Subaru L + 14" King rims

[Hitchiker]

Hi all, new to the scene here. Have a question regarding my new wheels. My old original rims on the L are pretty well past their prime, around 300,000K past. I went along to my local *** tyre store to see what I could get in the way of new rims and good tyres. The manager rang around and came back with a recommendation for a set of 14" King wheels with Gooodrich 185.85.14 tyres as a suitable alternative. I liked the thought of 14" rims, 'cos theres a wider choice of tyres. All went on well, and I drove away. All was great until I had to brake from 80 Kmh. There was an almighty shudder from the rear (drum brakes). I thought something had come loose, so pulled over and checked. All was OK, drove off again, shudder was only apparent above 70 K. I refitted the original worn wheels to the back, and presto! The shudder is gone. The tyre techs told me I had problems with my brakes?? Funny how it only happens with these wheels on..... Checked all my brakes and even had the drums machined - still no luck. King wheels tell me they have sold 1,000's of these without any probs?? My theory is that the wheels are somehow buckling the drums. When I looked at the insdide of the rims, I noticed they only contact the drum around the outer periphery and not around the studs like the original wheels. Has anyone else have a similar problem with these wheels?

 

[Beigewagon]

Hitchiker,

I've never heard of King wheels, but have had the same issue with old Holdens. The wrong rims can pull the drum out of shape / place when they do not seat properly. If you did them up real tight you may not get the rear wheels to turn at all.

Try the King wheels on the back, and while the wheel is still in the air on the jack, try turning the wheel. If if scrapes, or grabs, then they wheels wont suit your car.

Beigewagon

 

[mr turbo]

G'day Hitchiker & to ORS.
That shuddering doesn't sound good at all, hope you can get it sorted.

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[El_Freddo]

G'day Hitchiker!

The issue is that the 14 inch rims do not naturally centre themselves on the hub - be it drum or disc, so it relys on the wheel nuts to do the job - sometimes they don't centre properly resulting in a dodgy wheel fitment. This has happened to me a couple of times with my 14 inch speedies.

It has nothing to do with your drum brakes unless the shudder only occurs when braking - even then I'd be doubtfull that you'd feel any shudder from the rear (the drum setup sucks and does probably 10% of the work in braking).

The other thing I can suggest is to have checked is the balance of the rear tyres - try swapping them to front and see if the vibration still occurs on the rear... If it moves to the front take them back and get them to rebalance the tyres.

Cheers

Bennie

 

[Hitchiker]

Thanx fellas. I've done all the obvious things, checked balance, runout etc in the wheels. Swapped front to rear. Made up spacers so the wheels centre back on the hubs like originals do. I even removed hub and drum from the car as a unit and measured the drum for warpage. No joy. About to try spacing the wheels further out with some washers on the studs to see if that helps. The shudder is only apparent at speeds over 70 Kmh and get's worse as speed increases. It's definitely in the rear of the car (wagon) , and disappears when I bolt the original wheels back on. If I had any hair, I'd have ripped it out by now. One other thought is to see if the drums can be machined with the wheel attached. Desperate people try desperate things.....

 

[subalex]

I've had the Speedy brand 14" rims which are built exactly the same as the King's you're describing. Found lots of issues re: balancing, too. Make sure you're doing the studs up diagonally and not just going around the wheel doing up the nuts. Otherwise, you're definitely going to get it tightened up off-centre and you won't know it until you're either at speed or when you're braking heavily.

Remember that your outside diameter is substantially larger so the leverage on those wheel nuts to try and pull the wheel off the hub is MUCH larger and it accentuates the smallest difference of being perfectly centred. I used to run 185R14 Dunlop Adventurers. They were really tough but they were terribly made and never spun perfectly round. Then there were the 27" and they needed tightening up every time I wanted to get rid of the vibration (much less to start with, mind you). So, 1) the larger tyres will have some measure of being slightly off-balance when you're at higher speeds - centrifugal force will make them more egg shaped. 2) the larger tyres will pull the wheel more off those lugs so it'll then feel off balance. 3) put the two together and... oh what a pain. Still.... loved the advantages of the bigger tyres way too much to worry about that.

One last option... torque up the crown nuts on the rear hubs to make sure that the effects of all the above can be minimised. The rear wheel bearings are conical so they can simply be tightened up to get rid of any slight movement in the them. Then, also realise that the rear bushes are getting a hammering and they could be worn too. Push on the brakes are they're working overtime to keep the back end all straight too.