Community Forums

TwelveVolt · 10-09-2012, 08:09 AM

My used SUV came with four new tires that the dealership had installed and balanced. After visits to two dealerships and two independents to check and rebalance, I still had the bad shake between 70 and 80 MPH. Firestone had an oil change and tire balancing deal so I thought lets give it one more shot. The young man doing the balancing left the OSHA safety cover off, you know, just like in the old days, and he spotted the defect in the tread/belt going round and round. Swapped the tire with the spare and problem solved. As he put it, the computer controlled machine can accurately balance an egg...but it's still an egg.

Hope this experience helps someone else.

TwelveVolt · 12-01-2012, 04:48 AM

FYI

The service person at Lazydays in Tampa told me they have a machine to mill (i.e. shave) the tread into round. The idea is to remove any bumps or egg shape in the tire as it came from the factory.

CampDaven · 12-01-2012, 05:08 AM

Because they must be rotated, all 4 being balanced makes sense.

JohnBoyToo · 12-01-2012, 05:59 AM

Agree - balance them

even if the vibration is so small you can't feel it, I promise they are bouncing a bit...
could be as simple as one belt have a little more (or less) elasticity as the others and the rotation allows it to stretch a bit more...

the result will be 'cupping' of your tires just like if a shock no longer 'shocks'

but, so far, it's still a free country and we can decide what's best for us... good luck

WeatherTodd · 12-01-2012, 06:44 AM

I love the qualification of some posters... ive been doing this X number of years... so it must be correct.

My father smoked his whole life... but it wasnt lung cancer he died from.

If it spins it needs to be balanced. Whether its your crankshaft, driveshaft, brake drum, brake disc, etc.

KSCRUDE · 12-01-2012, 07:21 AM

Put the Centramatics on all three axles of the semi and the driver thinks their great. Also have them front and rear on the motor home. Did them the same day I did the rear trac bar and the koni shocks on all 4 corners. This thing handles great now and is very smooth at any speed. Also have done the cheap Handleling fix. The combination of everything makes for one smooth stable ride.

Hikerdogs · 12-01-2012, 07:49 AM

I can tell you from experience that balancing the rear tires will give you a much better ride and also increase the usefull life of the tires. In 2007 we put 4 new tires on the rear of our motorhome. They were supposed to be balanced with Equal balancing powder.

The first few thousand miles everything seemed ok. After about 15,000 miles they developed a pronounced vibration at 45 mph. Since we don't normally travel at 45 mph the vibration only occoured when accelerating to highway speed and again when decelerating.

We lived with this condition another 20,000 or so miles then things really started to deteriorate. In 2010 I noticed some abnormal on the rear tires, but with the odometer approaching 100,000 miles I was thinking it was time to trade it off anyway. On the way to Florida that winter things got to the point I stopped at a truck shop to see if they could remove the balancing powder and rebalance them with external weights.

When the technician disassembled the tires I was surprised to find there was never any balancing powder installed. All the tires were balanced with external weights. The worst was the outside right needing over 13 oz of weight. While the balancing helped considerably the damage was already done. Within another 10,000 miles the flat spots originating from the original out of balance condition caused the vibration to return.

The tires were replaced in 2011 with only a little over 45,000 miles on them. There was still about half the tread left, but they had been out of balance for so long they had developed huge flat spots. Had they been balance properly when they were originally installed they would have easily gone another 30,000 miles before needing to be replaced.

TwelveVolt · 12-01-2012, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CampDaven

Because they must be rotated, all 4 being balanced makes sense.

I noticed one ad for an RV that said something like "Six aluminum wheels, two polished and four not". Others seem to have different size tires on front and rear. Is tire rotation common on RVs?

gbstewart · 12-01-2012, 08:00 AM

Spin balance if you can, Just as I was hanging up my tools( being a auto tech) the beads just started in our shop, just open the tire and pop it in, how simple is that, after mounting and balanceing 100s of tire I had to check this out, I put some in my truck and it seemed ok, But with that being said , without spin balance you cant tell if your rim is bent, or if the tire has a bad belt in it, and for that reason I would not use beads, also they may damage tire pressure senors if you have them built into the rim, (most new car/trucks have them) it really boil down to personal choice, when i get new tires 10r22.5 i will spin balance them.
btw the shop that I worked in went back to just spin balanceno more beads.

just me thinking out loud.
gbstewart

TwelveVolt · 12-01-2012, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hikerdogs

The tires were replaced in 2011 with only a little over 45,000 miles on them. There was still about half the tread left, but they had been out of balance for so long they had developed huge flat spots. Had they been balance properly when they were originally installed they would have easily gone another 30,000 miles before needing to be replaced.

I wonder if the milling machine mentioned earlier could have been used to salvage some additional miles from these tires?

KSCRUDE · 12-01-2012, 09:14 AM

I really don't think they could be saved. I never balance the drive tires on my semi trucks, although I just put a set of Centramatics on one to try them out. So far we love them. We never get flat spots or cupping on drive tires, due to not being balanced. May see edge wear and torque wear. Generally you see cupping and weird tire wear on steer tires. And inside or outside rib wear. You can balance, align the front and rear axles, and trailer axles and front tires will always develop a wear pattern of some kind or another. We do rotate steer tires from side to side about once, during their life on the truck. We may rotate the drives one time also in a criss cross pattern to change the rotation which evens out torque wear. Still we don't change inside to outside because of the polished outside wheels. When my tires get to about 50% tread I sell the tire and wheels to others and replace with all new, front to rear. So I replace ever tire and wheel in the fleet once a year, and we never have tire or wheel problems.

deandec · 12-01-2012, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwelveVolt

Is tire rotation common on RVs?

Not on my MH.

The inside rear dual aluminum wheels would need to be cleaned up and polished if placed on the outside or 4 tire dismounts done.

Two rear tires to front position would require 4 tire dismounts/remounts.

If one averages 5,000 miles per year of travel, then at the 7 year mark, only 35,000 miles on the tires. At that point age may dictate replacement. Rotating would not add much life.

KSCRUDE · 12-01-2012, 11:11 AM

I really want to go with aluminum wheels on the rig, but I don't think the rear studs are long enough to do both wheels. Could do the outside and leave the inside steel but want to change them all for less unstrung weight and better ride. On a new Newmar DP do they run alloy wheels inside and out on the rear or do they go cheap on ya and just do the outside? Maybe some of you pusher guys can let me know. I probably won't change the Baystar over has I want a 14 DP so really no need if I am going to replace it this spring or summer. Any body need a really nice gasser?

phranc · 12-01-2012, 11:19 AM

KSCRUDE. I wish some of my old employers had the same attitude about tires that you do !! At any rate they did balance every tire , everytime . Cheaper in the long run
to just get it done and not have to worry what position the tire was in . Of course that was larger fleets , about 1500 tractors and central location/warehouse for tires.