2010 SVT GT500 wheel question..
 

I bought these wheels and had them on my car for about 4 years now, I've had them balanced and even road forced balanced a few times but still get a minor shake from the steering wheel. I had the stock wheels put back on over the winter and it's smooth as glass.. My buddy who has a stock 2010 GT500 said he had the same issue since new, had to get them re-balanced numerous times to get it corrected. Has anyone else experienced this with these wheels and how did you get it right? I'm putting them back on in a few weeks and don't want the same issues.. thanks!

Either they're not balanced properly or may be out of round. I'd recommend having a well-known tire shop check them :dunno:

Make sure the rotor clip/washer thingies have been removed from the studs. From the factory there are usually two per wheel. The original wheels have a recess on the back that allows the clips to clear; but many aftermarket wheels do not have those recesses, so the wheel will sit up on top of the clip/washer and not run true. No amount of balancing or anything else will correct this and you can end up chasing your tail for a long time (ask me how I know . . . . LOL . . . )

I'm a little unclear if you have the real Ford OEM GT500 wheels, or aftermarket knock-offs. If real Ford OEM then the above should not be a problem; however I would remove those clip/washers first just to make sure that is not the issue.

I've had the dealer and tire shop I use by me balance and re-balance them and seems to be the same or worse each time. I also checked for the washers and they were removed so I scratched that off the list, I've even rotated the wheels and the problem persists... :banghead:

hmmmmm . . . . I have the 2010 SVT GT500 19" forged wheels on my car, and have found them to be very high quality and super easy to balance, took almost no weights.

I think the 18" wheels are cast not forged and might be a bit more inconsistent, but still surprised you are having so much trouble with them.

My next guess would be that maybe they are dented or out of round like fastback suggested, but I am surprised that all of them would be like that. (the ones on the back should not affect the steering much, and you said you moved them around on the car)

They are the real Ford SVT GT500 OEM wheels, correct? (the 18" version that came on the convertibles) If they were the cheap knock-offs that AM and others sell, that might explain it.

They are the real SVT OEM wheels bought from Ford, I bought a set of the knock offs from AM and they were horrible! Had to return them all and went with the OEM ones. I am putting them back on in a few weeks and will see how they are, another quick question.. I am keeping them at 32psi cold, should I go higher?

If your wheels are properly balanced and alignment is spot on as you mentioned? Then it would appear that at least one of those wheels are out of round which will cause the steering issues you described, especially after you stated that it doesn't happen when putting the stock OEM wheels back on.

That being said, once again I suggest you have an established tire center check each wheel as to whether or not they may be out of round? Also, 32psi is the recommended manufacturer tire pressure, however, to answer your question, going higher above 32psi wouldn't make any difference, to begin with, nor would it be related to your steering issues anyhow :dunno:

I have heard that sometimes the tire will have to be turned on the wheel to get them to balance correctly. The red dot on the tire should be lined up with the valve stem.

What if the red dot is long gone off the tire, is there another way to tell where to line it up with the valve stem?

I thought just the weights were used for balancing, never heard of lining up the valve stem to a red dot before. Take a look at your OEM stock tires and see if there's a red dot anywhere on them :dunno:

Dots
 

Dots are not critical.
They are a guide.
The red dot should be the point where you put the valve stem.
If it doesn't have one, it may be more difficult to balance.

The first thing I do is clean off the dot figuring the place that mounted the tire lined it up to begin with.. they did tell me they dismounted one and turned it on the rim to balance properly, maybe I'll have them do all 4 and see how that goes.