could all four of my rims be bent!?!?!

[Oldskool153]

I bought a clean set of wagon wheels off of a 99' c5, all four appear to be in great shape with no visible bends, I bought four brand new tires for the wheels 275/40/18 rears and 245/45/17 for the fronts..I dropped the wheels with the new tires off at my local shop saterday morning and I get a call stating that he cant get the tires to seal correctly around the lip but that its a common thing with chrome gm wheels, he recomends I put in tire slime so I do, than he calls and says that he cant get them to balance.. So i take them to another tire shop who says that they cant get them to balance because of the slime, so i have them dismount them and take out the slime than remount them and they still cant get them to balance.. the tire shope is sayin that the rims are bent.. I have a hard time beleving that ALL four rims would be bent or stretched, when NONE of thme leak air and NONE of them are appear to be bent.. The bad part is I sold my stock wheels like an idiot and now I have over $600 in tires, I hate to have to buy new rims because these look amazing on the car, but as soon as i go about 48mph the car shakes.. Im soppussed to take it to "Wheel World" this weekend they specialize in rims, they sound confident they can balance them, anyone had this problem any sugestions? (ps. i kno im an idiot for telling him it was ok to put slime in the tires in the 1st place)

 

[rmagee7]

you buy the rims local?

 

[muddywaters]

Yeah, Slime/Fix a Flat, it's all Latex, I know it sounds good, but once it's in the tire it's a problem if you have to repair the tire. We do a lot of Off-Roading around here and I've seen what Slime is capable of. It only good for pin hole leaks, larger holes that have to be plugged are a problem. With the Slime in there you can't plug a tire because the plug tends to be spit out and vulcanizing a inner patch won't work until the Slime is gone.

 

[warren s]

Thats doest seem very likely that they are all bent.
The wagon wheels never came chromed from the factory so maybe they are not a GM set of rims - no tire slime. Good luck at the 3rd tire place.

 

[TWISTERUP]

Slime..Fix a Flat..liquid in a tire constantly moves making it impossible to balance. However when that is cleaned out the tires/wheels should be able to balance out, even if the wheels are bent and/or tire is out of round (lateral/radial runout) even though they will "balance" on the machine you will still feel a bent wheel or out of round tire at certain speeds as a vibration. I would have the shop show you the bent wheels while they are spinning on the balancer...you should be able to visually see it. Also IMO the best technology out there today is the "Hunter Road Force Balancer". The key there is finding someone who has one AND knows how to use it Good Luck!

 

[Oldskool153]

thanks guys im getting ready to have all the slime cleaned out and try to get them rebalanced this weekend..

 

[redvett]

Have them balanced with a Hunter Load Force balancer. The very best.
Go here to find one near you.
Hunter GSP9700 Wheel Vibration Control System

 

[JimBobC4]

If nothing else works and you just can’t seem to get them balanced...


Check and make sure the guy changing the original tires at the first shop did not bend them while trying to remove the old tires or mount the new one.

IF he did, it will be on the backside most likely with gouge marks on the rim lip and on the center of the wheel (with the tire removed).

A few of the older tire machines don't work real well with aluminum rims and have enough force to warp the lip or bend the center at an angle, especially if he had to use an extender bar to mount those low profile tires.

If you see nothing, with the tires removed, have the tire shop give them a spin on the balance machine. If they are warped, it will show up REAL fast.

If they are good you should see little if any variation in the rim as it is spinning.

One last word of advice, never ever ever ... ever use that tire slime.
It turns into a corrosive liquid goo after a few years and really messes up a set of rims.

 

[Oldskool153]

when i bought the rims they had no tires on them, I bought brand new tires and the rims are bent, one wheel took over 20oz of weights to get at as close as possible to balanced. Im gonna have to buy new wheels or at least buy two front rims (im not concerend with the back rims there not balanmced at all) but the prob is that my wagon wheels are chrome, gm didnt make them in chrome so there gonna be ahrd to find. Im thinking of ordering a set of torque thrusts from summit for $750 but i really am tired of investing money into this.. so far i have $150 in mounting and balancing and remounting and balancing due to the slime. and there not even balanced right