HELP!!!! Need recommendation for new tires and wheels

[Dew's Z4]

Well a week went by and no wheels....turns our modbargains doesn't have the 18" but nobody thought to notify me despite my three progress checks :thumbsdown:

SOOOOOOO since all they can get me is the 19" wheels, I guess I'm going with that...but Potenzas won't fit they say, so I'll be getting Eagle F1 asymetrics.

Thanks again for the input, I really hope I haven't set myself up for disappointment. I was looking forward to having runflats again....

 

[GP20]

Well a week went by and no wheels....turns our modbargains doesn't have the 18" but nobody thought to notify me despite my three progress checks :thumbsdown:

SOOOOOOO since all they can get me is the 19" wheels, I guess I'm going with that...but Potenzas won't fit they say, so I'll be getting Eagle F1 asymetrics.

Thanks again for the input, I really hope I haven't set myself up for disappointment. I was looking forward to having runflats again....

Sorry to hear about your experience. But I gotta say I called it in this very own thread.

The asymmetrics are awesome tires!!! A little heavy but almost everyone who's owned both the Pilot Sport 2's and the asymmetrics has said the asymmetrics are better.

 

[Rick Hunter]

Naw they're awful. Don't get them.

[my attempt at staying unique] :evil: :lol:

Um... yeah... unique...

...


...


I tried that, but they're not very unique anymore. Too many people over at other forums wearing the same replicas. But at least they still look good. 8)
Here's my thread from last year: http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1046

Too bad I didn't happen on this thread earlier... I would have thrown out a :rcard: for ordering through ModBargains. A week for delivery? Pfffahhh. More like MONTHS. Too bad they still haven't changed their customer service ways. Bunch of twats they are. Here's to hoping you'll get your wheels by the end of this year.

 

[Dew's Z4]

Well a week went by and no wheels....turns our modbargains doesn't have the 18" but nobody thought to notify me despite my three progress checks :thumbsdown:

SOOOOOOO since all they can get me is the 19" wheels, I guess I'm going with that...but Potenzas won't fit they say, so I'll be getting Eagle F1 asymetrics.

Thanks again for the input, I really hope I haven't set myself up for disappointment. I was looking forward to having runflats again....

Sorry to hear about your experience. But I gotta say I called it in this very own thread.

The asymmetrics are awesome tires!!! A little heavy but almost everyone who's owned both the Pilot Sport 2's and the asymmetrics has said the asymmetrics are better.

yes, yes you did call it...but where else can I order the wheels?

I can still cancel and order elsewhere but I have no idea where else to get them! I don't want to do eBay.

 

[Dew's Z4]

Too bad I didn't happen on this thread earlier... I would have thrown out a :rcard: for ordering through ModBargains. A week for delivery? Pfffahhh. More like MONTHS. Too bad they still haven't changed their customer service ways. Bunch of twats they are. Here's to hoping you'll get your wheels by the end of this year.

Can you recommend another shop that carries M6 replicas?

 

[GP20]

Well a week went by and no wheels....turns our modbargains doesn't have the 18" but nobody thought to notify me despite my three progress checks :thumbsdown:

SOOOOOOO since all they can get me is the 19" wheels, I guess I'm going with that...but Potenzas won't fit they say, so I'll be getting Eagle F1 asymetrics.

Thanks again for the input, I really hope I haven't set myself up for disappointment. I was looking forward to having runflats again....

Sorry to hear about your experience. But I gotta say I called it in this very own thread.

The asymmetrics are awesome tires!!! A little heavy but almost everyone who's owned both the Pilot Sport 2's and the asymmetrics has said the asymmetrics are better.

yes, yes you did call it...but where else can I order the wheels?

I can still cancel and order elsewhere but I have no idea where else to get them! I don't want to do eBay.

ebay might not be a bad idea though. I seem to recall mister_roger getting his M6 reps from ebay and that he got them pretty quickly and without any issue. Just find a seller with good & lots of feedbacks as he might have more to lose if he gets a negative feedback compared to modbargains whose reputation is already down the drain anyway.

 

[Dew's Z4]

OK I picked up my wheels and tires today and now have another question.

The wheels have ALOT of those little weights attached to them. And, they are visible.

Now, looking at the tires, they didn't line up the white circle on the tire to the valve stem. My husband says there were supposed to and since they didn't, that's why I have all the ugly weights attached in view instead of behind one of the spokes. The installer says they weren't supposed to be installed with the dot on the tire lining up with the stem and that the large number of added lead weight pieces is normal (he says zinc is not available yet).

When I asked him to re-do the mounting and line up the dot (in hopes of moving/removing some of the weights), he said he'd probably damage the wheels and wouldn't be responsible

Can I get some feedback..who is right here?

 

[Rick Hunter]

Your installer is a twat if they told you what they did. Then again... I've never seen an installer actually take the time to line up the dot to the valve stem.

Now I think it's time to smack you with... the bible.

http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html

When you get a chance, take some pics of the setup!

 

[Dew's Z4]

Well that's just great! My husband is an encyclopedia of knowledge so I guess I shouldn't have doubted the dot theory.

So, if I go find a NEW installer, will my new wheels be damaged if we rebalance and start removing weights?

 

[dew's z4 Dude]

Your installer is a twat if they told you what they did. Then again... I've never seen an installer actually take the time to line up the dot to the valve stem.

Yes, I think he is. When I asked him why he didn't align the dot with the valve stem, I got the "I mount 30 tires a week and never worry about those dots..."

The part that really kills me is the balance weights he installed are all very close to the location on the wheel where the white dots ended up. The white dot signifying the lightest part of the tire, and the additional weight applied next to it so it's balanced... One wheel has about 5 to 6 ounces of balance weights. The installer suggested painting the weights. :thumbsdown:

I can't believe I had to explain it to the guy, especially since he runs a "high performance" wheel shop.

This has not been a "quality" shopping experience at all.

 

[Rick Hunter]

There's always a possibility of damage to wheels during servicing since the installer is handling the wheels and uses their machines to do the work. Unless your wheels look absolutely unsightly with the amount of wheel weights, I'd probably just leave them alone. I'm more concerned about the unmounting and mounting of tires on the wheels, although I'm sure the tires are rugged enough.

 

[Incompatible]

If you are getting that kind of miles on those tires, you need to go on more runs.

X2. Obviously you're not enjoying your car as you should.

 

[Dew's Z4]

LOL!!! The car is pretty much ONLY used for runs these days.

Maybe if there were more runs I'd get to drive more

 

[paddy wright]

Cant't believe your chopping out the ellipsoids- I love mine!

 

[Dew's Z4]

They are nice but I've had my car almost 4 years, was time for a change.

 

[dew's z4 Dude]

As much as I hate to do it, I must retract a previous post.

After doing some research into "road force" balancing, I may have been too harsh on the place that mounted our tires. Apparently, road force balancing takes many more factors, including the fact that all wheels and tires are slightly, perhaps microscopicaly, out of round, into consideration. When they are "road-force balanced", they mate the tire and wheel to give the best compromise so the result is, as close as they can get it, a perfectly round wheel assembly (wheel and tire combined). This is supposed to provide the smoothest ride available.

After the tire and wheel are mated, then it is balanced for weight. In our case, it was a substantial amount of weight. The solution here seems to be painting the balance weights so they aren't so obvious. Right now, they are shiny and new, so they stick out like a sore thumb.

Having said all that, we took the car for a spin today and the ride was great. Much better than the Bridgestone run-flats.

 

[ZetaTre]

Never knew about the dot on the tire... However when I got tires @ Costco for the Z3 (Michelin Pilot Sport A/S) they did balance but din't need to add any weight: I would guess the superior quality of Michelin tires & BBSs rims and the somewhat "less incompetent that I thought" Costco tire installers actually played to my advantage. I will check the dot tonight but I would guess that if it was painted on the tire it's probably gone.

However I found this article while googleing for the dot-valve alignment which to me makes sense and alleviate the issue a little bit:

I think all the companies listed above use the same method of lining up the yellow dot (the lightest spot on the tire) with the valve stem (the *assumed* heaviest spot on the rim). Their logic is this set-up will use the least amount of balancing weight and keep the unsprung weight and rotational mass to a minimum.

Their reasoning is the valve stem adds extra weight to a balanced rim. There are some flaws to this reasoning. The rubber valve stem does add extra weight to the rim but a metal hole has to be drilled out for the stem to fit in. Is the missing metal heavier than the rubber valve stem? That is hard to generalize. The second flaw to their reasoning is they assume the rim is equally thick throughout the whole circumference and perfectly balanced at the time of manufacturing. Due to the loose tolerances of mass production, this is not always the case. The thickness of the rim can vary quite a bit thus throwing off the balance of the rim.

In reality, the valve stem may not be, and usually is not, the heaviest spot on the rim. I have verified this with my own rims and found that the heaviest spot (which can be measured by balancing the rim only, without the tire on) can be as far as 90 degrees away from the stem. After finding the actual heavy spot and marking it with a permanent marker (like a letter X punch), I line up the yellow dot with that new point to minimize the balancing weight.

Another way to quickly find out whether the valve stem is in-line with the heaviest/lightest spot or not is to look at the balancing weight on a balanced wheel. If the weight is next to the valve stem or 180 degrees opposite of it then the valve stem is in-line with the lightest/heaviest spot. If the balancing weight is anywhere else beside those two spots, the valve stem is not the heaviest spot. Since the wheel assembly (rim, tire, brake rotors) has to be balanced anyway at the end of the tire installation, the alignment of the yellow dot is not critical; but if you want to optimize the set-up -- which is what we are trying to do by lining the yellow dot with the valve stem -- then finding the true heavy point on the rim and lining the yellow dot with it is the way to do it and not use the assumed heavy spot (the valve stem).

Now the million dollars question: how is the balancing of the low priced replica rims compared to, let's say, BBSs RS-GT? Would it be totally unresonable (or useless) to ask the seller (either eBay or TireRack) to send you "naturally balanced" rims?

 

[Dew's Z4]

Rick Hunter....for comparison purposes....how many weights were on your wheels when you got them?

 

[Rick Hunter]

Front Left = 1oz. (one spot)
Front Right = 1oz. (one spot)
Rear Left = 3oz. (one spot)
Rear Right = 3.25oz (two spots; 3oz. + 0.25oz)

Fortunately, the bulk of the weights are hiding behind the spoke, thus I don't even notice them on the wheel. :trampoline:

 

[Dew's Z4]

Well, I have...

Front Left - 16 pieces, each piece is .25 ounce, so 4 ounces
Front Right - 4 pieces
Rear Left - 16 pieces
Rear Right - 8 pieces

Of course none of them are behind spokes.

Should I let this go or do I have a case for being unhappy about this?