FireDragon

A longwinded rant by Firedragon

Ok, so a while back I decided to order the Boyd Coddington Smoothie IIs 18x9 fronts and 18x10s in the back. So they tell me the 18x10s are on back-order, so they'll hold the other two till the 10s come in. A few weeks later I get two 18X10s. I call and ask where the 18x9s are and they didn't send 'em. So... the next week I get my 18x9s and one has a different centercap than the rest. Call again, and after emailing them pics, they send me the 4th matching centercap. Meanwhile, I learn about Ford changing the calipers on the 2006s, so my wheels will probably not clear the calipers.

I go to test fit the wheels on the front and sure enough, they hit the calipers. I also learn that my stock lugs don't work with the Smoothies and have to order the spline lugs. :bang: So I order the splines, spacers, and finally my tires: BFGoodrich G-force KDW2 255/45s front, 285/40s back. After more waiting I finally everything and take my wheels and tires to a local tire store to get them mounted.

Now we're at yesterday. I have my wheels/tires, spline lugs, spacers, good to go. Put the rears on, put the fronts on, take it for a ride and get wobble/vibration/shimmy in the steering. :angry: I figure it might have something to do with the spacers. So I get a grinder, take the fronts and spacers off, and being that the wheels barely hit, grind the calipers down.

After grinding, putting the wheel back on, taking it off, grinding some more (Repeat 3x per side), I finally get it to where I have a enough room between the caliper and wheel (about the thickness of a credit card). I take it for another spin, and there's the vibration/shimmy in the steering again. At this point it's getting dark and I'm getting ticked, so I give up for the day. MaverickMLFD371 suggests it might have something to do with the clip Ford places on one lug per front wheel to keep the rotor in place on the assembly line. The stock wheels have an indentation for it, but it may affect aftermarket wheels seating properly.

So today I set out with the hope of quickly fixing the problem. Jacked each wheel up, removed the wheel and pesky clip off each side, put everything back in place and took a spin. No difference, no fix... At this point it's gotta be the wheel balance. I go back to the tire place, explain the problem and they say they can look at it Monday and re-balance the wheels. Gee, thanks. On top of that my right turn signal goes out: http://forums.bradbarnett.net/index.php?showtopic=38719

Now, just to be sure I jack the car up again, remove the front wheels again, and switch back to the stock front wheels. I go for a ride and no shimmy. All that for improperly balanced wheels. After some digging on this site about balancing wheels, I read about finding somewhere that uses the GSP9700 balancing machine. So I locate a Ford dealer close that uses one and they can't get me in till Tuesday morning. But I rather have the wheels balanced right, than the little tire store mess it up again.

So now I have my beautiful Stang sitting out front with Fanblades up front and Smoothie IIs out back till Tuesday. I'm embarrassed to even drive looking like that and I'm too sick of switching the wheels to change the rears. Besides, it'll be easier to get them to the dealer if they're on. I can always throw the fronts in the trunk and take them to the dealer that way. Plus no wobble if I get the courage to actually drive anywhere. To be continued...

That's my rant, sorry it's so long and I'd be surprised if anyone actually reads the whole thing! LOL

korinwoodo

interesting story. do your calipers look all mangled now?

FireDragon

Nah, they don't really look bad. Just a little shiny strip where the casting line ran down.

korinwoodo

that good, worst case scenario you just ahve to paint them

dustindu4

paint your calipers with the duplicolor red caliper paint. Check my sig for pictures.

FireDragon

Painting the calipers may be a project for spring as they don't really bother me. You can't really notice them too much behind the wheel. Right now I just have to fix my wheel and sequential problems. I finally broke down and just came back in from swapping my rear wheels back to the blades. Now, instead of having mismatched rims and being filthy, it's just filthy. Maybe if it's decent tomorrow afternoon I'll give her a wash. Too tired now. On top of it all I've had a cold all week. Maybe i'm just getting all my bad luck outta the way so I can hit the lottery this week! MegaMillions is up to $310 million.

Stoenr

Hmm, does this mean the stock 17" from an 05 wont fit on an 06 ordered with 18"s??

05GT-O.C.D.

That sucks. Sounds like something that would happen to me.

If it makes you feel better... my wife had a flat tire on her Renegade. I put air in it, find the nail, and drive to NTB (tire store) to get it plugged. Beavis behind the counter says "I can get to it tomorrow." IT'LL BE FLAT TOMORROW MORON!

Luckily Autozone was open - I bought another kit and plugged it myself. Oh well.

bpmurr

There are two clips on each front wheel. See the post below. Sounds like you might have missed the other ones and still get the shake.

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/index.php?sh...37789&hl=bpmurr