Road Force Balancing w/ new tires+rims
10-19-10, 01:18 PM
#1
Road Force Balancing w/ new tires+rims
as some people may have read in my pasts posts, i have been having problems with vibration at high speeds. I have new rims and currently need new tires. I talked to the guy at Big O about road force balancing my wheels, and he said it may not be worth it. Can anybody cosign to that? Ill do it if it helps any but if not then ill just get a regular balance..
Last edited by BIGVIC23; 10-19-10 at 01:26 PM.
10-19-10, 04:27 PM
#3
If your really tracking down vibrations and feel it is the tires and not other suspension components a road force may help.
But as with all things the skill of the technician is just as important as the machine being used. The 9700 will also help determine the best way to rotate the tire on the rim in addition to traditional weight placement, since tires are not actually perfectly round. A basic balancer cannot perform that diagnostic.
On the other hand a good technician that's spends the time on a normal balancer machine can do damn fine work, but again it's all skill and patience.
The other big thing with either type of machine that can make a difference is if the wheel/car being balanced is hubcentric or lugcentric. The machines have interchangable rim mounts, most shops use the tapered universal hubcentric mount as it is way faster to slap a wheel up on it through the hub and lock it down, than installing it with lug nuts. So verify they use the proper mount for the wheel/car.
Around here quite a few shops have 9700's and it isn't much more than a normal balance. Maybe $5-10 per wheel, and most shops with a 9700 only use that machine anyway and all balance jobs are roadforced. Very worth it as long as the tech knows what they are doing and actually gives a crap about what you want, not just getting it 'within' spec. Often it can be brought in better than spec if more time is spent on it.
But as with all things the skill of the technician is just as important as the machine being used. The 9700 will also help determine the best way to rotate the tire on the rim in addition to traditional weight placement, since tires are not actually perfectly round. A basic balancer cannot perform that diagnostic.
On the other hand a good technician that's spends the time on a normal balancer machine can do damn fine work, but again it's all skill and patience.
The other big thing with either type of machine that can make a difference is if the wheel/car being balanced is hubcentric or lugcentric. The machines have interchangable rim mounts, most shops use the tapered universal hubcentric mount as it is way faster to slap a wheel up on it through the hub and lock it down, than installing it with lug nuts. So verify they use the proper mount for the wheel/car.
Around here quite a few shops have 9700's and it isn't much more than a normal balance. Maybe $5-10 per wheel, and most shops with a 9700 only use that machine anyway and all balance jobs are roadforced. Very worth it as long as the tech knows what they are doing and actually gives a crap about what you want, not just getting it 'within' spec. Often it can be brought in better than spec if more time is spent on it.
Last edited by 99 GS3; 10-19-10 at 04:34 PM.
10-20-10, 12:21 AM
#5
If road force balancing does not do the trick the next best thing to check is for seized calipers. I've had issues with my front left caliper seizing, hence why I'm replacing it with bigger brakes. The best way to check this is jack up the car from one side spin the wheel check for any inconsistent scraping sound coming from the caliper, then do the same for the other side. 
10-21-10, 04:49 PM
#6
If your really tracking down vibrations and feel it is the tires and not other suspension components a road force may help.
But as with all things the skill of the technician is just as important as the machine being used. The 9700 will also help determine the best way to rotate the tire on the rim in addition to traditional weight placement, since tires are not actually perfectly round. A basic balancer cannot perform that diagnostic.
On the other hand a good technician that's spends the time on a normal balancer machine can do damn fine work, but again it's all skill and patience.
The other big thing with either type of machine that can make a difference is if the wheel/car being balanced is hubcentric or lugcentric. The machines have interchangable rim mounts, most shops use the tapered universal hubcentric mount as it is way faster to slap a wheel up on it through the hub and lock it down, than installing it with lug nuts. So verify they use the proper mount for the wheel/car.
Around here quite a few shops have 9700's and it isn't much more than a normal balance. Maybe $5-10 per wheel, and most shops with a 9700 only use that machine anyway and all balance jobs are roadforced. Very worth it as long as the tech knows what they are doing and actually gives a crap about what you want, not just getting it 'within' spec. Often it can be brought in better than spec if more time is spent on it.
But as with all things the skill of the technician is just as important as the machine being used. The 9700 will also help determine the best way to rotate the tire on the rim in addition to traditional weight placement, since tires are not actually perfectly round. A basic balancer cannot perform that diagnostic.
On the other hand a good technician that's spends the time on a normal balancer machine can do damn fine work, but again it's all skill and patience.
The other big thing with either type of machine that can make a difference is if the wheel/car being balanced is hubcentric or lugcentric. The machines have interchangable rim mounts, most shops use the tapered universal hubcentric mount as it is way faster to slap a wheel up on it through the hub and lock it down, than installing it with lug nuts. So verify they use the proper mount for the wheel/car.
Around here quite a few shops have 9700's and it isn't much more than a normal balance. Maybe $5-10 per wheel, and most shops with a 9700 only use that machine anyway and all balance jobs are roadforced. Very worth it as long as the tech knows what they are doing and actually gives a crap about what you want, not just getting it 'within' spec. Often it can be brought in better than spec if more time is spent on it.
10-21-10, 04:51 PM
#7
If road force balancing does not do the trick the next best thing to check is for seized calipers. I've had issues with my front left caliper seizing, hence why I'm replacing it with bigger brakes. The best way to check this is jack up the car from one side spin the wheel check for any inconsistent scraping sound coming from the caliper, then do the same for the other side.
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10-21-10, 06:18 PM
#8
If a dedicated tire or alignment shop says they never even heard of the road force then walk away and don't look back.
Now run of the mill corner repair shops may have like atlas or eagle balancers that start about $899 or so, but most dealerships and high end luxury car repair shops usually have all hunter alignment gear. The 9700 starts more like $15k+.
Skip the small shops and try dealerships, any brand dealer will balance tires on your lexus they don't care.. A friend of mine has worked in the body repair shop at a ford dealership for years and they use a 9700, and fix cars of all brands there, not just Fords...
Even the ghosttown of a saturn dealership near my work has hunter gear.
Again a good tech is key, as the software in the machine can also be used to calculate splitting the stickon wheel weight locations so that all weights are located behind the spokes on the wheels, and won't be visible.. And seeing guys here buying like $5,000 forged wheels I would hope they are seeking the best balancing and tire positioning available, as well as having the weights completely hidden.
Your right, I have no idea about any shops in cali, but you can certainly contact your local hunter rep and they will tell you the name of some shops in your town that uses their equipment. Put your zip code in on the 'your representatives' tab at the top of the home page and email the Service rep for your area.
http://www.hunter.com/index.cfm
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