Ok, so you've made sure the crush washers are removed from the rotors - CHECK.
The proper hubcentric rings are on your aftermarket wheels - CHECK.
And you've even had the tire shop re-balance your tires again - CHECK.
And STILL you get the vibrations on your steering wheel? Read what TireRack.com has to say:
Quote: Originally Posted by TireRack.com
If you have a vibration that is dependent on speed, and usually becomes noticeable around 40-45 mph and increases as your speed increases, it's probably balance related. The other primary cause of vibrations is that the tire and wheel assembly isn't perfectly round. Face it, if we go out far enough past the decimal point, nothing is perfectly round. This includes your wheels and tires. The problem is when the high spot on the tire, and the high spot on the wheel end up being matched to each other. This effectively doubles the amount of "hop" or runout. If re-balancing doesn't cure the vibration problem, have your professional installer check the runout of the tire. If there is a "hop", many times the problem can be fixed by simply rotating the tire on the wheel slightly. The technician should loosen the tire on the wheel, and turn it 180 degrees, and reinflate the tire after relubricating the bead. The runout should be significantly reduced or eliminated, and if it's not, try it again, but this time rotate only 90 degrees, and if that doesn't work, try 180 degrees on the third try. Done this way, the high spot on the tire has been tried at each quarter of the wheel. At one of those points, the tire should be good and round. At that point, rebalance the tire, and go for a test drive. If the vibration persists, the problem is either in the tire, or elsewhere in the vehicle.
Follow TireRack's Vibration Diagnosis Flow Chart to self diagnose your vibration issue:
Here is also some interesting info from neons.org...
"Neons are sensitive to wheel balance. If it is not perfect, it induces a resonance that causes steering wheel shimmy. We call it 73mph shake. At the factory, Neon wheel and tire assemblies are balanced within 1/8 of an ounce. Most other tire stores and such can only balance within 1/4 of an ounce and thats assuming that their wheel balancer is calibrated properly (rare) and the guy knows how to run the machine. The resonance occurs due to the front lower control arm rear bushing. When this bushing gets worn, the shake certainly gets worse. To cover all your bases in eliminating the shimmy, make sure your wheels are really balanced. Next, replace the front lower control arm rear bushings (you'll need an arbor press). If you want to reduce the sensitivity to wheel balance and move the resonant frequency (speed at which shimmy happens) up, install some stiffer bushings like the polyurethane Energy Suspension pieces in place of the factory ones. They will definitely make the car ride more harshly over small bumps because the wheel will not recess reward, but hey, everything's a compromise. If we made the car less sensitive to wheel balance without hurting ride harshness, the car would loose its precise steering and handling that everyone loves. Can you say Escort?"
Still getting vibration even with washers removed and hub rings installed?
Talk about frustration! So anyway, I want to try the balance and round recommendations, and maybe get my tire rotated around the rim 90 or 180 degrees. Does anyone have any recommendations for a shop in northern California that can balance a wheel to within an 1/8th of an oz. as was mentioned in the neons.org posting? Or will I have to have that done at the dealer?
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