The Official Guide to Balancing your Tires

I found this article interesting.......specifically the last two paragraphs talking about the importance of using a Hunters Machine for match mounting modern wheels and tires.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=17

And if you're having trouble balancing your tires (you get the dreaded shimmy around 60mph), here are the steps I have found that will give you the best chance at a smooth ride.

1) Find a shop with a Hunter's Road Force Balance Machine (this is an absolute must).
2) Tell them you would like your wheels and tires match mounted.
3) Tell them to use adapter plates (aka finger plates or spider plates) instead of cone adapters.
4) Tell them to turn off "Smart Weight" before running the balance.
5) Ask for the run out numbers for every tire.
6) If a tire shows a run out above 20, reject that tire and inform them you would like a new tire.

Hope this helps.

 

Hi @nimby ,

Today morning when I was at Discount tire I did ask them is there a way to get a printed sheet like the alignment from the Road Force balance but looks like that machine does not print anything. They said the Tech could write on a piece of paper. As for this post I wonder how much we can trust what the tech write. For me since I go to this place for multiple tires I have some level of trust.

To be honest me personally won't be comfortable asking those point other than asking the shop things like "Do you have road force balance? Can I get a road force balance?"

 

This is great info! Thank you for the write up @nimby

 

#6 would be nice but I'm going to assume most have been driving on their tires already.

 

#6 has more to do with new tire purchases or tires still under warranty. Some tire shops give you a 30 day satisfaction guarantee on new tire purchases. I recommend buying new tires from a shop that offers this.

The Road Force number is still useful information for those with persistent problems though. At lease you can narrow down the faulty tire and replace if necessary.

 

If your truck turns out fine after they balance it, then no worries......your tech knew what they were doing and your tires are good.

We all have different levels of comfort. I totally get that. But if your truck has a shimmy that's driving you nuts, you might feel more comfortable walking through these steps with your shop to try and fix the issue.

I would definitely ask for those road force numbers though. They don't necessarily know the numbers you are looking for ahead of time and really don't have a reason to lie about them. They should just warranty the tire(s) that you find unacceptable (assuming they're new or still under warranty). If they give you any grief, have them put the tire above 20 up front. A shimmy at 60mph will be your evidence of a bad tire.

 

Just want to share my experience at the tire shop today getting a new set of BFG KO2's.

Went to America's Tire even though they were a bit of a drive for me. I specifically went there because of the Hunters Machine. I checked with Costco and they do a dynamic balance. The guy at Costco told me dynamic balance was fine for a 4Runner and that road force balance was only for sports cars. That's when I knew not to trust that guy.

While at Americas Tire and talking with the guy up front, I expressed my concern about how sensitive the 4Runner is to proper balancing and if he would provide me with the run out numbers at the end of the balance.

He said no problem and that he and his crew were well versed in balancing Toyota trucks. He informed me that their team had specifically worked with Toyota on tire balancing and that they use a special adapter plates on all Toyota trucks......those were the adapter plates I was talking about in Post #1.

After that, I felt completely comfortable leaving the rest up to them. And all of my road force numbers ended up being between 7-14.

On my way home, as I hit 60mph and beyond, everything was smooth as silk.

 

Finally, a story with a happy ending.

 

Are you saying its the shop skill to be blamed for KO2? Not the tire? Are you saying all those KO2 hate is wrong?
JK

 

Haha!

In all seriousness both things can be true.

My sense is most of these shimmy issues could be fixed with a proper balance on the correct machine using the appropriate steps.

But sometimes you're sold a tire that might work fine on another vehicle but would cause a shimmy on our trucks.

Hopefully this thread helps people through the steps of figuring this issue out.

 

I just wanna add. Since I got these tires(cooper at3 4s) 3 years ago. I dealt with the shimmy. Until you post this in another thread months ago. Took it to a local offroad shop with the hunter machine and adapters. I asked for the read out numbers before and after. This was not an issue, the before numbers 18-25, after the numbers were 5,5,8,12. Guess what no shimmy. 6 times I had these tires balanced previously.

Thanks bud.

 

The shop i have been using does not have a Hunter machine, and there have been a couple of times that i left the shop after balancing, and returned because of a shimmy. He took it out no problem, i do not know if he had a more experienced tech check it or what but he has always been able to get them right.I am on the Falken 285/70/17 MT’s E load a very heavy tire. Some tech’s figure it’s close enough and call it done, but i told him close enough for me is when I can’t feel it.

 

That's awesome! Glad it worked out!

 

A second vote for America’s Tire. Went thru 3 shops to properly balance my KO2’s. Finally on a whim went to America’s Tire and they did it right, haven’t had any issues since. I was a little naïve on the whole balancing thing so I don’t know what machine was used.

 

I've been told all America's Tires have a Hunters RFB machine but I can't vouch for that with 100% confidence.

 

I prefer bubble balancing, neighbors got one.

 

BS without pictures…

 

Simple really. You just lay your wheel on top step on the pedal then there is a bubble in a gauge in the middle and you just lay your weights to center the bubble.

 

One missing step, use the straight trak setting. If will tell where on the vehicle to put each balanced wheel/tire assembly for either the least amount of tire pull, or the least amount of vibration.

 

I do all my motorcycle wheels at home this way. Great results.

Jason

 

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