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[aaron529]

I had to have a rim resurfaced for my lease return a couple of days ago. I brought my winter rim and tires so i wouldnt have to leave my car. After putting on the winter tires, i was given 4 circular green rings that i am assuming are OEM spacers. Bear in mind i do have the M sport.

My car has been shaking very badly at around 50mph and sliding all over the place in the rain. Now, my tread depth is approx 4/32nd and tire pressure is 36psi all around. Can these rings be contributing to the problem? Does any1 know what they are used for? Thanks in advance.

[Dackelone]

BMW alloy wheels do not require any shims or spacers to be hub centric. What kind of "winter wheels" do you have?

Also... your probably ruining your snow tires driving iin such warm/hot summer weather. Not to mention that its pretty dangerous drivng in the summer with winter tires. Very long braking and poor handling.

Sounds like you have some cheap aftermarket wheels that are not hub centric - and that is what is causing your vibration.

[aaron529]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

BMW alloy wheels do not require any shims or spacers to be hub centric. What kind of "winter wheels" do you have?

Also... your probably ruining your snow tires driving iin such warm/hot summer weather. Not to mention that its pretty dangerous drivng in the summer with winter tires. Very long braking and poor handling.

Sounds like you have some cheap aftermarket wheels that are not hub centric - and that is what is causing your vibration.

Yes i was aware hot pavement would ruin the softer compound of my tire.

I have no issue keeping the speeds below 50mph but the owner was VERY rude and asked why he was changing all 4 of my tires when I had 4 "spares" in my car (referring to my snow tires). He said he would be charging $40 to change all four instead of putting on just 1 winter rim/tire for free. After leaving, i thought to myself that my winter tires are 17's and the stocks are 18's...Plus riding around 4 days w/ 1 different rim/tire didnt sound right to me.

I have ASA Sport edition rims with Blizzak bridgestone tires. I had them on for 2 seasons ago without a problem. The rings are PURPLE not green. My mistake With that said, I would still like to know what these rings are used for.

[Dackelone]

Those purple rings fist go onto your hubs and then the wheel mounts or gets centered onto those rings. Its a bad way to make wheels fit a car. IF your running around without those rings installed... THAT would cause a massive vibration, since your wheels are no centered onto your hubs.

Sounds like you made your "guy" do some extra work he wasn't prepared to do. It is one thing to mount ONE tire for free for a customer. But you had him change/swap/mount your four winters onto your car for free. That was why he was grumbling.

Most shops would charge an half hour's labor rate to install four wheels(winter to summer or vise versa).

[aaron529]

Thank you for your help. The vibration is very bad and dangerous.

He gave me a quote for $150 at first, i said fine but i would like him to swap the rims and he said okay. After he had one of his mechanics that barely spoke english work on my car, he then said "why am i changing 4 rims?" when he clearly saw all 4 and went on to say he would have to charge if i wanted to swap them. He was very rude! and when i asked for a receipt that he had all four my wheels at the end of our conversation, he pretty much threw it at me. He himself did not know that the rings were not installed as only that 1 mechanic was working on it.

either way, it is very negligent on the mechanics part, no matter how much the charge. If anything does happen, he would have a nice law suit to deal with instead of 4 plastic rings. Do you happen to know the name of these things?

[cooler2442]

Originally Posted by aaron529

Thank you for your help. The vibration is very bad and dangerous.

He gave me a quote for $150 at first, i said fine but i would like him to swap the rims and he said okay. After he had one of his mechanics that barely spoke english work on my car, he then said "why am i changing 4 rims?" when he clearly saw all 4 and went on to say he would have to charge if i wanted to swap them. He was very rude! and when i asked for a receipt that he had all four my wheels at the end of our conversation, he pretty much threw it at me. He himself did not know that the rings were not installed as only that 1 mechanic was working on it.

either way, it is very negligent on the mechanics part, no matter how much the charge. If anything does happen, he would have a nice law suit to deal with instead of 4 plastic rings. Do you happen to know the name of these things?

I personally don't think it's the mechanics duty to tell you if your car needs "hub rings" or not. They come with certain aftermarket rims which YOU should be in charge of knowing if they came with your rims or they didn't. No BMW OEM rims use the hub rings at all.

[aaron529]

how could you possibly expect the lay person to know what that is? I didn't even know where they came from in the first place. Now i do appreciate the answer.

[aaron529]

oh okay i see the confusion. I forgot to mention that the mechanic had handed me the 4 rings and said i dont need them, or at least i think thats what he said. they must have been sort of stuck with the winter tires which explains why i thought they were stock. thanks for the clear up

[aaron529]

and i did some reading on tire rack. The mechanic didn't put it on lift or a jack stand which is exactly why he couldn't torque them properly.

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/...&affiliate=TX4

[GaryS]

Originally Posted by aaron529

my tread depth is approx 4/32nd

You're not ruining your snow tires by using them in summer. That's exactly what you should do after the tread gets below 6/32".

Some winter tires have two sets of wear bars, at 6/32" and 2/32" to indicate when they can't be used for snow anymore and when they can't be used at all.

[Greenkirby21]

those look like centering rings. I thought their purpose was to prevent vibrating? For example, my OZ ultraleggera came with centering rings. Guys from tirerack told me if you tried to put the wheels on without centering rings then you can get bad vibrations as they do not fit correctly.