Originally Posted by redhat
And yes I did buy the proper wheels. They fit when the incorrect hub-centric ring isn't installed.
Winter tires and tire shop incompetency
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IME/IMO if they have hub centric rings they aren't proper wheels. You'll have issues with these every time they come off and back on if you do get them right this time. I have found this to be true even with fairly expensive and well manufactured wheels, hub centric rings are an immediate pass for me. I would think this would be aggravated by a climate that needs winter tires.
You've actually got a bigger quagmire than I originally thought because apparently Ford steelies are only in 18" (Interceptor / police wheels) so now you need new winter tires too.
First: if you paid Dimbulb...err, Dunn Tire with a credit card, dispute the charges.
Second: talk to the district VP...if he does ANYTHING but make things totally right (4 new LM Atom wheels, hubcentric rings, fix the TPMS), go over HIS head. At that point...you might be looking at either eating the whole thing or a lawyer.
Originally Posted by Char Baby
Originally Posted by jeepman3071
Originally Posted by Char Baby
I stopped going to DUNN & KOST years ago. I just don't have time for their $#!+
I've actually been happiest at Walmart* Service Center. I buy my own tires, bring them into W*M, tell them what I want and they oblige. Sure, you can have issues anywhere but this is my best experience over the last 15 years. When I'm not happy at W*M, I contact the Store Manager.
Originally Posted by redhat
Two weeks ago I took my Accord up to my fathers house (he's got the driveway room, I don't) and laid the Accord up on jackstands.
Over the course of two weeks, I replaced:
- axles
- front wheel bearings
- tie rods
- ball-joints
- lower control arms
- upper control arms with ball-joints
- front struts
- intermediate shaft bearing
- front rotors
- front pads
- front caliper brackets
- front caliper slide pins
Originally Posted by redhat
That car... has to be that the intermediate shaft is so worn where the bearing sits, it never seats correctly and just dances. Inevitably I'll be putting a new Honda OE Intermediate Shaft @ $500 into.
The Liquid Metal Atom steel wheels from Discount Tire Direct came with NO centering rings. DTD was out of this particular size at the time. No rings in the box, no rings pre-installed in the wheels, etc. SO, without the rings, that would leave the bare wheel with a 67.1mm bore which would've been more than enough room to clear the Taurus hub bore of 63.4mm. Offset was fine. The wheels never rubbed when turning or throughout the travel of the suspension. DTD confirmed fitment which was one of the reasons why I bought them. I knew this stuff was going to fit and it DID. I also was a frequent flyer over at wheel-size.com, TireRack and DTD looking, comparing and reading wheel sizes.
The centering rings from the Rage wheels easily stayed on the hub when the wheels were removed. They never snapped into the hub bore of the wheel. They freely go on the hub and freely go into the wheel bore but do not feel loose by any means. They just don't snap in -- I don't know what to say. All I can assume is that the light coat of grease applied to the hub bores kept enough suction to hold the rings.
End of the day the problem is that the effective hub bore was 73mm since the 63.4mm (Taurus Hub size) to 73mm hub centering ring was left on and then a 67.1mm hub bore steel wheel was grossly thrown up on the wheels lugs without any concern to see if the wheel bore would fit over the hub or if the hub would center inside of the wheel bore and then lugnnuts were more than likely ran down to however many hundred lb/ft of pneumatic torque.
FWIW, Crown Vic wheels would fit a taurus, however the offset is too much, Mustang wheels fit Taurus pretty well, Fusion, Mazda 6. Honda wheels would fit too, except most OE Honda wheels have a ball seat and I'm not sure you could find a lugnut with the same thread pitch (Taurus is 1/2-20) in a ball seat.... see what I'm getting at here. I DID do my research and don't willy nilly throw wheels at my cars. I didn't understand the purpose of, nor appreciate the chastising in the previous posts.
Sorry you are offended, redhat, and I apologize for my part in that.
Seriously, the fact that those centering rings don't snap into a retaining groove is a problem. Centering rings must be securely attached to the wheel so they don't remain on the hub when the wheel is removed.
Also too, my advice on your Honda is all good info. I hope you figure it out soon. It must be mind bendingly annoying to be chasing a problem that long.
Take care man. Once again, I apologize for my part in this.
Scott
No problem, it's all good. I appreciate the response and its all good.
I never knew that about the rings. I'll have to look at them. Will prob be letting them go for next to nothing if someone in my area needs some junk 5x114.3 to put on a roller or something.
I do see here where factory wheels are great. No rings.
And thanks for the Honda advice, good info.
What size are the junk 5x114 wheels?
So were you able to get it resolved?
I had an '81 Accord that had an intermittent steering wheel wiggle ~60 mph. Never figured out why.
Didn't replace a bunch of parts, but multiple techs checked suspension and wheel balance.
Upgraded from steelies to Honda alloy wheels made no difference.
Originally Posted by DuckRyder
So were you able to get it resolved?
Also, probably once I am notified that they're in, I will explain that I want another one of their stores to do the work this time around. Didn't know this, but a few friends of mine in the car/repair industry work at this other Dunn location -- was telling them and they were shocked/laughed at the quality of the one I went to. None of them directly said it, but they alluded to not being surprised that this particular location messed up that much.
I'll probably request to go there and will probably buy my buddies some lunch.
Originally Posted by redhat
Also, probably once I am notified that they're in, I will explain that I want another one of their stores to do the work this time around....
I can only join in on your frustration: I normally use DT but at least 50% of the time they make a mistake (wrong part, missing part, not balanced correctly) and/or damage my wheels.
as far as trusting my car dealer? that's a joke also! they tried to argue with me that the feathered edges on my tires were not an indication of an alignment issue, rather that they were intentional siping for better traction. and as far as dealer oil changes, they usually don't put all of the screws/clips back in for the access panel. trust a dealer for anything? no...
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