Right Way to Road Force Balance?

[Vercingetorix]

That's why I always pull all weights before I get new tires.

I have seriously been considering buying my own wheel weights. The Hoffman power weights are super easy to remove. Pull the whole strip at once.

 

[Joba27n]

Is it possible, or typical, to get any sort of print-out from the balancer as to the final balance specs on the tires?

I have a pair of tires to mount on rims (215-75-14 on vintage steel magnum rims) and I didn't know about this road force balance so now I'm going to call around but I just don't trust these shops to do this or do it properly if I drop off the tires/rims in the AM and pick them up in the PM. Around here I feel that I need to watch them do it, absolutely zero trust for these places. I'm not a regular garage or dealership customer, I do my own repairs but tire mounting and balancing is something I can't do at home.

Yes, GM required the numbers for warranty and we printed off a copy for the customers WO.

Brand new freshly mounted tires can't really be road forced. You have to drive them around for a few days first. During shipping and handling they aren't in their intended shape supported by air so road forcing a brand new tire isn't guaranteed to be accurate

 

[Joba27n]

I have seriously been considering buying my own wheel weights. The Hoffman power weights are super easy to remove. Pull the whole strip at once.
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You should try that with factory GM stick on weights... especially when it's cold out... I also like those style stick on weights

 

[alcyon]

Sometimes its just the tire itself. The dudes could balance 3 but 1 was out of round, so he just did his best, it was on the front.

 

[SumGuy]

Tell me where I can find this guy near me:

 

[JohnnyG]

Sometimes its just the tire itself. The dudes could balance 3 but 1 was out of round, so he just did his best, it was on the front.

It's always the tire itself. If it wasn't, regular spin balance would work just fine.

 

[shortyb]

There is definately a right way to Road Force match balance a wheel/tire, but as it's been said, will the tech take the time to do it? I'm fortunate enough to have worked for a short time a my local VW dealer and know all the service folks, and they know me. None have an issue with me doing my own tire changes on a slow Saturday, and the shop has the latest Hunter machines. I just changed tires on my son's car and did Road Force match balancing, much like the guy in the video. All 4 of his wheels are very slightly out of round, but didn't have the time to get them straightened. Get initial readings on RF machine with bare wheels and mark high/low spots. Mount the tires (Pirelli P Zero AS+3s this time around) and RF. Find high/low spots again and mark them. Break the bead and rotate the tire to match up high to low and RF again. Repeat if RF was too high (only 2 were). Came out with 7, 12, 13 and 18 lb. and no wheel/tire took more than 25gr. of weight. Took me a bit of time, and some sweat equity, but even with the slightly bent wheels, it runs very smooth.

 

[SubLGT]

TCame out with 7, 12, 13 and 18 lb. and no wheel/tire took more than 25gr. of weight. Took me a bit of time, and some sweat equity, but even with the slightly bent wheels, it runs very smooth.

Road force match mounting works best with "slightly bent" wheels, and is not effective with "perfectly round" wheels.

 

[panthermike]

Truck is back in this morning to install Hub rings; hoping for the best!

 

[panthermike]

Much to my surprise and delight, the hub rings seemed to have done the trick.

 

[CapriRacer]

Much to my surprise and delight, the hub rings seemed to have done the trick.

So you're saying the problem was the wheel wasn't centered on the axle.

 

[panthermike]

So you're saying the problem was the wheel wasn't centered on the axle.

It appears so. Tire and wheels off the truck multiple times with the same issue. But now it is gone. I will say there is a pretty large size difference, 77.8 mm hub and 106.1 mm opening in the center bore of wheel.