Balancing problem...

[Mark_88]

I've swapped on three different tires on my front end recently and have been disappointed. Always seems to be a slight vibration that I thought at first was an older tire with air retention issues or just a bad balance.

So today I stopped at a place I'd sworn off tires and they happened to have two tires like the ones I've been using with relative success. So I bit the bullet and bought them...told the guys in the shop what I wanted...spare on driver front right (where the vibration seems to be coming from) and that rim in the back of the truck so I could test it again.

Took a bit longer than I'd expected and then the guy calls me out to the shop. Says "have a look at this rim" and he spins it...dang! The rim is out of round!

This was the rim that I wanted in the back anyway, but the guy was just about to mount it on the front and already had the new mounted tire in the back of the truck ...

Good thing he caught that though and didn't put it on the truck...so I had him do it the way I wanted (and explained twice...like how difficult can this be???) and finally drove out...

The truck did not shake at all (or nearly as much but I think I now have an air pressure difference between the two front tires) and didn't veer right whenever it felt the urge...

So, I guess the point is...if you have wobble problems...have them check the rim for being out of round...

Three shops and two different tires on the same rim before someone caught it...

 

[brokemechanic3000]

sounds like some pretty s----ty tire shops you got there
I would have noticed it right away,I always watch the tires while I balance them just for this reason.

 

[Mark_88]

They are usually pretty good around here...problem was that the inside of the rim was out of round so when they put it on the balancing machine the outside appeared to be spinning fine...it was only due to the last shop having the backside open to the operator that he was able to see how out of round it was.

Anyway, that's one less thing on my mind right now...

 

[LIMA BEAN]

When I first read "Balancing Problem" I thought wait shouldn't this be in the drunk thread?

 

[Mark_88]

It would have been moved to somewhere soon enough...maybe the tailgate...

 

[adsm08]

Well Mark, you can balance an egg. It still won't roll nicely.

 

[straycat]

Man, I am so glad I never have issues like this!!! Not!!! Well....yes!!!! I remember back in 2000 just before I lifted my 99 Ranger the Firestone recall that came out. I bought my truck new in July of 99. I went to Tire Kingdom and they put me on a nice set of 30x9.5 AT Yokohamas. I took it out on the road to see how they felt and this shutter started at 25 mph!!! I drove it around for about 20 min. and took it back. They rebalanced the wheels and off I went and the shutter was there again at 25 mph. Not at 16 ,27 or higher, just at 25 mph.
I took it back and they decided to try another brand of tire. I had AR wheels on it that I had bought a month earlier from them. They put 31x10.5 BFG KO tires on and I took it out for a spin and no shutter. Great. I then got a recall check from Firestone for $223.00 for the recalled tires about two weeks later and I went ahead and lifted the Ranger and slapped on 33x12.5 BFG KO tires. No shutter no nothing and I am on my second set of 33's now and I will buy another set this year before Christmas. I do love these tires!!! I put the 31’s on my sister Baja bug I built for her birthday so they at least got another home for 6 years!!

 

[Mark_88]

Well Mark, you can balance an egg. It still won't roll nicely.

LOL...this is true...I think...

Mork probably knows more about this than I ever will...can't imagine flying through space in an unbalanced egg...

 

[LIMA BEAN]

LOL...this is true...I think...

Mork probably knows more about this than I ever will...can't imagine flying through space in an unbalanced egg...

Long as he dont have a head on with lady gaga in her egg, that would make for some freaky babies.

 

[Mark_88]

Mork Pork Gaga? Sounds like something out of a whore movie...er, horror movie...

 

[Surrey]

Long as he dont have a head on with lady gaga in her egg, that would make for some freaky babies.

three-way collision with Dr. Evil's egg escape pod too...

 

[Frank The Tank]

I've had tires balanced then still had to do a series of burnouts and rebalance when the tires were out of round from the factory. I usually keep an eye on the rims good.

 

[Mark_88]

yeah, I'm running the original aluminum rims (15" from a Bronco II) and have not been able to find any replacements...yet...

I had to make a 200 km round trip today and on the highway managed to hit 114 km/hr and it did shake a bit...but it shook worse at lower speeds around 85 km/hr. I know the back tires need to be replaced but the shimmy was in the front end that concerned me. The back end bounces around 85 km/hr but I know the difference from front end and back end bounce...

So I went to Canadian Tire and they happened to have a set of 15" steel rims....but at $240 +++++ to swap out all my tires to those rims seemed a bit excessive...considering I only need one rim.

Was thinking I could buy just one rim for the spare tire and hope the other four aluminum rims don't go out of round on me...but the condition of the roads around here are getting so bad that one good bump at high speeds could send another to the recycle yard...dang aluminum isn't worth enough to cover the costs of replacing them all just yet...