Hey all,

New to the boards here and just needed to vent, lol!

I've had a slight vibration in my car for some time (b4 the winter) and I was just super slow about bringing the car in, due to an extremely busy work and home schedule that left me little to no time to get the car to Jag. So I finally get some time and I decide to go to the local STS and have them check the balancing since I've read around here and elsewhere that it's not an uncommon for that to be needed.

So the tech gets started and brings me into the bay to show me an ultra wobbly front left wheel. Then a severely bent rear left, then an even more wobbly front right, followed by an EVEN MORE wobbly rear right!!!!! Talk about a whammy!! The tech even placed all 4 wheels on the "Hunter Roadforce" machine (which looked identical to the standard balancing machine, so I'm wondering if that's a scam and a half!)

So I'm faced with replacing or repairing all 4. Both options seem to be in the $1K range, so I'm not sure which is best. Price I was quoted for repair was $250/wheel, which seems about what I paid a few years ago for a wheel on my BMW that got scratched.

 

Sucks bro, I feel your pain. I have bent three wheels in the last 4 months due to absurd construction in our area that I can't get away from.

$250 per wheel is REALLY high though. Like absolute robbery. I had mine repaired for around $75-$100 per wheel. I would head to another specific wheel / tire shop for a second opinion. Any competent shop can repair wheels.

 

+1 as I seem to have a similar issue with my 20"s on my XJ

Just literally checked it out today and works aout at around £75 per wheel

 

No, it is not a scam. The Hunter Road Force Balance cured a lot of vibration issues on my XJR, and it is even recommended by Jaguar for our cars. There is a TSB out there for this, I am sure another member can post this for you.

I got mine done at Goodyear for $25 per wheel for "lifetime balance," as many times as I want to bring the car in for balancing.

They also found two bent 18" wheels on my XJR. It seems the further up you go from what used to be standard 16" wheels and skinnier tires, the easier they are to bend on pot holes and such. 20's are notorious for getting bent on small potholes.

I am very pleased with the job Goodyear and their Hunter Road Force Balance machine did on my car, I had taken it to two other shops with poor results before I found out about this technology.
Vector

 

wow sorry to hear that


price sounds high for a repair considering new wheels probably go for around $500

 

Thanks for the heads up on that. $75-$100 is an easier pill to swallow than $250. I'm searching the net now for places in my area to try.

 

I feel your pain. Prepare yourself for more of the same in the future. The OEM cast XFR wheels are like butter compared to other cars I have run, so I would imagine the other designs are similar. And for whatever reason, the XF seems particularly prone to transmitting vibrations.

 

OP, I feel your pain. I just recently bought a new 2011 XF S/C (20" rims) with only 500 miles on it and I noticed the same steering wheel / seat vibrations when going like 60-70+ mph. I took it into the dealership and they showed me it had 3 bent rims. I was able to get them repaired for $130 a piece (I didn't pay since I had just bought the car new so the dealership where I bought the car paid for the repair). However, even after the rims were fixed this didn't solve the vibrations completely. The dealership then told me that the two front tires were not balancing and that they needed to be replaced. I was able to have Dunlop replace those two tires for free under warranty since I purchased the vehicle new, I only had to pay for mounting/balancing. After all this was done, I paid to have an alignment done as well ($179).

After all these repairs, vibrations are now significantly less. From what I understand, those OEM Dunlop tires are prone to flat spoting along with some other brands. I'm pretty sure that given some more mileage (15k-20k miles), the vibrations will return, but hopefully not. When the time comes to replace my tires, I'll be putting Michelin Pilot Sports on as I have only heard good things from these tires.

Good luck and hopefully everything works out for you. Also, when having your wheels repaired, make sure to be clear with them that they don't scratch your rims. In the future, be careful of any potholes as those 20" rims can be dented very easily. Unfortunately in the northeast here, it's hard to avoid them all. For that specific reason, I bought a set of 19" winter rims/tires to put on next season.

 

Besides wheel strength I have to think that the trend towards tires with almost no sidewall is a contributing factor.

Cheers
DD

 

I feel your pain. Just bent the **** out of my forgestar last night!

 

I have been able to fix slight lip bends with a rubber dead-blow mallet but the one pictured above is pretty bad.... I'd still try the mallet before paying to get it fixed. It doesn't ruin the finish but you could lay a towel over it to protect it even more while you smack it back into place. Worst case, your arm is sore and you have to pay to have it fixed.

 

No question, it is a price to pay for good looks. Funny thing is, this trend towards bigger wheels and lower sidewalls is perversely coupled with a trend towards decaying infrastructure and crumbling roads, at least in my area.

 

Heh heh, and in some cases I don't even think the 'all wheel, no tire' look is all that great. But that's a different subject

Cheers
DD

 

So I found a few places at around $100/wheel + remounting and balancing. Looks like a better average going away from the 1st place that quoted me $250. This has been a brutal winter on the roads up here, especially the town I work in. I like the idea of getting a set of snows. I did that with a BMW I previously owned a few years back. I guess 18" is the smallest we can go?

 

Love your choice of words, how true it is.

 

Fully agree. I've been quite outspoken regarding the insanity for using these short sidewalls and large wheels. While the look may be preferable for many, most other aspects are negative; lot heavier wheel/tire combo, much more prone to damages from potholes, much worse ride quality.

Tires are there as a design part of the suspension, they are supposed to flex to absorb road shocks without damaging the wheels, as well as flex to provide a decent ride. Any performance improvement in handing over a 55 or 60 series tire with taller sidewalls will not be felt under even quick street driving conditions but, only perhaps on the track. Talking about track tires: most of them still use the tall sidewalls. If only people would wake up and demand that factories go back to using taller sidewalls, nearly all negative issues would be solved.

 

See if there is one of these guys in your area: http://www.awrswheelrepair.com.
They come to you with a fully equipped shop on wheels. They can repair most bent wheels, if they are not too bad, and they refinish. I paid about $100 per wheel for my Bimmer awhile back.

 

If you're interested, I'm going to be selling my wheels, Tires, TPMS as a set at a really good price for forum members only. They only have 5000 miles on them.

 

just an update, I got all four repaired @about $110/wheel. The difference is literally night and day. So much so I'm almost inclined to really believe they were like that from the factory! I fell in love with the car all over again.

 

That's great to hear. I need to have 2 of mine repaired for sure... I'm not convinced there's not more than 2 bent though.