I posted this elsewhere but wanted to post it here are well. I bought this 2005 Crossfire in April from an individual and noticed that the steering wheel vibrating at 65 mph. Had it rebalanced and aligned and nothing changed.
I'm not sure what to do now...yesterday I ran the car by Discount Tire to remove a nail in the back tire. They wouldn't touch the care b/c it has spacers on it. They said something about the spacers not being flush to something else and also that they wouldn't be able to torque it correclty. I ran it over to Drivers Auto and they took the tire of, pulled the nail and patched the tire. One of the guys there told me that all I needed to have done is removing the spacers and install the centric rings. He gave me the name of a guy who knows alot about aftermarket wheels. This are Enkei's. When I told him about the spacers he said that if there are spacers on then it's probably because the wheels don't fit properly. He said there was a possibility that a bolt or whatever could come loose and I could lose a tire and I defintely probably have the steering wheel vibrating b/c of this problem. He made it sound like the only solution was getting rims that fit the car, but that's likely to too expensive for me to do at this point. Any ideas? Now I'm going to be afraid to drive it. I don't understand why I can't resolve this without having to purchase new wheels (rims). Incase this matters this tires are Potenzas. Two are RE760 SportBL 275/30R20xL97W and the other two are 225/40R19XL92W HELP!

 

You can run the car with spacers with confidence... but they MUST be hub centric spacers for the Crossfire... hub centric spacers fit on the hub snugly and allow the wheel to mount and be in balance. NON-hub centric spacers are a pain to get aligned properly to get proper balance.... that is likely why you have the vibration at 65mph as you were told.
If you search for hub-centric spacers you will find multiple sources/brands. Rob at Needswings.com sells them....he is a forum sponser.

 

The more important info needed is of the wheel itself (bolt pattern, width, offset)
Chances are the offset was wrong and spacers were used to push the wheel out further. It sounds like they used standard spacers instead of hub centric and that's your issue. Best case scenario is you pick up a couple hub centric spacers and you are good to go. If they are completely wrong for the car finding some used stock wheels would most likely be the cheapest solution.

Post some pics of the wheels or take a look at any markings on the inside to identify the specs, offset being most important, that should be enough to go on.

 

I did try to upload a photo of the wheels, but for some reason it wouldn't attach. I'm not used to this forum so I'm not sure how to go about attaching a photo now. Would like to attach it to this reply but don't see where I can do that.

 

Well that makes me feel better b/c I've been really nervous about driving since I was told that this morning about the tire coming off and that there might be a solution aside from new rims. Trying to get a photo attached of them that I took. This "insert image" thing doesn't give me the option of grabbing a photo from my computer.

 

Think I got the photo of my car attached along with a photo of the wheels. So..I need to take the wheel off to see some sort of written information giving me details about the wheels themselves?

 

Mercedes

And, you may need these:

http://www.ezaccessory.com/Hub_Centric_Rings_s/28.htm

Call these guys up and ask them. Be ready to tell them what thickness you have now, or want and maybe the bore of the Enkei wheels.

 

I just took this pic of where the spacer is. Maybe you can see where he said the spacer is not flush with something there..can't remember what he called it.

 

That is exactly what I talked to the guy about..the hub centric rings which I learned about from this awesome forum. One guy at a repair facility tells me it's an easy fix by removing the spacers and installing the centric rings and gives me the name of someone that knows about aftermarket rims and he's the one that's telling me it's not that easy and I should bring the car by for him to look at. It's hard when I'm getting conflicting information and I am not a woman who knows about cars.......which is really why I'm grateful for this forum. Someone here was kind enough to give me a link where you enter the year, make, model and rim manufacturer and it tells you what you need to buy. I was going to do that but then at the bottom of the order page it said I needed to supply them with the size, model name or number and offset..which I am clueless about that this point.

 

Third times a charm on uploading photo of car. ..It's only letting me upload one photo at a time apparently.

 

I called this guy back that is supposed to know a lot about the aftermarket wheels and told him a little about what I've been told here...about them possibly being the wrong type spacers. He's going to take a look tomorrow but he said he wouldn't be able to take the tires off because he wouldn't be able to put them back on. It's like he's saying that the only way he could take them off is if I got new wheels. I'll post update after I meet with him. Very confusing!

 

So those are Enkei LS5 rims. The only size I can find in 5x112 (which is our bolt pattern) are 18 X 8 (18" diameter, 8" wide) and they have a 50mm offset which is not close to our stock offset and is the reason you need the spacer (ours is 35mm in the front, 22mm in the back)... basically by adding the spacer to the wheel that has 50mm offset, you push it out farther so its closer to stock: a 15mm spacer plus the 50mm offest of the rim would get you to the 35mm offset needed for the front...

The bigger issue in all of this, though, is that those wheels are marked as being bolt centric, not hub centric... I'm not familiar enough to tell you if they can be made to work but I'm guessing that's why you're being told you need new wheels...

*edit: I assumed these were 18" wheels but if they're 20" then they would probably be the 20x8.5 with 40mm offset

 

I would say he's probably concerned about liability issues.. Now maybe he could work with you.. parking lot floor jack and take it off.. then you or someone with you put it back on?

 

That is the photo of the wheels that I have in my folder b/c I thought they matched up to whats on the car. I printed what you said and will show it to this guy tomorrow. Why on earth would someone sell someone wheels that don't work with the car. Course, I have no idea where he got them from and the answer may be in that. Thank you and everyone else for the assistance. I'm going to hope he can fix it, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to get new wheels which is too bad since they match the color of the car and the fact that it will cost me. I had the car checked out before I bought it but this apparently something they wouldn't think to check. I'll update tomorrow.

 

Looking at your first post though you gave the tire sizes which showed 2 20" and 2 19"... I haven't been able to find those rims in 19" so I'm not sure if there was a typo or if I'm missing something... Might want to double check whats actually on your car

 

Is there a member close to this lady to maybe help her out some? Only advice I can offer is to make sure you have the hub centric spacers AND (very important here) the correct length bolts! The bolts can protrude only so far behind the assembly or they might tear stuff up. The also have to be long enough as to completely grip through the housing. So, anyone close to this lady to help her out?

 

You are correct..I screwed up! The are 40R18 not 19. I emailed the guy I bought this car from and he's not responding so maybe he sold the car b/c of this problem..don't know. I think I should have been a little more careful since he had steel showing through his tires. Found that out when I took the car to be checked out before I agreed to purchase it, but he was putting new tires on it. But WHO in their right minds drives a car when the tires are that bad. They didn't find anything wrong with the car except for a small oil leak, which they said wasn't a deal breaker and I got fixed for"free" with the service agreement I purchased when I bought the car.

 

You are very sweet! I read about the bolt thing as well and when I took the car to our local repair facility to replace the bolt that was missing in the back drivers side when the the person I bought it from had new tires put on...I mentioned that they needed to be careful to match it up. They tell me the car is ready and I go to pick it up..as I start to drive it's making a weird sound *almost like a flat tire*. I park and go back in and they end up telling me the bolt was rubbing against something so they had a get a new bolt. Left it there and they fixed it I gues, s in that it's wasn't making any weird sounds again. How on earth is someone supposed to find someone that knows what they heck they are doing?? Just need to find someone I can trust that really knows what they are talking about so I can enjoy my car without worrying I'm going to have a major problem while I'm on the road.

 

Did they not have your wheel listed here?

How Hub Centric Rings Work - JustForWheels.com

Of course just reading back about the 50mm offset, guess we're looking at hub centric 15mm spacers. But might be able to get the diameters needed from the site.

Ran the search.. Plastic guys?

 

They did but they if I was going to order them it asked me to provide them with the size, model name or number and offset of the wheels which I don't know how to answer. I posted this on the wheels, tires forum also and have had some response with suggestions. I don't know how to point you to the responses to see what people are suggesting but maybe you know how to find it. But from what I'm reading I can't be certain this will be the fix I need. I think I'm heading to a discount tire facility tomorrow to talk to someone who is supposed to know about aftermarket wheels, but from my conversation he's making it sound like I will probably need new wheels, which I really don't want to have to do since it will be an expense I don't need right now and because I like these since they match the car color. LMK if you find the other post since it's got quite a bit of conversation going on.