winter rims do i need the same center bore

ANSWER : A road force balancer is meant to check tires for pull in one direction or another and balance a tire up to about 60 mph. Some tire balancers will check tires for higher speeds. You may have an imbalance that most machines cannot measure if it comes in after 65 mph. You can see if there is a shop near you that can do high speed balancing? You may have a front axle that is causing the vibration also. I suggest installing the original rims and tires on the front only to see if problem is still there and if so have the front axles checked for damage and replaced if any damage or looseness is noted.

ANSWER : Yes. No matter the type of wheel – steel or aluminum, or the design, wheels with the proper bolt pattern and hub size will fit the vehicle properly and safely. Wheel diameter, width, offset, and bolt pattern are all things that should be considered when fitting any type of wheels to your vehicle. A site like tirerack.com may be of great assistance when choosing the proper wheels for your vehicle.

ANSWER : There are many possible sizes of sockets depending on the rim design and types of lug nuts used. Most aftermarket rims will use the same size lug nuts as original but require a thin wall type socket. Take the vehicle to a custom wheel tire shop and have them check and supply the correct socket for your cars lugs. As far as the tires rubbing the inner fender you would need to have the vehicle checked to see if it needs special spacers or the tires are too wide for the vehicle. Anytime aftermarket wheels and tires are used that do not match the original sizes, you may need vehicle modifications.

ANSWER : The lug nut bolt pattern on your vehicle is 4 x 114.3. In practical terms, that means that an imaginary circle drawn through the four "bolt holes" will have a diameter of 114.3 millimeters. Of course, a bolt pattern designated "4 x 100" (100 millimeter diameter) will not work on your car because none of the bolt holes will line up.

Please note that certain wheels, even with the "same" bolt hole pattern as your original wheels, will not work properly or safely on your car due to differences in another critical wheel dimension, which is offset. Your OEM factory wheels have high positive offset and ideally any substitute wheel you are thinking of should have the identical amount of offset.

There are quite a few (dimensional) variables to consider when replacing wheels. Consequently, it is optimal to replace the wheels on your car with exact factory duplicates to avoid problems with handling and steering, interference (and consequent damage to the wheel wells) and premature wear-out of your car’s suspension. YourMechanic can help you with wise wheel and tire wheel selection, installation, and regular maintenance such as a tire rotation which is really critical because regular rotation, every 6,000 miles, will greatly extend the service life of your tires.

ANSWER : Hi there. It sounds like you have a very serious issue here. If the wheels are the wrong size and they have been tightened onto the caliper and will not come off then you will be very limited at to how they can be removed. Most of the time this will take a lot of work to pry them off with a large pry bar. In some rare cases the caliper will either need to be cut or the wheel will need to be heated to remove this, but this can be dangerous. Either way the wheels or the calipers will be damaged and will need to be replaced unfortunately.

ANSWER : Hi there. When it comes to swapping engines for your vehicle, what you can do is check all of the engine mounts and transmission mounts and make sure that they will work. If the mounts are a little off but there is room, then you may have to retro fit a custom mount. Check the length of the engine and the transmission assembly together. Make sure that the assembly is the same length. It may be okay if it’s a few inches shorter or longer, however, it cannot exceed 3 inches or the assembly will not fit. There has to be room for the engine to move around. Also, keep in mind, the CV shafts may not match up to the transmission and wheel hubs, especially if the transmission is shorter or longer. If you need further assistance with swapping your engine with another engine, then seek out a professional, such as one from Your Mechanic, to help you.

ANSWER : The minimum recommended rim width for 33 x 12.5R16 is 8 inches. The rim diameter, of course, must be 16 inches. In terms of width, you can use rims that measure in the range of 8 to 9.5 inches with 9 inches being typical. Offset is set by the OEM manufacturer of the vehicle and is designed in based on suspension design, clearances and so forth. If you specify the year, make and model of the vehicle, we will be glad to look up the offset for your application. Offsets are also generally published in vehicle tire catalogs on the Internet and so will be searchable there, too, by year, make and model.

ANSWER : Hi there. You can change the rims on the vehicle and the 5mm offset difference will not make much difference with the mounting and clearance with anything. Keep in mind, when changing a wheel from 40mm offset to 45mm offset then there could be an issue with the drivability of the car at highway speeds and cornering. If your rims have TPMS (tire pressure monitoring sensors), then you will want to switch them over to the vehicle and you may get a tire light. If you get a tire light, you will need a technician at a tire shop reset the light for you.