Balancing old tires

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Sep 14, 2015
Messages
861
Location
NE Ohio
On my recently-acquired Honda I bought 2 new tires as they were badly dry rotted and out of round, by the feeling of it. The rears still looked pretty good and instructed the tire shop to check and balance them if they were still good.

However, even though they balanced them, I'm still having a shake starting at 55 or so and getting worse up to 60 and beyond, felt mostly in the seat, not the steering wheel.

Is it possible for a tire to balance well but still be somehow damaged in a way that causes a shake? I'm thinking I maybe should have just bought all four.
 
yes they can also be out of round.. imagine balancing a "square" tire.. it would balance but still be lumpy.

I would rotate and see if the issue changes with the tire position.
 
Yes. Rotate them to the front and see if the vibrations are then more prominent in the steering wheel. Also, do you know if they were just spin balanced? Or roadforce balanced? Technically, you could spin balance a square and it would “balance” lol.
 
I would have done all 4, but that's just me. At the very least looked at th date code, if all 4 were same age, but only 2 rotted, then the other 2 can't be far behind.

As others have said, they could balance but be out of round. I also think a tire that is slightly out of balance, or slightly out of round, can be tolerated if the struts are good. And by extension, shot struts might be tolerated if the tires are exceptionally round and balanced. But make both bad or at least not good, and then you have the potential for odd shakes.
 
yes they can also be out of round.. imagine balancing a "square" tire.. it would balance but still be lumpy.

I would rotate and see if the issue changes with the tire position.
I will do this for sure. If it proves this theory I'll schedule to get the other two replaced.
When I was a broke university student I bought a used tire that looked like new. No matter how carefully it was balanced, that wheel still vibrated. I eventually took it back.

I have to think that tire simply was out of round.
I used to do used tires as well but they're barely cheaper anymore. Definitely no longer worth it.

I also was initially alarmed because of some indentations in the sidewall but have since read that it's a normal result of tire construction.
 
We have a 2014 Jeep GC and the tires have a lot of tread on them but they won't balance correctly any longer. They have 30,000 miles on them and we are just limping it along for a while. Its my wife Jeep and she works from home and it doesn't go on long trips any longer because of the tires. We recently went on a 400 mile round trip and took my Honda Civic because the wheel doesn't shake a certain speed. The shake isn't bad but I think the vehicle has hit so many potholes that the tires are compromised. It will go down the road pretty good but I am really fussy about a shaky steering wheel. I will buy some Michelin tires for it next time and it currently has the Goodyear tires that were the same as they came out at the Jeep factory but were replaced at about 45,000 miles. The Jeep has 77,000 miles on it now. Rotations and re-balancing do not help and I have have tried this a few times. My other vehicles go down the road great and I need to get out there and buy some new tires.
 
You can try driving the car in a way that get’s the tires nice and hot, inflate them to just under the max pressure rating on the sidewall and jack the car up so the tyres are off the ground. This needs to be done as soon as you stop driving and left overnight for the tires to cool off.

Its not a guaranteed fix but does work a lot of the time.
 
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This guy can balance 8 old tires in one try. :ROFLMAO:
 
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