ITP Rim offsets

[BlackKQ]

Bet loads of you know the answer to this - I have a set of SS112 rims that I just fitted to my KingQuad 750 and the front wheels are, like, several inches further out than the stock rims - this must be screwing up the tracking or something because I get a bad shake through the steering at anything over 50 kph. Is this normal with after market rims? The offset on the stock rims is noticably different front to back but all four of the SS rims look the same. A friend has the same make of quad and same tires as me (Swamplites) but uses stock rims and has no wobble.... any ideas? - and don't say "don't drive at over 50 kph" lol

[Holdeem]

At least one of your rims is out of balance, assuming it isn't one of your tires. Find out which one and send it back and get a new one. Any tire shop will tell you if you take your tires and rims in.

[BlackKQ]

Originally Posted by Holdeem

At least one of your rims is out of balance, assuming it isn't one of your tires. Find out which one and send it back and get a new one. Any tire shop will tell you if you take your tires and rims in.

Thanks Holdeem, I'll take them in and get them checked for balance.

[Brute Force Boy]

Originally Posted by Holdeem

At least one of your rims is out of balance, assuming it isn't one of your tires. Find out which one and send it back and get a new one. Any tire shop will tell you if you take your tires and rims in.

I agree, sounds like you have a defective rim there, I'm pretty sure they don't "balance" atv rims.

[BlackKQ]

Thanks for the input, guys - I'm taking the wheels back to the dealer today to see what he says. I still think its weird that the width of the front wheels is four inches wider at the front than at the back - it just looks wrong somehow lol

[BlackKQ]

Mmmmm just as I suspected - the dealer says that the rims are fine and the tires are out of balance - and guess what - Brute Force Boy is right, a tire shop cant check an ATV wheel for balance. Catch-22.... so i have invented my own solution. A friend in NB with a KQ and Swamplites pointed out that her tires are mounted on the stock rims and she has no steering shake. I looked at my stock front rims and sure enough they have a different offset to the SS112's So part of the answer may be that the ITP wheels are NOT a direct replacement for the stock Suzuki rims. I have swapped the Swamplites on to the stock rims, and I will test ride soon to see if this has cured the problem.......

[moose1]

Originally Posted by BlackKQ

Mmmmm just as I suspected - the dealer says that the rims are fine and the tires are out of balance - and guess what - Brute Force Boy is right, a tire shop cant check an ATV wheel for balance. Catch-22.... so i have invented my own solution. A friend in NB with a KQ and Swamplites pointed out that her tires are mounted on the stock rims and she has no steering shake. I looked at my stock front rims and sure enough they have a different offset to the SS112's So part of the answer may be that the ITP wheels are NOT a direct replacement for the stock Suzuki rims. I have swapped the Swamplites on to the stock rims, and I will test ride soon to see if this has cured the problem.......

Most shops don't know F-all about different offsets or backspacing for aftermarket wheels. This also includes tire shops that sell aftermarket rims for auto/truck applications. The farther you deviate from the stock backspacing/offset the more problems you will have with vibration and handling. Backspacing is the measurement from the mounting face to the back of the wheel. Offset is the measurment of the difference from the center of the wheel the mounting surface. 0 offset means that the mounting face is exactly in the center of the rim. You can have the same backspacing on two different rims but with different offsets due to the rims having different widths. The aftermarket rims probably have less backspacing then your factory ones. This will amplify any vibrations and make steering harder. It will also increase wear on the front end components most notably the front wheel bearings! Hope this helps.

[BlackKQ]

Well I took a test ride yesterday with the 26x9x12 Swamplites fitted to the stock Suzuki front rims and what a difference ! the steering is light and responsive again!
Upon further comparision, just as Moose1 suggested, there is a noticeable difference between the backspacing of the stock front wheels and the ITP replacements. I checked the ITP website, and they specify the same rim part # for front and rear fitment to the KQ 750 - but that results in the bad handling situation - its hard to believe that other quad riders just accept this!! Maybe I am just a nitpicking perfectionist, but I'm going to run with my Swamplites on the stock rims front and rear, and enjoy the excellent, agile handling of the Kingquad, safe in the knowledge that I am not screwing up my suspension components.
Errrr.. so ... does anyone want to buy some ITP SS112 rims? they've only been used a couple of times......lol

[Jmist5]

Originally Posted by moose1

Most shops don't know F-all about different offsets or backspacing for aftermarket wheels. This also includes tire shops that sell aftermarket rims for auto/truck applications. The farther you deviate from the stock backspacing/offset the more problems you will have with vibration and handling. Backspacing is the measurement from the mounting face to the back of the wheel. Offset is the measurment of the difference from the center of the wheel the mounting surface. 0 offset means that the mounting face is exactly in the center of the rim. You can have the same backspacing on two different rims but with different offsets due to the rims having different widths. The aftermarket rims probably have less backspacing then your factory ones. This will amplify any vibrations and make steering harder. It will also increase wear on the front end components most notably the front wheel bearings! Hope this helps.

Just a random thought but would some wheel mount spacers make any difference in the offset problems??

[moose1]

Originally Posted by Jmist5

Just a random thought but would some wheel mount spacers make any difference in the offset problems??

Yes they will make a difference in the offset and backspacing. But the problem will get even worse with wheel spacers. The problem is with too little backspacing and with wheel spacers the backspacing will be even less!