Feeling ripped off after paying for road force balance
- Thread starter Matt1357
- Start date
I had to wait inside because of downpouring rain and every phone call they tried to upsell shocks along with the lifetime alignment and of course the firestone credit card which will save you 10% off your current bill, all this for people just trying to get oil changed. Made me sick
Do you live in a small town or something? There has to be 40 machines within 20 miles of my home.
Look-this is a gripe thread nothing more. We can't help you.My area code is 06082, can you check the hunter site and recommend one for me
My area code is 06082, can you check the hunter site and recommend one for me
Could also use the tire rack local installer tool, they will list shops with RF
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- Jun 8, 2022
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Road force balance at Discount tire didn't take any longer than a regular balance.
The store manager wrote the numbers down on a piece of paper for me. He wouldn't give it to me - no idea why - but he did tell me for each wheel.
I had purchased 4 tires somewhere else. When I had a vibration and they couldn't find it I purchased a fifth for spare and rotated it through. Could never find "the vibration" because 2 of the original and the new spare were all over what they should be. When discount tire did it (the other shop didn't have a machine) 3 were over, one was marginal, one was good. I forget the numbers, they helped me with warranty. Continental charged me 20% pro rate - even though the tires had only a couple thousand miles. Continental will never get a dime from me again.
I would simply return and talk to the store manager, let him know your having vibration problems and you would like to know the number for each wheel and which wheel it is. I presume its a "liftetime balance" you paid for anyway, so it really shouldn't be an issue.
The store manager wrote the numbers down on a piece of paper for me. He wouldn't give it to me - no idea why - but he did tell me for each wheel.
I had purchased 4 tires somewhere else. When I had a vibration and they couldn't find it I purchased a fifth for spare and rotated it through. Could never find "the vibration" because 2 of the original and the new spare were all over what they should be. When discount tire did it (the other shop didn't have a machine) 3 were over, one was marginal, one was good. I forget the numbers, they helped me with warranty. Continental charged me 20% pro rate - even though the tires had only a couple thousand miles. Continental will never get a dime from me again.
I would simply return and talk to the store manager, let him know your having vibration problems and you would like to know the number for each wheel and which wheel it is. I presume its a "liftetime balance" you paid for anyway, so it really shouldn't be an issue.
Most of these tire shops have ridiculously high numbers for "passing" Roadforce. I went through this with my Regal. Anything above 12 or so pounds of roadforce starts to cause vibrations. GM lists 15 pounds of Roadforce as the recommended number for a car. Discount Tire was saying something around 25 pounds, which I found to be insane. I had this happen with 2 different sets of Continental tires that randomly started having vibrations at about 7,000 miles. Discount Tire never gave me a printout either. They only verbally told me the roadforce numbers.
A friend had her new tires road force balanced at it shook.
They tried 3 more times.
Then I took the wheels off her car, dynamic balanced them, put them back on her car, problem solved.
This road force junk seems more like a rip off, than a new better mouse trap that someone invented.
They tried 3 more times.
Then I took the wheels off her car, dynamic balanced them, put them back on her car, problem solved.
This road force junk seems more like a rip off, than a new better mouse trap that someone invented.
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- Jun 8, 2022
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There different procedures to measure different things. You really need both.
Regular balance corrects the dynamic balance (the weight).
Road force balance measures the run out - basically out of round or hard spots in the compound.
They work together. If your tire and wheel are true - you wouldn't need or benefit from road force. Its really just a check.
If your tire is not true and has enough run out - then no amount of regular balance will end the vibration. The fact your friend just needed a balance simply meant the tires were true, and they weren't being balanced properly at the other place.
The equipment is good. I’ve fixed many vibrations that had been to multiple other shops using a Hunter road force machine. The key is the person using it. Do they actually know how it works? Do they care enough to go through the steps or are they just mad because they feel underpaid so they’ll cut every corner they can?
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I'm no tire expert but I do mount and balance my own tires on Corghi equipment. If I had a passenger car tire that needed 3.5 ounces of weight or even the 2.5 ounces of weight I'd start digging to find out why. That's a lot of imbalance to be spinning around. I think those tires are wonky.
We have a resident tire expert on the forum with some very great input. Maybe he'll chime in. I just can't remember his name at the moment.
For your viewing pleasure:
We have a resident tire expert on the forum with some very great input. Maybe he'll chime in. I just can't remember his name at the moment.
For your viewing pleasure:
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
he is in here
Really Old School Tire Balancing
Never gave much thought as to how you'd do anything other than static balance a tire 'back in the day'. Seems the Germans had an answer for that. Although, I'm sure there were other machines as well. Youtube just thought I needed to see this video today and it is kind of fascinating.
bobistheoilguy.com
An honest tech and/or shop would hopefully only charge you a regular wheel tire balance fee if all road force measurements came out normal. Even though they did run road force measurements / loads, it was approximately 30 seconds more time, all of which the machine did for the tech.
If the road force is off is when the labor comes in that they want so much $ per wheel. If numbers are excessive, rim run out has to be measured, tire deflated and broken down to spin on the wheel and match, re-seated and inflated, road force rechecked (which if the assembly was pretty bad on the first check, it’s usually not correct with the first force matching, so rim runout and match again), and dynamic / static balance redone once the assembly is within acceptable road force.
It’s a process, and mounting balancing a brand new tire usually only pays a tech 0.3 hours = 18 minutes. Road force takes longer than mounting new tires, but customers (or service writers for that matter) rarely understand the process.
First the tech should look at the Dot on the tire in reference to valve stem. I have used Road Force as last resort but Dynamic 90% of the time. A good tech could fix it but someone only interested in out the door won't.
Where are they paying a tire guy 18 minutes to mount and balance a tire on a car?
The 2 shops I’ve worked at, one was 1.2 hours for 4 tires and one was 1 hour for 4 tires.
I static balance motorcycle tires, and its a perfect job verses what I get at mc shop with automated balancer.
But on auto tires, how does a harbor freight bubble balancer do?
But on auto tires, how does a harbor freight bubble balancer do?
