I just had tires put on the reproduction 15x8 Olds Rally wheels for Project Olds Camino. This will be the 3rd vehicle these rims have been on, I know the balance and ride well with no prior issues.

The tire guys says 2 of the wheels are bent, and won’t balance. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking “BULLSHIT”. I have had this issue with stamped steel wheel before, and know what the next move needs to be.

I asked the guy to remove the centering cone on the center of the wheel (where the center cap snaps on) and instead use the “finger attachment” ( uses fingers to pilot the wheel off the machined lug nut dimples instead of stamped opening for the center cap. It took a bit of persistence, but he finally agreed.

Bingo! Suddenly the wheel needed much les weight, and no more wobble.

As I mentioned, I have run into this before with Olds Rally wheels. It’s been a LONG time since I worked in a shop that dealt with tires, but I still remember the basics. My question: is the stamped opening a machined surface? Or is it just a a hole punched during the stamping process?

It seems to me since the lugnuts are what actually centers the wheel on the car, that’s the best way to ensure it’s straight.

Am I the only one who has had these problems?

 

I don't know if its stamped or not but I've recently battled this on an RV. The issue is whether the position/centering of the wheel to the hub is "hub centric" or "lug centric". Must have called six shops and they were lost from the start, the last shop knew exactly what was meant and had the lug centric adapter to do the job.

 

Wa-la!

A tire shop that either doesn't have this adapter or doesn't want or know how to use it ought to be run out of business.

 

Yep, the factory SSII wheels are not hub centric. I fought this years ago (2007) - long story.. ended up finding more wheels, getting painted, on and on....Anyway Joe P mentioned these wheels are lug centric and that now made perfect sense. The really sad thing about this is I worked at a Montgomery Ward auto center in the 80's, we sold lots of tires and balanced a lot of Olds SSII wheels- never used the lug centric mount, though we had one.

 

Same thing with the 66-69 SSI wheels, both LE and LY. I have yet to find anyone near where I live that his a lug-centric adapter.

Randy C.

 

I have a vibration in the right rear. This is the second wheel that I cleaned and painted and now you guys have me wondering if this is my problem.

 

Another thing to do is to run the spin balancer without the safety lid with just the rim first then with the tire mounted. Observe rim run out in both directions AND tire wobble & hop.

You can use whatever method right or wrong if the rim or tire is out you're never gona get a good balance.

A good tire tech will find the heavy spots on the tire & the rim and install them 180° apart. Most new quality tires are marked from the OEM on the heavy spot.

 

Just to clarify, the lug-centric SuperStock wheels are the 1974-up versions with the snap-in centers. The wheels with bolt-in centers balance just fine with the cone, since they do have a center bore.

 

I wonder what these inept shops would do with a wheel from an old VW Beetle that had no center hole at all. Hah.

 

Or an old set of Pontiac 8-lugs?

 

Yeah, shocking to think that a shop today doesn't know about 60 year old cars. Of course I'm sure everyone here knows how to drive a Model T.

 

Throw spark and throttle up, keep feet off the pedals as much as possible, and to REALLY stop, stomp on all 3.

 

Yeah, that's what I remember. Didn't everyone's neighbor have one back in high school?

 

Hub centric verses lug centric!! That’s the word I was trying to think of to describe this issue.

Im relieved I’m not the only one who has run into this. I have had many complaints and arguments with the tire store I use. Long stories, I’m pretty sure they cringe whenever they see me walk thru the door. Im not normally an ***, just do the job right, and don’t try and bullshit me.

Now you guys have intrigued me, how do you balance the Pontiac 8 lug wheels? Way before my time.

 

Matt you say your rims are reproduction 15 x 8 with a snap in centre cap . Reproduction sounds to me like new rims and would be true, no hop and balance well .
I have 6 Oldsmobile 15 x 7 SS rims that have snap in centre caps . When i got them i took all 6 rims to a local shop to have them tested on a balancer. All 6 had a hop . I was in the shop to look at the dial indicator for each rim . I think it was more work for the shop to mount the SS rims on the balancer, they used cones . I did not want to spend any more money on the rims before doing this . The shop said it was normal hop for the time period of the rims . All 6 rims had a slight hop . Then i had them all sand blasted and painted .

I noticed my SS rims with snap on centre caps , the weight of the car sits on the lugs. Reading above i think that means Lug centric ?
My original plain ordinary 1982 rims, looks to me like the weight of the car sits on the centre of the rim . Reading above i think that means Hub centric . I also had all 4 original plain 1982 rims tested on the same balancing machine , no hop . They are true. Shop said the 1982 plain rims were better and stronger .
So i have lots of rims , 6 SS and 4 plain . I sand blasted and painted the plain rims as well. So for road trips , will use the plain rims ( no hop ) and weight of car sits on centre hole of rim , and use the SS rims to hop around town .

 

307, you are correct about the terminology. Maybe you should take your wheels back and have then respun by the place using the lug centric adapter and see if they still "hop". Good chance they are fine....

 

Actually, I do. In any case, lighten up. It was a joke.

 

Matt,

The tire store needs to have a specific adapter. They bolt the adapter to the wheel and mount the adapter on the tire machine.

Many tire shops didn't have this adapter, even back in the day.

Gary

 

Greg This was a bit of a project at a tire shop . Paid shop rate for their time . i have money into just testing all the rims i have to know if i would be wasting more money on them . The shop marked each rim where and the number reading of the dial indicator . Marked where the hight spot is on each rim . I was thinking the same as you mentioned above , so asked shop to redo 2 rims and see what the number is and if the high spot moved . High spot was in the same location and dial indicator reading was close . The SS Rims have a bit of a hop . The plain 1982 rims no hop .

 

After thinking about it, I kinda figured that’s how it was done.

I can’t imagine tooling and machining parts for the 8 lug wheel was very cost effective for Pontiac. I’m not a Pontiac guy, I don’t think those wheels were used on many cars, or for very many years.

 

All 4 wheels came from wheel Vintages, they were originally on my 87 442, then my 87 Cutlass, and now going on my sons EL Camino.

 

Available for all 1960-68 full-size Pontiacs and Pontiac sold plenty of them.

The 8-lug wasn't just an ornamental styled wheel. The center hub was the car's brake drum. It was cast aluminum with a steel liner in the brake shoe contact area and was probably the best drum brake available at the time. The aluminum fins dissipated brake heat better than even the Buick 45-fin aluminum drums, and those were considered state of the art when introduced in 1957. But Buick HAD to something about their brakes- big heavy cars with marginal brakes weren't going over well even in the 1950s...

Advent of disc brakes obsoleted the 8-lugs quick, but to this day they are still the most beautiful wheel ever to grace a big Pontiac.

You need this and a tire shop willing to do it to balance 8-lugs. Ames Performance, Todd Zimmerman and others in Pontiac community are making the 8-lug balancing adapter plates.



The plate was one of Pontiac's "dealer essential tools" for off-car tire service, but consider that on-car speed balancing was still common in the 60s. A Hunter "Tune-In" or strobe balancer combined with someone who knows how to use it is still the best balancing there is, because it accounts for wheel, tire and suspension.

 

And of course, today you can get a disc brake conversion that preserves the look of the eight lug drums.

 

I'll bet that is pricey!

 

The display card in the lower left claims these list for $2250. I would have guessed more.