hey guys, I just changed my stock civic rims for some 17" Eagle alloys, when I'm going 50+mph the highway, the steering wheel starts to shake, this is this an alignment problem right??? and I think it is because if I let go the steering wheel my car will slowly move to the left.... so guys any recommendations?? and what else do I need to do when I put new rims to my car other than the alignment??? ohh and one more thing.. when 3 or more people get on my car and I pass a bump or something that makes my car move up and down, I can hear my rear tires like touching the metal of my car or something, how can I fix this?? the tires are 215/40/17 and the wheels are 17x7.5...is this a suspension problem?? will it do the same thing with some other 17" rims??? so guys any help with these problems would be appreciated.... by the way, I'm planning on selling this car, check out my garage or there's a link on my sinature and tell me how much can I ask for it....

 

first of all, 17s don't belong on civics, however your problem sounds like the tires weren't properly balanced and you might need an alignment also. as for the rubbing, thats not always normal. I had 17's on my civic way back in the day and they never rubbed at all. Are you slammed or something?

 

whats wrong with 17s on a civic? i have 17s and dropped about 2 inches looks and drives fine....and yes u do need the alignment

 

The wheel shake is a wheel that's out of balance (typically an alignment issue will cause the car to not drive straight down the road or produce excess tire wear). Part of the issue your having is you have 7.5" rim with a 215 tire on a Civic. That's a lot of wheel and a lot of rubber and it's going to rub sometimes. I would check the rear suspension and see if the top of the tire is hitting the inner fender when the suspension flexes (you can probably visually see it). You may need to roll that inner fender lip up to avoid it.

 

what do you mean by rolling the inner fender lip up to avoid it ??, and yeah that's exactly what it's doing, when I have like 4 or 5 people in my car, the tire starts rubbing the metal.. and how can I fix this?? can I put something on my suspension to fix this??

 

If you feel up inside the rear fenders/body panels you can feel a metal lip that sticks out. It's possible that lip is making contact with the wheels when the suspension compresses. You can roll the lip up so that it gives you more clearance. I've read about using a baseball bat on the tire to do it but I couldn't figure it out. I ended up using some vice grips to just grab the lip and bent it back. It turns out that wasn't what was rubbing on my car though, but rather the inside of the wheel was making contact with the top of the rear suspension (it's hard to diagnose by yourself). I took the upper dog bones off (goes between the top of the trailing arm and the body, I call them dog bones because of the shape, I guess their upper control arms) and ground the outer edges off and I haven't had any problems. I still rub the front sometimes when I hit a good bump or put the car on an odd angle but the rear's been okay. I also have a camber problem in the rear that needs corrected and might cause problems once the wheel is pushed back out though. I just basically count a set of tires to only last 1 summer though.

 

did you get hub-centric rings?
the guy that had my civic before me didnt have them on his aftermarket wheels and it caused the wheel to shake at 60+mhp. Once I got them, problem solved. Id never drive aftermarket wheels w/o them (unless theyre already specific)

 

I agree with Andy. If you are on the highway and the steering wheel is shaking it's most-likely an out of balance wheel/tire. Sometimes the wheel weights fall off.

If the steering wheel shakes when you brake it's most-likely a warpped rotor.

And for 17s to fit a Civic you need 205/40x17" tires. 215s are too wide.

 

thanx guys... yeah Andy, in my case it's only rubbing from the back.. I dont know if its rubbing metal from the inside or the outside, like u said, "It's hard to diagnose by myself" unless I put 5 or more people in my car (specially in the back seats) and check for myself if there's any possibility that it's rubbing from the outside, and if not, then its rubbing from the inside or with the suspension.... and I need an alignment for sure, so there's no really easy way of doing something to stop that rubbing?? ( just gettin smaller tires or rims... hehhe) and I wanted to clear something out, the steering wheel only shakes at 55+ mph....

and can someone clear something out for me??

205/40x17 tires >>>>what does the 205 and the 40 mean?? I know 17 is the wheel size..

and my wheels are 17x7.5 I think >>> what does the 7.5 mean??... is it the width of the wheel???

 

205 is the width of the tires in mm
40 is the sidewall height in a percentage of the tire width.
7.5" is the width of the wheel.