Discount Tire question regarding Road Force balancing

[Traction]

It's a lot harder to balance a tire/wheel correctly, than it LOOKS !

 

[Peted]

Go in on a Tuesday not before a snowstorm, tip the guy $10, and mention the vibration. They'll work with you.

Why specifically a Tuesday? I need to go into Discount tire because they sold me 2 tires that are 3.5 years old and one tire 2.5 years old. Getting them changed out and Tomorrow is Tuesday, so maybe I will go tomorrow.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Take them to DT, they'll do free rebalance and rotations for the life of the tire.

Free? I have always had to pay for lifetime rotation and balance at DT (at least for the past 20+ years). May be a regional thing (either way).

 

[FordMan59]

Free? I have always had to pay for lifetime rotation and balance at DT (at least for the past 20+ years). May be a regional thing (either way).

You have to pay for the initial tire service when you buy the tires but, each rotation/balance is free after the initial fee is paid.

 

[MattPersman]

As mentioned likely the only balancer a discount tire store even has is a recent or latest hunter road force machine. Properly install assembly on balancer and it will read road force and balance for each wheel.

unless there is a road force concern there is no real reason to correct it.

likely your tires are out of balance. Lots of truck tires especially go out of balance quickly after putting some miles on them

 

[CarbonSteel]

You have to pay for the initial tire service when you buy the tires but, each rotation/balance is free after the initial fee is paid.

So not free, you pay for lifetime rotation and balancing when you buy the tires which is what I have had to always do.

 

[RooflessVW]

Why specifically a Tuesday? I need to go into Discount tire because they sold me 2 tires that are 3.5 years old and one tire 2.5 years old. Getting them changed out and Tomorrow is Tuesday, so maybe I will go tomorrow.

Typically slower.

Monday is hell for service departments, Tuesday is slow, and from there it ramps to a peak on Friday afternoon.

 

[FordMan59]

So not free, you pay for lifetime rotation and balancing when you buy the tires which is what I have had to always do.

Right, but the reason I said it was free is because if I recall correctly the OP said he bought his tires at DT and as far as I know they only do lifetime balance and rotation on their tires.

 

[The Critic]

As mentioned likely the only balancer a discount tire store even has is a recent or latest hunter road force machine. Properly install assembly on balancer and it will read road force and balance for each wheel.

unless there is a road force concern there is no real reason to correct it.

likely your tires are out of balance. Lots of truck tires especially go out of balance quickly after putting some miles on them

This is the balancer that all of my local Discount Tire Stores have:

StackPath

www.vehicleservicepros.com

 

[4WD]

So not free, you pay for lifetime rotation and balancing when you buy the tires which is what I have had to always do.

You are both right: dad pays and son goes in for free rotation and balance

 

[ctrcbob]

Used to use a local tire shop, to keep it local. HORRIBLE vibration after new tires installed. Brought it back 3 times. They mentioned suspension and steering blah blah. Took it to a national retailer, paid for a balance, PERFECT. Went back to the local store and talked to a manager and told them I'd never be back. The national retailer mentioned something about using the correct nut thingy to screw a tire onto the balancer and that often a tech will use one that doesn't necessarily fit the rim correctly but they are trained to do everything EXACTLY as specified by their trainings. But who knows.

Long story short, some places know how to balance, some don't.

This post is exactly like what I went through. For a minute, I thought this post was on I had written.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Right, but the reason I said it was free is because if I recall correctly the OP said he bought his tires at DT and as far as I know they only do lifetime balance and rotation on their tires.

The stores here have two choices:

1. One time mount and balancing included with cost of tire
2. Lifetime tire rotation and balancing in addtion to cost of tires

I am not sure if it is the same everywhere.

 

[ctrcbob]

If you watch the technician work, he should break the bead then line up the chalk marks he put on the tire and the wheel.

When I had mine done at Dunn Tire in Henrietta N.Y., took him all of one hour from the time I drove in to the time I paid and left. (That included writing up the job order.). Tech knew what he was doing.
Here in Central FL, the two times I tried getting it done, not only did they not know what they were doing, but they skipped steps, including the printout of which corner to place each tire/wheel.

 

[Jetronic]

It's a lot harder to balance a tire/wheel correctly, than it LOOKS !

agreed! it seems to be very hard for some to use one (set of ) weight on the inside and one set on the outside or behind the spokes.

 

[eljefino]

The national retailer mentioned something about using the correct nut thingy to screw a tire onto the balancer and that often a tech will use one that doesn't necessarily fit the rim correctly

Also the arbors will get wear spots on the common hub diameters, which will lead to poor results.

 

[FordMan59]

The stores here have two choices:

1. One time mount and balancing included with cost of tire
2. Lifetime tire rotation and balancing in addtion to cost of tires

I am not sure if it is the same everywhere.

They may do that here too but they've always figured in lifetime rotation/balancing when I've used them so I've never questioned it. For me it's convenient and keeps me from being out in 0*F or 110*F weather rotating my own tires. I usually buy 60-80K mile tires and have them rotated about every 5K miles so I guess I pretty well get my money's worth.

 

[CarbonSteel]

They may do that here too but they've always figured in lifetime rotation/balancing when I've used them so I've never questioned it. For me it's convenient and keeps me from being out in 0*F or 110*F weather rotating my own tires.

I buy it everytime even on the OEM tires. It's a good deal and like you said saves the back muscles. I would not enjoy wrestling the 5 tires on my Jeep every 5K miles

 

[FordMan59]

I buy it everytime even on the OEM tires. It's a good deal and like you said saves the back muscles. I would not enjoy wrestling the 5 tires on my Jeep every 5K miles

Doing my own rotations wouldn't be so bad if I had a air conditioned/heated garage to work in and 2 floor jacks but with only one floor jack it involves a lot more jacking and tire changing. Jack up front left corner remove wheel put on spare, jack up rear left corner take tire off put front left on. Go back to front left corner jack it up again remove spare put left rear tire on. Now we can do the same thing all over again on the right side and when we're all done the wheels still haven't been re-balanced.

 

[eljefino]

Doing my own rotations wouldn't be so bad if I had a air conditioned/heated garage to work in and 2 floor jacks but with only one floor jack it involves a lot more jacking and tire changing. Jack up front left corner remove wheel put on spare, jack up rear left corner take tire off put front left on. Go back to front left corner jack it up again remove spare put left rear tire on. Now we can do the same thing all over again on the right side and when we're all done the wheels still haven't been re-balanced.

My HHR would lift the entire side of the car if I jacked 6-12 inches rearward of the firewall. Depending on what you think of your frame rails at this point it may be an option.

 

[Blinker]

Discount tire doesn’t use the road force balance machine unless it’s an escalated complaint from my experience. Not all the techs are trained on the machine either from what I was told by one of the managers. I’ve only had to have them road force balance a set of tires ones in my life thankfully.