Alloy Designs for Chevy Aveo

[nirmalts]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Hi Nirmalts,

Did you manage to go for the Lenso GTRs? Eagerly awaiting pictures!

ItWasntMe

Hello all,

First of all, a big thanks to all you guys who helped me choose shoes for my Aveo . Special thanks to Ayyappan (of team-bhp) who spent half day with me to get the wheels fixed.

I finally went for Lenso GTR alloys + Yokohama S-Drive 195/50/R15.

Let me walk you through my shopping experience.

The biggest source of info was ofcourse "Tyre & Alloy wheel Section" in Teambhp. It has all the info you need to choose alloys + tyres (plus a little extra information that could leave you easily confused on what to choose ).

The shops I visited in Blore were

1. Millivision
2. Sai Iyenger, Lalbagh Road
3. Sai Iyenger, CMH Road
4. Super Tyre, JC Road
5. Auto Fusion, Koramangala

Here are my impressions about the different dealers

1. Millivision

+ Very warm welcome
+ Main dealer for Yokohama in Bangalore and hence very competitive price for it
+ Knew team-bhp

- Deals with Advanti alloys only and hence was pushing it
- No tyre fitting, balancing or alignment

2. Sai Iyenger, Lalbagh Road

+ Mainly deals with Michelin and hence was pushing it
+ Tyre fixing and balancing available
+ Knew team-bhp

- Very busy shop, hence not much attention given
- Prices for Michelin and Yokohama quoted was high
- Offered very low price for stock tyres
- No alloys. Suggested the nearby shop Car Trendz for alloys.
- Wheel alignment not available

3. Sai Iyenger, CMH Road

+ Very warm welcome
+ Quoted same price for Yoko as Millivision
+ Offered the best price for alloys
+ (Ashwin) Knew team-bhp

- Shop in busy area. Congested shop
- Guys who fix the wheels dont know their job (see next post for details)

4. Super Tyre, JC Road

+ Competetive price for Lenso alloys
+ Tyre fixing, balancing and alignment available

- Doesn't deal with Yoko or Michelin
- Wasn't technically good
- Never knew team-bhp

5. Auto Fusion, Koramangala

+ Of course knew team-bhp. Thoquer was very co-operative
+ Lenso and League available
+ Quoted same price for Yoko as Millivision
+ Gives good suggestions

- No balancing and alignment available. Hence charges extra to get it done at a tyre shop
- Prices high for alloys

I finally went with Sai Iyenger, CMH Road. The deal was

Yokohama S-Drive 195/50/R15 - Rs.3,950 per tyre (incl tax and 3 year warranty)
Lenso GTR (set of 5) - Rs.20,000. Includes fixing, balancing, alignment, valves
Chrome Nuts - Rs.1,000
Stock Tyre 185/60/R14 buy back (Run 6K on it) - Rs.1,140 per tyre

The total came to Rs. 35,050 (no rounding off in the end for Rs.50 by the dealer)

Did a long drive of about 700kms with the new wheels. Here are my observations

+ Handling and grip has definitly improved
+ Feels more confident while braking. Had to do a sudden brake at 100 Kmph and the vehicle came to a immediate halt without any skid
+ Rid quality has not been affected at all (atleast I could not find any difference)
+ Vehicle seems planted on the road better at high speeds (went upto 140kmph. Not very high wrt to team-bhp standards)
+ Aveo looks really good in 15''
- FE seems to have dropped slightly. Gave me tank to tank 11.84 kms/litre on highway. I used to get more than this on highway (will confirm after city drive)

Will post pics very soon (the car and tyre looks very dirty now after the long drive...). The car looks almost same as my last PS edited post.

Thanks once again,

Nirmal

[nirmalts]

The last post was about the good part of the deal. Now comes a lil sad part.

I got the wheels changed by Saturday evening. Had to drive to Wyanad, Kerala the next morning 2AM. I hit Mysore road and went upto 100kmph. The steering started shaking badly. Went to 130Kmph. Steering was shaking very bad and I was not at all feeling confident to drive at that speeds anymore. The steering became very light. Also the vehicle was continously moving to the left side. I realised that Sai Iyenger has not done balancing and alignment right. Luckily, I found a car balancing and alignment shop in that part of Kerala. Found that both front wheels were not balanced correctly. Air pressure was 36psi in front. Also alignment wasnt ok. Costed me 350 bucks to correct everything and lost 1hr of my time during the weekend trip.

Will talk to Aswin (from Sai) on this. The return trip was amazing with all problems fixed

[shuvd]

Congrats Nirmal. Nice deal you got there.
And a nice review of the shops.
Please post the pics soon.

[finneyp]

Congrats Nirmal for your new shoes! Awaiting the pics!

Am also planning to upgrade my shoes at Sai Iyenger, CMH Road, heard they have a old fashioned wheel Alignment machine, so maybe after I get my wheels fitted I need to drive to Madhus for Wheel Alignment.

[itwasntme]

Great stuff, Nirmalts! Update your garage ASAP :-)

finneyp: You are right about the oldish balancing machine at SI CMH road: It did not inspire much confidence but I haven't faced any issues till now after upgrading from 185/60 to 195/60 from them.

[kpzen]

Congrats Nirmal.
Waiting for the pics.

[nirmalts]

Originally Posted by nirmalts

The last post was about the good part of the deal. Now comes a lil sad part.

I got the wheels changed by Saturday evening. Had to drive to Wyanad, Kerala the next morning 2AM. I hit Mysore road and went upto 100kmph. The steering started shaking badly. Went to 130Kmph. Steering was shaking very bad and I was not at all feeling confident to drive at that speeds anymore. The steering became very light. Also the vehicle was continously moving to the left side. I realised that Sai Iyenger has not done balancing and alignment right. Luckily, I found a car balancing and alignment shop in that part of Kerala. Found that both front wheels were not balanced correctly. Air pressure was 36psi in front. Also alignment wasnt ok. Costed me 350 bucks to correct everything and lost 1hr of my time during the weekend trip.

Will talk to Aswin (from Sai) on this. The return trip was amazing with all problems fixed

Talked to Aswin from SI now. He said it could be a offset problem and not a balancing issue. I was getting the steering shake between 100 and 120. After balancing I did not get this until 140. Ashwin says it could have been shifted to some range after 140 now. How true could this be? Do I really need to drive past 140 and check this?

Offset for Lenso GTR is +35. I didnt get the stock offset for Aveo from anywhere and hence cannot calculate the difference.

Nirmal

[itwasntme]

Maybe a silly thought but you HAD gone upto 140km/hr initially without the shaking/shimmying right? On your Wayanad trip, could any of the recently fitted wheel balancing weights fallen off due to incorrect fitting/bumpy roads/high speeds etc? Could THAT have immediately led to the severe effects you felt?

Shocked to hear of the 36 Psi tyre pressure though. Did you measure that after the tyre had cooled down or immediately when you reached the Kerala shop? Could be incorrect after a long drive at speed and in the current heat.

No idea about the offset issue though.

[nirmalts]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Maybe a silly thought but you HAD gone upto 140km/hr initially without the shaking/shimmying right? On your Wayanad trip, could any of the recently fitted wheel balancing weights fallen off due to incorrect fitting/bumpy roads/high speeds etc? Could THAT have immediately led to the severe effects you felt?

Shocked to hear of the 36 Psi tyre pressure though. Did you measure that after the tyre had cooled down or immediately when you reached the Kerala shop? Could be incorrect after a long drive at speed and in the current heat.

No idea about the offset issue though.

Initially I felt the shake between 100 and 120. After 120, I felt that it was slightly less. Then I got it balanced in Kerala where they said 35gms and 20gms needs to be added to the front wheels. After balancing I went upto 140 and there were no issues at all. I wanted to know how true is this argument to say that, with balancing the problem is not still solved, but it must have been shifted to a different range (above 140).

No chance of weights falling off. I hit Mysore road and went upto 100 and immediately noticed this.

As you said the tyre pressure was checked after doing around 50kms. That might be the reason it showed 36psi.

Nirmal

[swift8847]

Hey congrats.. Waiting for the pics. And you've got a pretty good price for your stock tires.

[itwasntme]

When you get some time off from flaunting your new set of 'wheels', post some hi-res pictures :-)!

[nirmalts]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

When you get some time off from flaunting your new set of 'wheels', post some hi-res pictures :-)!

Sure. Will do it this weekend. Sorry to keep you waiting.

Nirmal

[kaushik_s]

Hi nirmal,
Regarding the shake at 120-130kmph speed, just wanted to know did they fixed a hub-centric ring in the center hole of the wheel to hold the wheel properly to the axle ? I remember reading in T-BHP only that if this is not done then no amount balancing can help you as the problem will keep on re-occurring.I'll try to find the post which mentioned about it.
Regards,
Kaushik
EDIT :aah, found it..Here is the link http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...oy-wheels.html (Solution for vibrations after installing alloy wheels)

[nirmalts]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

Hi nirmal,
Regarding the shake at 120-130kmph speed, just wanted to know did they fixed a hub-centric ring in the center hole of the wheel to hold the wheel properly to the axle ? I remember reading in T-BHP only that if this is not done then no amount balancing can help you as the problem will keep on re-occurring.I'll try to find the post which mentioned about it.
Regards,
Kaushik
EDIT :aah, found it..Here is the link http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...oy-wheels.html (Solution for vibrations after installing alloy wheels)

Hi Kaushik,

Thanks for the thread. After balancing there is no shake upto 140kmph. I guess it was the problem with the old balancing/alignment machine at SAI. Its better to get it done else where even if you buy alloy/tyres from there.

Nirmal

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by nirmalts

Hi Kaushik,

Thanks for the thread. After balancing there is no shake upto 140kmph. I guess it was the problem with the old balancing/alignment machine at SAI. Its better to get it done else where even if you buy alloy/tyres from there.

Nirmal

Yeah,that may be the reason but actually I had changed my tires of my old Zen at Sai and I had no such issue.But that was kinda long ago.Will keep that in mind if I get new shoes from there.
Regards,
Kaushik