Can't balance my method nv's

[IKillDeer]

Hving trouble balancing my method nv's

I'm having problems balancing my nv's. Mounted on stock bfg's. I've seen two different tire shop's. They're telling me I need center hub ring's because nv's are lug-centric instead of hub-centric?

 

[Deinonychus]

Are you having trouble with all four wheels?

 

[charles06]

Not sure about why they can't balance them, but you don't need hubcentric rings.

 

[BAJASVT]

I'm confused.

First, I'm pretty sure the OE wheels are hub-centric and the Method wheels are lug-centric. Lug-centric wheels are more difficult to balance, but unless the center bore is way off, I can't see it being a problem on a standard balance machine without a hub-centric ring.

From what I can tell, the OE hub and center bore is 87mm and the Method NV center bore is 94mm. That 6mm difference would be a pretty small hub-centric adapter ring... not sure they exist.

There's a ton of people with Raptors and Methods... I really can't see this being a legitimate problem.

 

[smarsha11]

It took me 3 tries to find someone that could balance them. Finally went to a place that specialized in big rigs and farm equipment. They had a Road Force balancer that did the job. Might want to see if you can locate someone in your area that has one.

 

[IKillDeer]

@dein--Just the two front tires. Mostly noticeable around 70 mph. I've rotated the tires still have the same problem. I really feel it in the steering wheel (shimmy's left and right). I mounted my tires back on the factory rims and problem goes away.

---------- Post added at 05:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:57 PM ----------

BAJA, I would agree with you about this being a legitimate problem if the problem didn't go away when I put the factory rims back on. I mounted my nv's without the center hub and you can definitely tell the front rims do not "center" with the rotors. I've tried to manually center them before I tighten all the lugs but this is nearly impossible.

 

[BAJASVT]

The most common type of balance machine uses a tapered cone that will fit into the center bore of the wheel, but this style wheel mount to the machine is designed for hub-centric wheels like what most OE wheels on all cars/trucks are. The proper way to balance a lug-centric wheel like the Methods is to use a balance machine that actually has the wheel lug pattern on it and the wheel gets bolted to the balance machine. Many tire shops just use the standard machine with the tapered cone on lug-centric wheels because the center bore is usually the center or close enough to the true center of the wheel, but it sounds like that's not the case for your Method wheels. The center bore on the Method wheel must be off a little or something so it's not centering itself on the tapered hub of the balance machine. I assume what's happening is that if they balance the tire and then take the tire off the balance machine and remount it to check balance, it's telling them it's out of balance again.

You need to find a tire shop with a balance machine that has an adapter to accept Raptor 6x135mm lug pattern.

Between this problem, the inconsistencies Vince has seen with his aftermarket Method center caps, and the clearance issues between some of their wheels and truck brake calipers, I'm not terribly impressed with what I'm hearing about Method Race Wheels. Where are they made? I think it's safe to say that their manufacturing facility is not ISO 9001 certified.

 

[charles06]

There might be a slight chance that you got a bad set of wheels, or that you got lucky when mounting the tires back onto the stock wheels. In other words, the tires may have been positioned properly on the stock wheels that they happened to balance out.

Something to consider here is that among the MANY people here running these wheels, doesn't it seem strange that you're the only one who can't get them to balance? Even if there are a few others, it still doesn't make it the norm. I'd try calling Method and see what they say.

As a side note, the shop that installed my Method NV's does some of the best custom work in the country. They've done wheels on Rolls Royce's, Ferrari's, Lambo's, Porsche's, etc. and were concerned that I'd need hub rings. We called Method, mounted them without rings, and they're perfect.

 

[IKillDeer]

I'm very unhappy with my NV's, three of the four center caps on my wheels are cracked, bolts are starting to rust, balancing issues etc. Under $300 a rim should have told me something I guess.

 

[BAJASVT]

I'm very unhappy with my NV's, three of the four center caps on my wheels are cracked, bolts are starting to rust, balancing issues etc. Under $300 a rim should have told me something I guess.

Did you see them try to balance them? Was there a tapered cone on the balance machine and just one big nut that they hand tightened to attach the wheel to the machine? ... or did they actually use lug nuts or lug bolts to attach the wheel to the machine?

The latter would be the proper method for a Method wheel - no pun intended.