"

Let me know if rebalance fixes the problem because i rebalanced my wheels numerous times and it doesnt go away.

[supark]

yeah - the odd thing is that my oem style 42s had no vibes at all. I just spoke to shop that installed the tires and they said that speed specific vibes are most likely due to improper balancing, so hopefully a rebalance will solve my issue. I guess I should also doublecheck that I received the correct offset wheels for my car. If I received E34 wheels though - wouldn't it be impossible to mount them to my car without some modification to the wheel itself?

[supark]

Update - just got back from discount tire and it turns out the person who originally balanced my wheels was a complete idiot and all four wheels were out of balance! They had one of the older techs doing my car to make sure it was done right - he kind of rolled his eyes and shrugged when he told me that it had been done improperly the first time (like he was sorry that some of the techs are such idiots - but couldn't just outright say it front of them).

Took it out and cruised at 50mph and no more vibes. I'm in love with my car anew (not like I ever fell out of love with it). The m-pars look so sexy but not overdone.

The tech who did my car was also nice enough to tell me that he'd noticed some play in rear control arms... next project...

[NLR]

Update - just got back from discount tire and it turns out the person who originally balanced my wheels was a complete idiot and all four wheels were out of balance! They had one of the older techs doing my car to make sure it was done right - he kind of rolled his eyes and shrugged when he told me that it had been done improperly the first time (like he was sorry that some of the techs are such idiots - but couldn't just outright say it front of them).

Took it out and cruised at 50mph and no more vibes. I'm in love with my car anew (not like I ever fell out of love with it). The m-pars look so sexy but not overdone.

The tech who did my car was also nice enough to tell me that he'd noticed some play in rear control arms... next project...

Where did you get your M Parallels from? Are they OEM or replicas? What width are the rims and with what size tires?

[supark]

They're replicas from wheelexchange.com - they're all 18x8s and I put General Exclaim UHP 245/40-18 tires on it. Total price was $698+$574=$1272.

I got the tires from discount tire co and I've read a lot of good reviews on it - a superior tire to the Kumhos that are in the same price range. I'm happy with them - good grip in the wet, low noise. I've just been experiencing a bit of tramlining - but it's too be expected with the large wheels.

I'd suggest going the same route of getting the wheels only from wheelsexchange and then buying the tires locally. Depending on what setup you get, you may end up saving $100 or so.

I've heard they're fairly sturdy - but we'll see if they'll survive Seattle's horrible potholes. A lot of naysayers will put down the reps saying that they're heavier, but I'm 99% sure that they're about the same weight as my old Style 42 17s.

[NLR]

They're replicas from wheelexchange.com - they're all 18x8s and I put General Exclaim UHP 245/40-18 tires on it. Total price was $698+$574=$1272.

I got the tires from discount tire co and I've read a lot of good reviews on it - a superior tire to the Kumhos that are in the same price range. I'm happy with them - good grip in the wet, low noise. I've just been experiencing a bit of tramlining - but it's too be expected with the large wheels.

I'd suggest going the same route of getting the wheels only from wheelsexchange and then buying the tires locally. Depending on what setup you get, you may end up saving $100 or so.

I've heard they're fairly sturdy - but we'll see if they'll survive Seattle's horrible potholes. A lot of naysayers will put down the reps saying that they're heavier, but I'm 99% sure that they're about the same weight as my old Style 42 17s.

Supark, I already have a set of M Parallel replicas on my car. I was just curious as to what setup you were using. I ordered mine with tires from Lakeshore. My deal was quite a bit more expensive than yours because I was previously running Michelin PS2's with my stock double spoke II's and was extremely pleased with them, so I just had to keep running those same brand tires with the new wheels. i think the total was ~ $1600 and change.

And, surprisingly my replicas are actually lighter than my stock wheels.