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Old 01-12-2007, 04:56 PM
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flixbiz flixbiz is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Davidsonville, MD
Posts: 167
Wheel Balancing Issue?

I have 18" rims and 235-40-18 Pirelli's on my 560SEL. At first I got a shimmy at about 35-40 and at over 80mph. I had all four wheels balanced again (they had been already balanced at installation). The low speed shimmy disappeared, but the high speed shimmy remained. I switched wheels and tires with my 560SL thinking it might be the rims and or tires. The 560SL drove smoothly with the 18" wheels and the 560SL drove smoothly with the 15" wheels from the SL. Now, I have bearing noise from the front end of my SL that I didn't have before.

My mechanic tells me that the larger wheels and lower profile tires change the camber and may change the stress points of my bearings and that any front end wear on the 560SEL may have accentuated the harshness of the lower profile tires and larger rims.

At this point, I may sell my 18" wheels and tires and stick with stock sized rims on both cars. I like the way both cars ride with stock rims and tires. I see many Benzes with oversized rims and low profile tires. They must ride somewhat smoothly. Does anybody with oversized rims have this problem?
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1991 560SEL (254K miles)
1980 Lincoln Mark VI - Givenchy
1979 Lincoln Mark V Collector's Series
1979 Lincoln Town Car Collector's Series
1979 Ford "Effie" Pickup (in gradual transformation to a show/street truck)
1969 Lincoln Mark III (waiting for "Overhaulin" to call)
1989 Lincoln Towncar
2001 Lexus GS300 (spousal unit's daily driver)
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