36 bucks for balancing two tires....

That is really cheap. The charge to balance two tires on a normal machine can exceed $25/tire here.
 
$18 per tire is cheap if it is done right. Many places charge $20 and I usually have to return for a repeat because they did a half assed job and my wheel shimmies at 55mph.
 
I wish it were cheaper, but you did really good. IF the guy did it correctly. There are so many intricacies involved in road force balancing tires that most operators either don't know or won't take the time to do it correctly. Like most things, they have found out what works for the customer, in practical terms. Did you get a printout? Are the tires below 10# road force? Did it solve your problem?
 
Originally Posted by JohnG
I wish it were cheaper, but you did really good. IF the guy did it correctly. There are so many intricacies involved in road force balancing tires that most operators either don't know or won't take the time to do it correctly. Like most things, they have found out what works for the customer, in practical terms. Did you get a printout? Are the tires below 10# road force? Did it solve your problem?
When I worked at the VW dealership for a couple of weeks in early 2019 they had a Road Force balancer. No one used the feature except me. Most techs where using a smaller cone than what should have been used. Even though the job sucked, I learned a lot from that dealership. Especially the poor quality of work some of the employees did and how that was acceptable.
 
I asked for a couple of tires to be road force balanced. I asked the tech when he was through. "What was the number you achieved on the balance",...he said, "I have no idea what you are talking about". Money wasted I guess!
 
Originally Posted by RyanY
I usually have to return for a repeat because they did a half assed job and my wheel shimmies at 55mph.
Balancing a wheel / tire on a modern balancing machine has been dumbed down so much that it is extremely hard to screw it up. You either get it balanced, or you don't. The machine does 95 % of the work, the operator just follows the instructions. Mount wheel PROPERLY, spin. Place weights where machine tells you, spin again. If it shows zero's, all good. It is hard to do a half assed job when you don't have to THINK about anything ...
 
I don't even know what a road force balance is. We always mounted the rim to the machine with either a cone or a lug adapter,spun it and put the amount of weight on that it asked for. If a tire needs too much weight we rotated it on the rim and spun it again. Never had any problems or complaints.
 
Originally Posted by 2010Civic
$18 just to balance a tire doesn't seem cheap to me. If it includes mounting then I'd say it's a great deal.
Walking in the door and walking out spending less than $50 is a bargain these days. Were the wheels on the car, or off? Mechanic has to finish previous job, clean up, switch gears, do yours, turn in the paperwork, repeat. And they know they're the only game in town with a pricey fancy tool.
 
I'm guessing this $18 includes mounting the tire on the wheel? Yeah, that's less than average. It's $20 at a minimum around me now for standard mount/balance. Not sure where I'd get a fancy Hunter Road Force job done.
 
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about $100 for 4 here. after tax etc DT has the right gear but they dont seem to have a clue. I asked for roadforce and they argued me out of it... IF I want roadforce I take them to a nearby hyundai dealer.. they will even give me a printout.
 
Originally Posted by Rand
DT has the right gear but they dont seem to have a clue. I asked for roadforce and they argued me out of it... IF I want roadforce I take them to a nearby hyundai dealer.. they will even give me a printout.
A proper road-force balance takes about 3 to 4 times longer to do than a regular balance. Most shops will only do it for vibration come-backs.
 
Originally Posted by Rand
about $100 for 4 here. after tax etc DT has the right gear but they dont seem to have a clue. I asked for roadforce and they argued me out of it... IF I want roadforce I take them to a nearby hyundai dealer.. they will even give me a printout.
Yep nice fancy road force machine here in our little town at a fairly new DT (only about three years old) and I asked about it, they didn't have a clue about what made it more effective at balancing a tire vs non-roadforce.
 
Yeah, that sounds about right. I took in my own wheels/tires off the car and was charged $25 because they didn't have to put the car on the lift.
 
Most tire techs I've found either don't want to take the time to do a proper Roadforce balance job, or more commonly they don't know how. Most of the tires I buy I get from a buddy with a tire store, and he lets me mount and balance my own tires after hours. No scuffed wheels, grossly over-tightened lug nuts/snapped studs, and a properly balanced wheel/tire assembly.
 
That sounds like a good price to me, if they are doing a road force balance properly.
 
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