2011 TRD Sport - 17" Allow Wheels Hub Centric?

Does anyone know if the wheels on a 2011 TRD Sport 17" alloys are hub centric or lug centric? I am going back to the tire place tomorrow, for the 5th time trying to get these darn wheels balanced.

I'm see'ing mixed answers around the internet and some say the Haweka adapter is needed for 1st gens, 4runners, steel wheels, Tacoma's (not sure if it applies to all generations)?, and some saying OEM alloy wheels are hub-centric.

Just getting tired of chasing this problem, and want to get to the solution.

Thanks

 

Don't know for sure about the 2011's but the 2007 Sport OEM alloy wheels are lug centric. If you don't get somebody at the tire shop that knows what they are doing your wheels won't be balanced properly. I've had 3 sets of tires put on my '07, always had to bring it back to rebalance at least once...

HTH

David

 

Ok went out and decided to take a wheel off and the center cap. The wheels appear to be hub-centric and do not sit on the studs when pressed up against the hub, as if it were mounted. The center hub bore sits perfectly flush with the center of the wheel.

 

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure my 07 Sport is hubcentric

 

Dug around and came upon this:

http://www.toyota.com/accessories/featured/TRD-Wheels.html

4th paragraph down, specifies "Carefully crafted and machined within precise tolerances, Genuine Toyota and TRD wheels feature an ultra-strong structure and a hub-centric design that help ensure against vibration and maintain ride quality"

Now time to go back tomorrow and have them balance the wheels without the Haweka adapter, which was probably causing the improper balance this past 4 times for me.

 

Both the TRD sport and off road wheels are Hub centric.

This will always be more accurate compared to a lug centric wheel.

If you get a aftermarket wheel with an oversized center hub/bore purchase hub rings to make the wheels hubcentric. This is pretty common practice on aftermarket wheels.

From what you are posting it looks like they are having trouble balancing your factory sport wheels. Could be a bad tire due to out of round, belt or separation internally this does happen on occasion. The wheel would also be bent and only noticeable when spun on machine. The tire/wheel balancer could be out of spec and needs calibration. The is a tool/weight placed in the machine and then calibrated some shops forget to due this often enough.

Some larger/oversized/MT tires can be hard to balance crappy brands come into play as well. What size and brand tire is this? What weigh method are they using? ie: clip weight on front and back, only clip weight on rear of wheel, tape weight front and rear, tape weight only on rear. Also how much weight is being used. Seeing weight on the inner and out areas will give a better alignment, static vs dynamic if you are bored and what to read about it.

The less weight needed on the wheel the better, sometimes you need to spin the tire on the wheel to get them to use less weight by offsetting the bad spot of a wheel with the tire. Seeing more than 4 ounces of weight is typically a give away there is a problem that should be addressed.

Also if the tire is older and your alignment is out of spec not matter if the tire if balanced properly it can still ride like crap due to cupping and other issues. New tire will only solve this issue.

Try and pinpoint which tire is causing the problem. Putting any bad tire to the front will be much more noticeable than if it is in the rear. Try to helo out the tire shop not all of them are good at their so called trade.

Just saw your update while I was typing. They should be using a tapered cone front or rear, no adapter. Tell them to sit on that adapter for punishment for wasting your time.

 

Sorry to hear you've been having so many problems with the wheel balancing. Hopefully all these balances are on their dime. Hopefully I don't encounter this problem when I get new tires.

 

This is strictly my opinion, no fact about other than what I have seen.
When putting our factory alloy wheels up to the balancer and centering the wheel with the cone, the cone is hitting the little parts that holds the center cap on the wheel and not the actual hub bore. This can't always be the case, but the center cones for wheel balancers are made to handle a range of hub bores or different wheels. There are some cones out there that have a higher angle of tapper to the cone and they don't come in contact with the flanges that hold the center cap on. If it is not centering on the hub bore, it is basically useless and why people use the hawkeye adapter.

I would bet the wheel isn't getting put on the balancer centered or it is the tire being bad and needing to much weight.

If they can't get it to come out to zero with a tire on there and weights on each side in one spot, and not in a couple of spots around the wheel, I would ask for the tire to be removed and balance the wheel with out a tire to prove it is the tire needing to much weight and causing it to not balance out.

 

Luckily I did purchase a lifetime balance and rotation from them, so its not costing me any more than I would have paid for a 1 time balance.

I will have them balance using a tapered cone tomorrow, crossing my fingers that this was the cause of my troubles on the freeway.