I've been having this crazy vibration around 40 mph +. It gets worse as the speed increases all the way up to 75 mph.

So far I've replaced:

WHOLE Suspension Including everything down to each nut and bolt

Driver Side Wheel Bearing

All 4 tires ( Second Set)

Rebalanced 3 times

4 Wheel Alignment



What I've Checked:

All 4 wheels for any play at all angles. NONE AT ALL

Wheel lug torque

Whole entire Brand new suspension

All 4 wheels put on a wheel turnout machine to check for bends. NONE


What I suspect may be the problem is the wheels I have. I'm running TSW Nurburgring 19" wheels that have a 72mm inner bore. The bore on our cars is 66.1. I was thinking I may need hubrings. Any idea if this would cause the vibration I'm having? Not sure if those little plastic rings actually make that much of a difference or not.

The second thing I think it could be is the wheel bearings. I replaced the driverside front bearing 1.5 years ago. Not sure if the other ones are shot? No play in the wheels by the way. But i heard when the bearings go out on these cars, sometimes they don't even have any play, but there can be a roughness felt when you spin the hub by hand.

The third thing I would suspension is possible the drivetrain? Possibly the propeller shaft ?

It's a 2006 G35x AWD with 178K miles.



IMPORTANT NOTE:

When driving on smooth quiet roads or any road for that matter, I hear this rotational hum or thumping noise. Not sure what the hell it is. It's sychronized with the vibration I hear.

 

Being a G35x, it could be front drive shaft uni joints going bad.
After dealing with many different after market wheels on different cars I can tell you those hubcentric rings definitely do help. Not sure how much they do for taking load but they do help center the wheel much better than the conical wheel nuts alone. For the sake of $5-10 I would definitely add them to help center the wheels. Although from the sounds of it, you have something else more severe causing the vibration.
Also, I've had bad wheel bearings, one which was bad enough I could feel the play/shake but never felt any vibrations.

I too have a rotational humming noise. Sounds pretty much like a bad wheel bearing but I've replaced 3/4 bearings so far and the 4th spins freely with no sound. Could be that one but it's no rush to deal with now. I also suspected the driveshaft carrier bearing.

 

OP like Brad said spend the $10 for hub rings. I will almost guarantee they will solve your issue. Even with the literally hundreds of dollars you've already spent you've got wheels that don't sit flush on the hub so even with the lugs tightened you will have play there.

Don't overthink this and don't spend any more money until you get the rings, I had a similar issue years ago waiting for the rings to come in and when they were put on the issue disappeared forever. Sometimes the easiest sounding solution is.........

 

I would definitely get hub rings. You want the load from the wheels to be on the hub, and not the lug nuts. Hub rings I've seen have been made of metal, not plastic. But yes, you want a tight seat on the hub so that road loads are transmitted to the solid hub which can take a lot more force

 

The ones I use are a plastic/polymer and have lasted 6 years for me. I did have to replace one a few years back because it cracked but it still held the wheel tight until I took it off. I tried the metal first and for some reason my set made a lot of noise but I don't think I've read about anyone else having that issue.

 

I'd stick to ones made from plastic, as the metal ones in the great white north where I live would rust their way on forever.

OP, you probably didn't have this sound before you put the aftermarket wheels on???

 

just wanted to run this by you, you might have already checked this but make sure your rear brake caliper(s) (or e-brake cables) are not slightly sticking!!! I just had the exact same problem/issue that you had, at 40-45mph+ I had this crazy vibration, we found out my right rear brake caliper was progressively not fully engaging/disengaging after we felt the rear rotors and the right one was running super hot, causing a small vibration and friction with the brake pads/rotors, the wheel was hard to turn when it was up on a jack. I had the caliper replaced ($60 at autozone, $60 to install/clean/lube) and its like I got a new car again, full power and now better braking.

 

Since you have aftermarket wheels and you're not running hub rings, I can guarantee you'll have major vibrations issues! There's no way without hub rings those wheels are perfectly centered on the hub! I am surprised any quality tire shop didn't catch this long ago since you've had them balanced 3 times! Blue Dream and I both agree, for $10 your nightmare will go away...Gary