I recently purchased some used DPE's from a member on this forum. I installed the wheels on my stock height M5. Everything was a-ok until I lowered the car on some used H&R springs. Before the shop was done lowering my car, the shop owner mentioned that I may need some hubcentric rings. Right after the install was finished, I began to notice a vibration that could be felt through my steering wheel around 50-80mph.

Today I got brand new hankook ventus v12 tires and had them mounted and balanced on a Hunter GSP (road force balanced). I took it on the freeway and the vibration seems to have gotten even worse and now I can even feel it somewhat through the car! It very annoying and seems very dangerous also. I was thinking maybe I need an alignment to fix it but I havent heard of an off alignment causing a steering wheel to vibrate.

What could it possibly be??

 

if the center bore of the rims is bigger than the hub diameter, then you need hubcentric rings to center the wheel on the hub. the rings are basically spacers to fill the gap. otherwise, you're relying on the lug bolts to center the wheels.

 

Is there anyway to find the center bore of the wheels? What I mean is, is it labeled somewhere on the wheels?

 

Take a wheel off and measure the bore!

 

well, if you were to take the bolts off..... move the wheel around on the hub to see if there is any play. the wheel should be snug when you slide it on the hub lip.

 

I had this problem with another set of wheels I ran...I had to take one wheel off and then I used a zip tie and cut it to length of the bore...Then I used a caliper to measure the tie wrap! The hub centric rings are about $10 for a set of 4!

 

Would needing hubcentric rings only cause the car to vibrate at a certain MPH range? Also, why wouldn't the car vibrate when my car was stock height with the DPE wheels

 

because everytime you tighten the bolts, the rim is shifted in a different position. your bolts are what is centering the wheel with the hub, whereas the hub lip is whats suppose to center the wheel on the hub.

 

I switched out the front wheels today and took the car on the freeway. The vibration is now almost completely eliminated! Only the slightest vibration at speeds above 80. So I'm assuming it has something to do with my front DPE wheels. I used a zip tie to get the circumference of the bore of the DPE wheels (i know i shouldve done the diameter lol) but I got roughly 9.4-9.5 inches which would mean the bore size (diameter) is about 76mm...So I'm assuming I need hubcentric rings with an outside diameter of 76mm and inside diameter of 72.56? But when the DPE wheel is mounted on the front hub it "feels" like it sits pretty snug without any play...

I also have 2 pictures of what the wheels (oem and dpe) look like when they sit on the hub...

 

I had this problem. Like the owner said. YOU need the rings!