Hello diy. My bike makes a squealing noise when I ride it which I believe is the result of an out of true wheel rubbing against the brake pads.
Is there any way to fix this without buying a zillion Reddit tools that I'll only use once or do I have to take this bitch to a shop. Thanks.

Does it wobble? or does it run smooth and straight aside from being tilted?

If it wobbles, just buy a new wheel. It's buggered. You can try to bend it straight but I'm sure it's tedious and not easy.
If it doesn't wobble, you can probably just loosen up the axle to bring it true, then tighten it down.

>>2925284
Yeah it does, jumps left for ~1/5 of it's turn. Fuck. Can I mess with the spokes or something?

>>2925291
Just buy a new one. It's a waste of time trying to right a buckled wheel because it'll pretty much always have a little buckle left in it, and that will lead you right back to where you are now as you apply weight and bumps to it.
You can get a secondhand one if you're strapped for cash. It's also an easy job to swap a wheel out.

>>2925281 (OP)
You need a spoke wrench, and watch a Park Tools video about truing wheels on YouTube. This isn't that hard. Or buy a new one. Up to you.

>>2925281 (OP)
All you need is a spoke wrench.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007443497556.html

Use the tightest side that fits, otherwise you round over the nipples.
Remove the tire and tube. Put the wheel back in the fork.
The spokes have a spoke nipple that sits in the rim, the two are screwed into each other with a thread. You can tighten that to adjust the wheel.
Spokes have a pattern, there's always 2 parallel spokes. Grab them, squeeze them together.
Some will be tighter, some will be looser, check them all and get a feeling for it.
Spoke nipples are soft (brass or aluminium) you can easily break them if you overtighten, also give them some oil if they squeak. Trouble is you need them pretty damn tight just about to break is kinda what is required.
Some spokes are on the RIGHT side of the hub flange, others on the LEFT side of the spoke flange. If you tighten one side, you pull the rim to that side.
You can use the brake pad as a visual reference, find the highest spot where it's the most "left" or "right" and tighten the spoke nipples on the opposite side to pull it away.
You can also glue on cardboard or use a cable tie, anything works really.
Always look for the highest spot and whack it down.
If the tension gets too high to pull more, instead loosen the nipples on the side where it's too high.
There's probably not much of a vertical runout, and it doesn't matter that much anyways.
Focus on getting the wheel to run true side to side and on achieving roughly even spoke tention all the way around.
Most wheels from the factory have way too little tension, and when you hit a curb or pothole you unload the tension from the spoke entirely and the thread between the spoke and nipple is unloaded and can unturn itself.
A properly done wheel with proper spoke tension lasts forever.

>>2925309
Now when you're done centering the wheel, take it out of the fork, put it on the ground with only the hub touching the ground, and put pretty much your entire body weight on the rim with both hands at opposite sides.
You'll hear some metallic clinking noises.
That's the nipples and spokes adjusting into the new positions proper.
Rotate the wheel a few times and go around it putting your bodyweight on it, then flip it upside-down and repeat.
You might want to re-true it one more time since this process might shift it a little bit, but usually not much, especially if you already rode the wheel a bunch.
If you do a new wheel from scratch this step is crucial and will cause alot of shift.
If you get an 8 figure again in the wheel or if you get loose spokes, the tension was too low.

>>2925310
Oh i forgot, turn the bike upside-down and use the fork as a truing stand obviously. this way you can freely rotate the wheel and check the light-gap between the brake pad and rim.
If you put it on a workbench upside down it's a nice work height as well.

>>2925295
>It's a waste of time trying to right a buckled wheel because it'll pretty much always have a little buckle left in it

It's not that common to have the rim fucked, mostly it's just wrong spoke tension and easily fixed desu.

I tried to tighten the spokes with an adjustable wrench, they turned and shit and it seemed to be straight, but as soon as I put it upright and put any weight on it it just goes back.
Also the front brake might be crooked or something? Idk, it looks like it leans to one side.

>>2925311
thank you wheel man

>>2925298
this. it's easy to get a wheel running right when you're not retarded. They're not even expensive. I have a set like this and they work as advertised.

I fixed it by loosening the wheel on one side and moving it up very slightly so it tilts to one side. Idk if this will last but thanks guys.

>>2925281 (OP)
>$4 to assemble walmart mountain bike
>unpack
>attach bars, stem, pedals, inflate tires, attach and adjust shifter cables, attach and adjust brake cables, use big EMT type prybar to bend the consistently warped front forks into place, true both wheels with spokes, entire frame is wrapped tight with clear packaging tape that cannot be cut off without damaging paint
>walmart employees bitch about where you put the bike when you're done

>>2925492
If it was buckled that shouldn't have helped. When you said it was wobbling earlier, are you sure? Maybe it just wasn't sitting in the forks properly.

>>2925611
Yeah the rim was definitely deviating, only a section of it would touch the brake pad. Don't know if it was truly buckled but it's fixed now.

Hex allen and philips 1. Use the hex allen to make coarse adjustments. Use it so that that you remove the wire and put it back so the separation of the pads is few mm's. Then adjust the philips screws so the balance is optimal. Turning the screw in gives tension to the spring and that side should get more separation and vice versa.

>>2925364
This

But make sure you keep reasonable tension on all the spokes. It’s easy to tighten the shit out of one side to try and get the wheel true, and then the spokes start popping a couple days later.

>>>/n/
Also:
Other comments are correct. Get a spoke wrench to fix your wheel. You might find additional pointers helpful:
Pluck spokes like a instrument string. Spokes on the same side of the hub should roughly have the same pitch. If youre deaf get an app that visualizes audible spectrum. Try the same test with the crossing spoke pushed awax to free the spoke youre testing.
Many try to fix a bent rim by adjusting spoke tension. It is ill advised and cumbersome. Often all a wheel needs is bending the rim straight. For example using two hands and a knee of with your feet. A rim that's only out on one side is most likely a case of a bant rim. If the rim was straight and spoke tension messed up chances would be it was out in the opposite direction on the opposite side. Identify where the kink is and bend it back.

>>2925281 (OP)
If the rim itself is bent it's possible to straighten it by adjusting the spokes. If you don't know what you're doing, look it up or take it to a bike shop. Truing a rim is an art.

>>2925281 (OP)
>Is there any way to fix this without buying a zillion Reddit tools that I'll only use once
The library in my area loans out a bike repair kit with all the tools. You could check your local library if you need any tools.

>>2925281 (OP)

Had the same problem, turned out to be the dry chain. Put some lube on the babe.

>>2925281 (OP)
>squealing noise when I ride it
pick up bike, spin wheel, watch, does it wobble? If yes adjust spokes to straighten (many vids on YT how to do this is spoke wrench). Sqealing is often a high pitch vibration from the break pads - clean wheel/rotor where pads are, check break pads to see if they need to replaced (is dirty or metal on metal). You can spin the wheel and very slightly apply the breaks (not to stop wheel from spinning, just to stop the vibration) if the squeel stops then its the pads vibrating, may need cleaning or replacement. Truing the wheel is easy. Also gives you chance to inspect all your spokes to be sure they are in good shape and the wheel will not collapse why you are riding around.

>>2926136
You start truing the wheel by loosening all spokes completely, stupid namefag.

>>2927690
Fix your brakes retard. You should only need a light pull to have the wheel completely lock up.
At that point, unless the wheel is perfectly true, it will keep catching.
It took me 2 hours to true my wheel like that, but l never had problems since.

>>2927777
stupid tripfag*

Nice digits btw

Start popping spokes on a double walled BMX rim and it’s probably toast anyway.