I just learned from another forum that XJ Jag wheels are "lug centric". I don't know if this applies to other Jag models. For those of us who have had 1 hell of a time getting a good wheel ballance this may explain a lot.

My tire shop took 3 tries to dial in a half a-- road force ballance. Credit to them for not trying to charge me for all this extra work. Shame on them for not fessing up to the fact they did not have the Jag specific appliance for their ballance machine. The manager allowed that it is a $250 plus device that he would use maybe twice a year.

I'm now in the process of locating a dealer who does road force ballancing with a lug centric capability. Leave it to Jag, live and learn. I'll let you know how that turns out. The way things are going I'll probably have to drive 150 miles for it. Hell, it may pay me to buy the appliance for my tire dealer.

 

That is great information. Have had a heck of a time trying to get rid of vibration in my car. I am suspicious of my tires, the dealer is doing a computer vibration test next time in. My wheels have been balanced, road force balanced, rotated etc. until I had given up. I will mention lug centric balance to my dealer and will report his response.
thanks thc
brdave

 

Lug-centric balanced rims are not a new thing. Been around for a while. If you're finding that your shop can't balance them properly....find a new shop.

 

Hold the phone!!!! I have now talked to 2 Jag dealers here in FL and both are adamant: Jag factory wheels are not "lug centric". So I'm back where I started except that I must go back to the post on this forum that put out this info and see what gives.

Sorry about this. We must all be carefull of bogus info on the internet. If anyone remembers where on this forum this info orignally came from give me a heads up, as we need to get it corrected or sorted out.

 

From TireRack.com......

Hub centric - The center bore hole of a wheel matches the hub diameter of the vehicle. This centers the wheel via the center hole rather than the lug nuts.

Lug centric - When the wheel is centered by the bolt holes/ lug nuts of the wheel, rather than by the center bore. Lug centric wheels should be balanced from the bolt holes.

Some wheels are non-hubcentric by design. These are known as lug-centric wheels. With these wheels it is critical to torque the lug hardware with the vehicle on jack stands, off the ground. This allows the nuts or bolts to center the wheel and torque down without the weight of the vehicle pushing them off center.

 

My own experience with balancing lug-centric rims....

It can be done with just a cone on the shaft, the same cone as used for hub-centric wheels. Just need to make sure that the wheel is centered on the cone and torqued properly before balancing. The proper way is using the proper sized flange that centers the wheel.

Balancing the wheels is not so much the big issue, as mounting the wheels on the car is. See my above post.

 

ALL NOTE Correction to my last post. 350 XJ wheels are hub centric not lug centric. Jag dealers in my area adament.

Sorry about all this confussion. Lot of bad info floating about.

 

Thanks for the clarification, was scratching my head a bit.

brdave

 

Great thread as my 96 XJS has what I think is the left rear tire out of balance after a 1300 mile road trip - maybe lost a weight or something.. vibrates at 65 to 70 and smooth as silk at either 60 or anything over 70.

I have stock 16" wheels w/ Pirelli P 4000's so where can I find out if what type of "centric" it is? Given the age of the car dealers are not necessarily reliable and my mechanics to date
are not necessarily suspension guys.

 

El Gato,

Latest info from 2 local Jag dealers here in Florida is that:

ALL JAG WHEELS ARE HUB CENTRIC.

 

Hi
I have done 3 wheel alignments on the car within couple of month after putting in new tyres. Tyres are feathering out. Some times front axle reading is out and on other occasions rear axle reading is out. I have noticed that LH front tyre touching car body when steering lock 2 lock. What could be the cause. Car has never been in accident.

 

My guess, your allignment tech is a drone! Something is wrong and they are not picking up on it if they are even looking.
Time to have a chat with the service manager.