Dad had new tires installed, ALLOT OF WEIGHTS

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

Well my dad had new tires put on his work truck today, just standard size road tires. I noticed that there are ALLOT of weights on the wheels. Like 6 on the outside of one, and 4 on the outside of another plus 2 on the inside.
I dont think this is right. Arent they supposed to be able to get perfect zeros with only one weight or two?
Should we take the truck back?

 

[KR69IDI]

Unless there is a bent rim, this does not sound right!!!

 

[poolguy]

Often a tire can be rotated on the rim and require much less weight. I'd suggest it to the tire dealer. (loudly if he doesn't seem to hear it the 1st time!!)

 

[reklund]

Depends on the tire. If it's a no-name tire, it may have a heavier "heavy spot" than a high-end tire. As suggested, spin the tire on the wheel 180° and have them re-balance.

I've got a bunch of weight on one of my wheels with the new BFG's. No matter what I did, it ended up with 200-250G of weight on the inside.

The other thing to try is a road-force balance. The road-force machines are getting more popular, but you may have to pay to have it done at another tire dealer. Basically, the road-force machine duplicates the load a tire would be under with the weight of a vehicle on it, and takes that into consideration for the weight calculation.

Good Luck,
Ryan

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

They're BFG commercial high milage tires. They are not cheap by no means. lol
I think we're gonna take them back.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

The BFG Commercial TA tires "are" cheap (low quality). Compare them to the price of Michilans etc. What you are paying for over "no name" brands is the mileage warranty.

Find someone local that does "road force" balancing. It's more expensive, but it match mates the tire to the wheel for minimal runout. If you have excessive runout, the tires will never ride well regardless of being balanced "in the air".

 

[f-two-fiddy]

A lot of tire techs, (I use that term loosly) have no idea how to properly mount/balance a tire.

The higher quality tires are marked for the heaviest part of the tire. Most tire monkey's just put the mark next to the valve stem. The proper way is to the spin the wheel, and find/mark it's heaviest side, and then put the tire mark opposite the wheel mark.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

I will add the BFG's "ARE" marked for the heavy / high spot, you line up the dot with the valve stem hole which is drilled at the light / low spot on the rim.

I bought a set and made them re-mount the tires because they did not line the dots up.

 

[ttman4]

A lot of tire techs, (I use that term loosly) have no idea how to properly mount/balance a tire.

Road Force job is only as good as RoadForce Jocky Tech is.
I don't know either what seems to be the problems lately with the "Balancing Techs" (and I use that term loosly too!) but my WIFE or EJ, the granddaughter can balance tires better than balance jobs I been getting lately.
When my rig is balanced correctly it rides like a magic carpet, but when it's not it rides on square sided tires!

I recently pd. $84 for balance & rotate job. Been in & out ever wk since for redo, get better, then worse, little weights, then tons of weights!
(I've noticed thru the years it seems to suddenly start being a "BENT WHEEL" or wore out truck if tech doesn't know how to balance, not saying wheels can't be or get bent.)
Last wk. they put their "BEST MAN" on it! Next day I was back.....that day they did the "ROAD FORCE" job....kept telling me they were doing this hi dollar $250 Road Force for me for free!!!!
I picked it up that nite....1/2 tires have about 40# weights scattered 3-4 points around the tire, inside & out....at 55mph starts quivering....60-65mph smooth.....66mph & up it just gets worse & worse! At 75 the tailgate, headache rack, & hood may fly off! At 85 I'm afraid the windshield may come flying in on me!

Sat I got mad & pulled EVERY weight off all 6.....you won't believe how much better it rides! Way better than before they started messing with it!

I'm starting to wonder about some of the "HomeBrew" bal. techniques I've heard about thru the years.....antifreeze inside tire, hardballs, softballs, tennis balls, basketballs, golfballs, marbles, BB's, talc-powder, different "storebought" balance powders & liquids.....bal rings mted. on wheel.
I have used antifreeze to some success in semi tires years ago & seen bal. rings used on semi tires successfully.

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

I had 17oz on my 37's before

 

[riotwarrior]

funny..I go to Wal-mart for my balance .... = 0 problems....5 times I have had it done!

Take tyres in for rotation....told em to cross rotate...they didnt ...wont cross rotate directional tyres....something bout running em wrong way liability....

Oh well time to sipe em again and redo the balance..

 

[Blue Rebel]

Hey guys, im a "tire monkey" for the local TA truckstop. Whats probably happening, as far as my experiances have been, is they are not mounting the tire strait on the rim. Unknown to most people, you can actually mount a tire "crooked" on the rim. Its hard to explain, but i hope you get the idea.

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Here you can see what im talking about. See the ribs on the tire that run along right next to the rim? You can mount a tire up where those lines will wobble closer and farther away from the rim as the tire spins on the balancer, yet the rim spins true. You just mounted the tire crooked. You can balance a tire mounted badly, but after driving on the road for a little while, the tire will remount itself true, which will totally throw off the original weight requirement. next time you go in, request to watch as the balancer spins, and you will be able to see for yourself wether or not they are mounting those tires up correctly.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I will add this to what he just said.

You can perfectly balance a big tall road-grabbing tire, and then some power-punk try to spin the tires on the pavement.

The tire will grip the road and the metal rim actually slip inside the tire, throwing the balance job out the window.

The weights are still there, where they were supposed to be; but, it makes the guy that balanced the tires look like an idiot.

A case in point = most off-roaders and drag-racers Rim-Screw the beads to the rims, preventing such slippage.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Weights should only be in one spot on each side of the rim. If they are in multiple spots it means they re-spun after balancing, it wasn't right and so they added more weights.

A weight just being 1/4" off to one side will make the balancer show that it needs a couple ounces in another spot on the wheel. Simply moving the original weight over a little towards where it is showing more wieght will make the tire show proper balance.

The tire shop I used to work at had the drive belt go bad in the balancer, each time you spun a tire the balance would come out different.

 

[ttman4]

You can mount a tire up where those lines will wobble closer and farther away from the rim as the tire spins on the balancer, yet the rim spins true. You just mounted the tire crooked. You can balance a tire mounted badly, but after driving on the road for a little while, the tire will remount itself true, which will totally throw off the original weight requirement.

Yes, very good point. I've seen it happen.

MIDNIGHT RIDER;The tire will grip the road and the metal rim actually slip inside the tire, throwing the balance job out the window.

Yes, you're right too.
BTW, what is Rim-Screw the beads to the rims?? Is it....well when I mt. my own tires with my machines I slobber the slick-um to beads & give it a twist as it "pops" to help seat beads straight....is this what you saying?

Mr_Roboto;Weights should only be in one spot on each side of the rim. If they are in multiple spots it means they re-spun after balancing, it wasn't right and so they added more weights.

Yeah, like I said, last time they did mine I got it back with tons of wt on about 1/2 of tires & wts were scattered 3-4 places round tire, inside & out....that was the free $250 Road-Force Balance Job they graciously gave me to show me it was my fault & not theirs.....my junk tires, my bent wheels, my hi-miler truck that's wore out & loose.
Funny thing, they did perfect bal. job on same wheels & Michelin tires about 8K miles back. & also funny, I rebuilt...rebushed everything under front end last year. Just before last round of bad balancing I had front-end alignment cked in THEIR alignment shop & everything was A-OK & tight!!!