Does it matter which way wheels are put back on a car? Does it throw them off of balance if i do not put the wheel back on exactly how the mechanic left it?



Question is because I have aftermarket rims (4 spoke) and the orientation of the rims leaves 1 of the 4 spokes facing upwards towards 12 o clock position



I think that tire and wheel balancing is done when the wheel is off of the car.



So it shouldn't matter to jack up my car and carefully spin the wheels so they are all in the same direction on my car (the 1 spoke pointed up at 12 o clock on each wheel for example)



it would not throw them out of balance correct??

 

On the streets, I have seen sports cars with rims facing exact orientation on the car

but then have seen cars with wheels not perfectly on the car in the same order (1 wheel the spoke faces towards 12 o clock, the driver side wheel 1 spoke faces towards 1 o clock)

 

It's been a while since we've had a good BFM thread

 

I'm hoping you realize that as the car goes around corners and what have you, that the wheels do rotate at differing intervals anyway.

A balance is for rotational balance, it has nothing to do with spoke position.

 

 

To answer the question, no it doesn't matter which way they are put on the car, or which direction the spokes are pointing. The wheel/tire combinations are balanced off the car, and it is only balanced to itself. This is something you can over-think, but save yourself the trouble. Slap the wheels on the car any old way, it does.not.matter.