Wheel balance, never ending saga

[jjrbus]

Since putting the GoForms on last year and not driving much, I have noticed a slight vibration up around 60, but thought nothing of it. Got the Toy up to 65 recently and it's terrible.   I was going to take it back to the independent where I had it done, but decided to try the old time shop in Ft Myers.

I went and explained what was happening and got an appointment for this AM.  I took it in and they started on it,  after about 20 minutes the tech comes in with a handful of weights (I know they are mine as I painted the wheels and they have paint on them) He show's me the weights and asks who did my balancing.  I told him and he replied that they had no idea what they were doing, that it was a horrible job. When I painted the wheels I thought it was a lot of weight, but what do I know.  They have a fancy machine and did not ask if I wanted fries with the balance.

Now this is the type of shop that balances the wheels on the vehicle, not on a machine.  So I sit and wait and after about an hour he comes in and explains to me that 2 of the tires were out of round and had to be shaved.  1 was borderline on the rear dual's that if I noticed it bring it back and they would do it.

On the way home I notice a bit of vibration or was it the road at 70, I will not be driving 70 so not going to worry about it. It even feels smoother on the streets at 45 mph.

I also asked if they were out of round because they were cheap tires, he replied it did not matter if they were Goodyear, Michelin or Firestone, they are either round or they are not.

So $105 and I am good to go, plus what I paid last time.  I must be into balancing for close to $200!     Jim SW FL

ps, now I see my speedometer is working intermittently!  

 

[Totem]

i just had my guys throw tire sand in mine. it completely corrects them on the fly.

[zero]

Well, I DO know what makes them worse.  Fill them with beet juice.  I had to drive my backhoe at full speed down the highway at maybe 30 MPH and it shook so bad I had to quit. Ends up the tires were filled with beet-juice.   What a mess cleaning that crap out!  Ran down the road like a dream after I got done with the clean-out.

[Totem]

they do that for winter to add weight and it wont freeze

[zero]

26 minutes ago, Totem said:

they do that for winter to add weight and it wont freeze

Yes, we used calcium-chloride for years to do the same. NOT for vehicles that ever got driven fast though and kind of rare on a backhoe-loader that has all the weight it needs.  On the rear of a farm-tractor, yes.  Beet juice is much preferred when cost-efficient since it does not rust out the steel rims.  Usually has the brand-name "Rim Guard" and it seems Michigan has a huge surplus of sugar beets.  Come fall they show up here in dump-truck loads for bear-bait.  I was taken by surprise to find it in the rear of my Deere backhoe.

[jjrbus]

Wheel balancing such as sand, beads, golf balls all have the same weakness, they are only efficient in the vertical.  If they do not work a traditional balancing needs to be performed.

An on car balancing will find separated treads/damaged tires, bent/damaged  rims, distorted rotors and drive train issues, which may be hidden by other methods. Any of which can cause a disastrous failure.

[Totem]

oh i dunno.. I'll say potaatoe and just replace my rotors and tire sand my tires. no shake. i guess if i had a shake that wouldnt go away otherwise i would do that too.

[zero]

I had a funny experience with Chinese tires just before I moved out of New York state.  My wife's tires were bald on her 1992 VW diesel Jetta.  Small 14" tires but an odd-ball size that Walmart did not carry.  A friend of mine with a small repair shop and Cooper tire dealership gave me a price of $80 each, installed (plus tax).  So I went to Tires-Easy.com and they shipped four Ching-Chong, no-name Chinese tires to my door for $27 each and no tax.  I had my own tire-machine but no balancer.  So I  called my friend and asked if he would balance the tires once I mounted them. He refused. He claimed that Chinese tires are so poorly made - they can never be balanced and then he kind of scolded me for buying Chinese crap.  So? I said "screw it" and put them on and made no attempt to balance. I then drove the Jetta on the Interstate at 80 MPH and it ran smooth as glass.  Same at low speeds.  Maybe it was just "luck of the draw" but those tires worked great.  Can't speak about longevity.  We sold the car when we moved.  

Here is one bad report though.  Two years ago I went to Tractor Supply and bought two new tires for my boat trailer.  8" or 10" tires (I forget).  I did that since I was going to tow the boat 800 miles to Michigan and wanted no problems - especially with my wife pulling it.   We got here fine.  I just took the tarp off of it, put Michigan hull stickers on it and launched it.  To my surprise - those new Chinese tires have big side-wall rot cracks in them and they are only two years old (or at least two years since I bought them).  DOT date stickers say they were made in 2013.  

[DanAatTheCape]

my current tires are hankook RA08's.  Bought them from walmart.com and had the installed at a walmart store. They would not touch the vehicle - I put it on jack stands and gave them the tires 1 or 2 at a time.   Some people do a better job then others - a lot of weights is a warning sign, Once a tech told me one of my wheels was bent. It is on the rear inside now. It has been balanced a few times since then - no squawks.

One wally world had 2 machines - the large opening on the wheels  stumped the tech - turns out a more experienced person came forward and then all was well.

 

As an aside, I can tell you that in colorado there are some mtn roads that have rocks the size of a man's fist - they jam right in between the duallys -- talk about vibration!  Had to jack and losen the lugnuts to get the rocks out.

 

I have the beauty rims - that confuses them too.    I would also be careful about getting the wheels centered on the studs - there is a little play there.