Are you having tire balance problems on the left coast?

skippythedog

Observer
Consider on the vehicle balancing which will balance the whole assembly including your drums and hubs/spindles etc.

Now considered obsolete, there are a few shops out there that still offer this service but it's tough to find them. I worked in Automotive for years and even used to sell alignment equipment. Last Summer when I got my FG, I called everyone I knew in an attempt to locate someone who still had one of these old balancers, without success..... I stumbled on 2 of them today....listed at the bottom.

I'm in the process of switching to an SRW setup and for my trip to Canada to get them, I decided to toss some ceramic beads in my front stock size tires to try them....They're ok...only specified 3 oz.s of beads whereas the 17x37x12.50 tires will require 8 oz per wheel. I'll give it a try, but if the results are not satisfactory, I'll have the fronts balanced on the vehicle as I know I'll be happy.

On the vehicle balancing available in Auburn, WA at Brent's Alignment and in Sparks, NV at Sunshine Service. Sunshine posted a little film on YouTube...https://youtu.be/7UP97bO-MpU
 

SkiFreak

Crazy Person
I remember those wheel balancers... but I have not seen one in use for many years.
Interested in hearing how you go with the balance beads, as I have considered going down that route myself.
 

nick disjunkt

Adventurer
I had a Michelin tyre shop in Oaxaca balance my steer tyres on the truck. It got rid of an annoying vibration which a huge commercial tyre shop in the UK had been unable to do. The ABS didn't enjoy it and brought up a fault on the dash but it disappeared after a few minutes on the road.
 

skippythedog

Observer
After about a week of (only 3 oz of beads) in the stock tires, it seems to work relatively well. Inexplicably there is some intermittent dynamic imbalance, apparent with some steering wheel wobble (again, only intermittent)....not bad though.....Oct. 5, if things go well, I get my steel 17x9s and new Hankooks installed in Vancouver, BC. Chart says 8 oz's of beads, I'll report back after a bit...My new springs w/ poly bushings up front have done wonders, even for my low mile truck....
 

SuperVan

Forager
Would like to be in contact for more info on the wheel/spring set up. Will send you a priv message.

KJ
 

Reddogtheo

Observer
Hi I have been having trouble with balancing also I have been blaming the tyres. Yet the other week I took the tyres off the rims and put the rims on a tyre balancer and found that two rims had a slight bend in them . Bought new rim put tyres with beads an them only have a very small wobble at 75ks .
I do not blame the rims themselves it is more likely where I live being a mine subsidence area as some times pot holes develop that would swallow a Small Hyundai. I have also increased tyre pressure as I feel any wheel with such a large offset is susceptible to a bend if hit at the right place.

Mick
 

Aussie Iron

Explorer
I'm yet to wreck a rim and mine get a hiding. I have had an episode not long ago where we can't get rid of a shimmy in the front end. First blame tyre balance but I run beads and never had a problem. We rotated through 6 tyres on rims and couldn't get rid of it. We even tracked the rims to see if we had buckled them and we have only 1mm runout on all 6. This can be from mounting surface even though we spent time cleaning this surface. Fitted up new tyres (back to Kumho KL71's) on my extra spare rims and fitted to front on one side then the other to see if we were having another problem with the wheel bearings or knuckle setup. Shimmy is gone so refit old rims and tyres shimmy is back. Now these tyres are 2/3 worn so around 15-20,000 Klms left in them but can't use them on the front. Looks like to me that the case side walls aren't stable enough to use on the front. Now these are the tyres that I all ways said were too soft in the side walls and needed to run higher pressure than I liked on the highway and would build up extra heat.

Dan.
 

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