I finally got a chance to hit 50MPH with my new tires. I opted for 235/45-18 Mastercraft LSR Grand Touring tires. Supposed to have a 70,000 mile warranty and made by Cooper. They are pretty quiet and my speedo is much closer now. My old tires were about 2/32" on the rear and 3-4/32" on the front. With 5psi less in the larger tires, it definitely seems to ride better.

Bad new: They told me two of my wheels are bent and he put both on the rear. Not bad they said they balanced OK but might vibrate.

Anyone have a line on a 2013 Lux wheel?

 

Have you checked to see if the two bent wheels can be repaired?

 

I figured I'd get it up to 80MPH and see if I can feel it. Not sure anyone around here repairs wheels. I found a link to a place in Owensboro, KY about an hour away. I may ask them for a quote.

 

Depending on how bad yours are bent you might be able to get them straightened out, but it might be a huge crapshoot IMHO. I had mine striaghtened out and it definitely helped but I still do not think they are as good as brand new wheels. if you didn't hit potholes with that car the previous owner probably did. All it takes is one good pothole hit to bend one of these OEM rims... If you have a rim shop fix them try to find one that has a road force balancing machine so they can give you a RF printout of what the values are. Generally speaking anything above 10-12lb or so goes into the "crap" zone quickly especially over 50-60 mph... "Ideal" in my mind is 10 or less per wheel. New wheels probably always break 10lb unless they were damaged in shipping or something.

If you have 18s" the aftermarket for those (even for OEM rims) is much much bigger so you can keep the costs down... Just bear in mind that when you go to buy they will whack tax and shipping, which on wheels is huge. On the last set of wheels I just was about to order from one vendor, it dawned on me at checkout that the dealer price is like 60 bucks more. I said **** it, and just called up a dealer and ordered the wheels, I can just go pick them up later this week when they show up... instead of worrying about shipping and that BS.

-Mike

 

I found a place in Nashville, TN that has one that they say is true and straight for $170 and they can also straighten wheels. I've emailed them to see what they get to straighten one. I do feel a little vibration at 35 but it goes away at higher speeds.

 

if you have 245 40 19 on car instead of the 235 40 19 - my question is, would the tire pressure be the same as on the door?

 

My opinion would be that a larger tire on the same rim would require LESS air to remain flat on the road surface though the difference could be less than 1PSI in practice. I check my tires with an infrared temp sensor to see if they are evenly heated across the tread.

 

Have you ever seen a set with 0lbs on all four after 16,000 miles? I haven't. That's what my dealer is trying to tell me they balanced mine to, but I'm pretty sure they have a dated RFB machine and just threw them on a DSP9200 or something, rather than a Road Force Elite, eg.