Tire balancing ?

[01lssport]

I have the stock chrome 17's. I just bought some BFG 235/45's and had them mounted. They balanced the tires and put the lead wieghts on the inside edge of the rim. When I left the place I wanted to see how good of a balance it was so I hit a back road and spun them up to 80. All four wieghs came off. What the H3LL! Are they supposed to use the tape wieghts or what?

 

[02V8Sport]

find a place that does a load balance. Where the wheel rides on a roller when they balance it, that is the most accurate way to do it. Have them only use the sticky weights and clean the inside of the rim before they stick them on. I just had my 255/45's put on my 04, so I ran through the same drill last weekend. If you dont watch the guys do it, they do it the cheapest way possible.

 

[SoonerLS]

They're supposed to use stick-on weights. If your wheels are anything like the 17" machined 7-/14-spoke wheels on my '04, there's no lip on the rim, so there's nothing for the clip-on weights to grip.

Sounds like a dumb-@$$ did the balancing...

02V8Sport's talking about a Hunter Road Force balancing machine. You can find a local shop with one here: http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/FindGSP9700.cfm

These are actually mentioned in a TSB that applies to the LS. I don't remember which one it is, but it deals with vibration, and the first step is to have the wheels balanced on a Hunter Road Force balancer.

 

[cableguynoe]

ok...i feel stupid asking this....but what's tire balancing?
I recently got new tires and had an alignment done.... should i get them balanced?

 

[2001LS8Sport]

ok...i feel stupid asking this....but what's tire balancing?
I recently got new tires and had an alignment done.... should i get them balanced?

If you just bought tires, I'm sure they were balanced. I can't imagine a shop not performing that.

When you balance the tires, they stay smooth and don't "vibrate". Have you ever seen a ceiling fan that wasn't balanced? Wobbles all over the place. It's the same thing with tires. If they are out of balance, you will feel it inside the car and it will cause premature wear to the tires and suspension. Tires should be balanced anytime you feel the vibration inside the car or the tires are dismounted for any reason. Many shops do it routinely on rotations too. And by the way...rotate new tires every 3000 miles for the first 12,000 miles.