Hellbound13

I had a local off road shop install pro comp wheels and new tires over the summer. (I won't name names). I did this at 6,000 miles, I now have 14,000.

I have had nothing but shakes, vibration in the steering wheel, shaking over bumps and wandering. I had been over the suspension a million times and found nothing. I had a local tire shop, balance and align. Nothing helped and the alignment kept going out.

Finally the tire shop pointed out that the original off road shop never installed hub centric rings. I thought, ah what the hell...Ill order them. It can't hurt.

Well, I put them on today and HOLY CRAP. What a difference! No more wandering or vibration in the steering wheel and the wheel does not shake every time I hit the smallest bump.

Lesson learned. God knows how much damage was done to my suspension by not having them. I would like to personally ring the bastards neck at the off road shop. They did a half ass job clearly, overcharged me and possibly put my life in danger.

I am just amazed. Do hub centric rings really make that big a difference?

09rubicon

I think you have your answer...YES!!!

Had something similar on a car a few years ago, bad vibration at all speeds. Took it back to them the next day and they caught the error and did my alignment for free because of it.

EDIT: They only forgot one ring but it was enough to cause a really bad shake.

Hellbound13

Do I need an alignment or balance now that the rings are on?

09rubicon

Honestly that depends on how it drives now. I got my alignment because I went with wider and taller tires in conjunction with new springs. Since they were going to due the alignment anyway they gave it to me for free to sooth over for their mistake. A heavy vibration can cause issues, but if you drove with it for several thousand miles then IMHO it probably isnt horrible, just noticable and annoying. If your Jeep is driving straight now with the rings and you dont have issues then dont worry about it, if you are still having issues get it aligned. Be subjective and honest with yourself before dropping a benji on an alignment.

Big A

It's threads like this that end up saving me tons of heart ache! thanks for clearing up a question i was thinking about also.

mkjeep

Glad you finally got your frt end fixed Hellbound! Haven't you replaced just about everything

Hellbound13

Yeah well my balljoints and steering box really did go bad and I still have a slight clunk, makes me wonder though if those things went bad due to the lack of rings.

09rubicon

It is quite possible, but after driving it for so long you are gonna have a hard time getting the shop to flip the bill. Take it to them and see what they say. Now sounds like the time to invest in a good upgrade!!!

EDIT: You should take your wheels off and check around the lug holes for any sign of stress cracking or damage. That you should definitley get the shop that installed your wheels to fix, and it is a huge saftey issue if any are cracked, mis-shappen now.

07JKRUBI

This may a stupid question to some , but what are hub centric rings? Any photos??

09rubicon

A hub centric ring is a ring usually made of aluminum with a lip on the inside and a diameter (thickness) designed to correct the difference between the wheels center opening and the centering ring on your hub. This is a commonly used item as it will allow one standard wheel to be made and fit many different vehicles. I dont have a pic, but if you google it you should have no problems finding one.