Marc S

I have 18" Vault Jade chrome rims on my CL-S and like everyone else, my steering wheel started vibrating. I took it to the dealer and they said my chrome wheels were over torqued. They refused to cover it under warranty and just sent me on my way. This seems like BS to me. Seems like acura will say anything to get out of fixing something. I got my rotors done by a good friend of mine and ALOT of the vibration has stopped but i still get some when i hit near 60mph and a little when i brake. Any advice? Is it the rotors or my rims? Can i tell acura this is BS and have them fix it? Thanks

marc

EricL

Sorry to bring the bad news, but most tire places DO NOT properly torque the wheels -- stock or custom.

I have called a number of tire places, and a number of them will insist that the inpact wrench is just as good as a good torque wrench (I'll leave this discussion up to someone else -- I'll take the torque wrench).

The uneven application of torque to wheels is almost sure to cause warping with the disks that we have on our cars. The disks on our car should be torqued in a star shaped pattern and slowly torqued up to the proper torque spec. Unfortunately, even the last place I went (Washington Tire and Wheel) refused to use a torque wrench on my wheels. I can only wait for the days that my rotors will warp.

Our cars do suffer from brake warping, but a "bad torque" job is a sure fire way to mess-up our rotors (brakes) -- sorry...

jdl75

Started vibrating how? During braking or all the time? During braking, that's 99% likely to be a rotor.

I hate to agree with the dealers, 'cause so many try to skimp out of doing work, but they have a case on the over-torque. It's very easy to over-torque with an impact wrench. Try puting the factory rolling stock on and take it to another dealer. You may be SOL since they have been machined. They'll be able to tell, and want to know where it was done. You can try telling them it was at another Acura dealer (you were out of town, need it ASAP, think of something good) and hope they don't follow up. Good luck!

[ 07-31-2001: Message edited by: jdl75 ]

EricL

BTW -- do you still have your stock tires and rims? Can you put them on to verify if the brakes are now OK, but the wheels may be out-of-round or there may be another problem.

If you could put the stock tire and wheel combo back on the front and try running the car up to the speed you're having the problem, you would know exactly what was going on.

You also might want to invest in a torque wrench (just a though -- not required)...

Marc S

Yes i still have my stock rims. It has been vibrating for awhile. It isn't bad anymore but it is still there. When i hit 60 mph it does it and it happens a little when i brake.


marc

EricL

Did you or have tried with the brakes with the stock rims and tires (with the brakes in their current conditions) -- I am not clear on that fact.

If you are saying you DID put on stock rims and still have the vibration, then you still have a warp.

BTW -- the fact that the vibration gets worse when you brake would tend to point at the rotors -- but then I've seen a lot of funny stuff in my time...

If you want to "settle" the issue, put the stock front rims and tires on and drive up to 60 MPH (somewhere safe) and see if the vibration goes away.

If you still have a vibration you still have bent/warped rotors (or some other problem -- can't think of it...)

Pull_T

So what is the proper torque spec?

blazerbob1

Stock wheels are torqued at 80!

[ 08-01-2001: Message edited by: blazerbob1 ]