Balance after tire leak repair

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Mar 21, 2004
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Near the beach in Delaware
A few weeks ago I had a local Indy shop repair a slow leak in a tire. It turned out to be corrosion around the valve stem. He fixed it and did not balance the tire as he said he had marked the valve stem location. The tires were rotated also.

After that I had a lot of shaking around 54 MPH.

Finally had free time and brought it back. He wire brushed any corrosion on the rim where inside of the rim meets the hub. And balanced the tire he has repaired few weeks earlier.

I would think a tire should be balanced if it's unmounted and mounted for any reason.

He tightened the lug nuts with a cordless impact with no torque stick or finishing with torque wrench.

No charge today. I like the guy & shop but would have preferred he finish with a torque wrench.

When he was done the shaking was significantly reduced. It's got a solid front axle and will never ride like a Mercedes.
 
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I don't offer a tire repair without a balance, so clients have the option to take their business somewhere else, and I'm okay with that. Same policy when I do seasonal tire changes, they all get balanced or CYA!
 
No matter what, if it’s a repair or a re-mount, or a half worn tire, if you’re unhappy with it you can always take it in for balancing but prepare to pay for the work.
My Indy mechanic has a tire machine but no balancing equipment. When he put new TPMS sensors on my son’s truck tires he just marked the valve and weights, removed the tire and put them back in the proper place. Smooth enough.

Also, when he repaired a flat with an interior patch on my truck, he put it back together in the relative way. Large 33 inch + truck tires are never all that smooth anyway.
 
Discount tire has always rebalanced my tires after a tire repair . its the only tire place i have dealt with for years so i can't comment on others
 
That's not enough to cause it. My guess is the tire tech did not mark anything, even if he said he did and just reinstalled the tire without paying attention.
This was the owner of the Indy shop who did the work. Knowledge and attentive to what he is doing.

As I said he wire brushed the rim so it would mount perfectly on the hub. That could have been it.
 
That's why I always get the lifetime balance when I buy tires.
I always pay the extra for Lifetime balance/rotation/road hazard. The wife is kinda hard on what ever vehicle she drives so that sure comes in handy. I have had at least (3) tires replaced under road hazard in 2022. Her cars seem to be a magnet for things in the road or parking lots.
 
Road hazard and lifetime balance are two separate conversations. I hate road hazard because they tend to have a time limit on them that makes them not worth it.
 
Road hazard and lifetime balance are two separate conversations. I hate road hazard because they tend to have a time limit on them that makes them not worth it.
I know what you mean. There are certain places who will play games with you and do all they can to minimize what you get out of road hazzard.
Its best and worth it if you can buy it from a place you know and deal with who dont play those games. I got screwed on it a few places in the past
before I started buying all my tires from the same local shop who is very fair.
 
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