Well its time for me to get some new tires and I have it narrowed down to the Michelin defenders. Now the questions is do I go to sams and get it mounted for free or do I go over to bell tire and for 20 dollars a tire get it road force balanced.
What is road force balance worth to you?
- Thread starter wapacz
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Depends on your vehicle. Most cars are just fine with regular balancing. Then u have cars like my Acura that hates everything in life and is tolerable with road force balancing. My mazda isn't as sensitive.
Originally Posted By: Rand
for free?
Try sams. If they are wobbly and they cant fix it.. go get them roadforce balanced to see if you got a dud or what.
^^ this^^^ But if they won't balance send them back on the spot. DO NOT take them home.
for free?
Try sams. If they are wobbly and they cant fix it.. go get them roadforce balanced to see if you got a dud or what.
^^ this^^^ But if they won't balance send them back on the spot. DO NOT take them home.
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a VW dealership where i was at, only had a road force balancer. Didn't charge extra or anything on top of the overpriced labor.
Wouldn't buy a set of new tires without having the place I buy the tires doing it initially. Problem tire(s) will show up right away, saves LOTs of time and frustration!
I'll only roadforce balance a wheel/set of wheels if a regular balancing machine isn't able to get it right.
So far, I've only had one set of tires roadforce balanced, and even then it turned out to be a bent wheel that was causing the regular balancing machines to have trouble, not the tires themselves.
So far, I've only had one set of tires roadforce balanced, and even then it turned out to be a bent wheel that was causing the regular balancing machines to have trouble, not the tires themselves.
Michelin tires are not as likely to have a road force issue than some other brands in my experience. Keep in mind that road force correction and balancing are two different things that can correct wheel vibration from each problem.
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a VW dealership where i was at, only had a road force balancer. Didn't charge extra
But did they do the road force correction, or did they use that one machine for simple dynamic balancing? Most likely the latter unless there was a problem that required spending the time on the road force correction.
Quote:
a VW dealership where i was at, only had a road force balancer. Didn't charge extra
But did they do the road force correction, or did they use that one machine for simple dynamic balancing? Most likely the latter unless there was a problem that required spending the time on the road force correction.
Road force is for finding an out of round tire or shifted plies. Dont road force unless you have a problem, then have tire replaced under warranty.
Road Force balancing won't be necessary in most cases. From reading about it, RF can help find problems, but won't be needed most of the time.
I suspect most shops that have them don't use the full capability unless they're trying to track down a problem, as it takes extra time.
And I know a little about what I'm talking about. I worked in a tire shop in college and I've installed and balanced hundreds of tires. We didn't havea RF balancer, and normal dynamic balancing was fine in the vast majority of cases.
I suspect most shops that have them don't use the full capability unless they're trying to track down a problem, as it takes extra time.
And I know a little about what I'm talking about. I worked in a tire shop in college and I've installed and balanced hundreds of tires. We didn't havea RF balancer, and normal dynamic balancing was fine in the vast majority of cases.
^^THIS
Buy good tires and you will rarely need this at all.
Buy good tires and you will rarely need this at all.
I just think it's much cheaper in time/frustration to have new tires RF'd the first time. I once purchased a set of tires and I had to take time off work(cost me money) and take it back three times before they finally replaced two new tires. Ever since then, it's Road Force the first time. Once you have that done, you can just use normal balancing for the life of the tire. Oh, and I don't care what the tire dealer says, a RF number above 13 indicates a tire that WILL give you problems in balancing. Here in my area Discount Tire will only replace a tire with a reading of 20 or more.
Depends on the vehicle.
Most vehicles don't care, in my experience with German cars you have to get it. My Mercedes dealer uses the Hunter 9700 to balance everything. Only way to get them to run smooth.
Most vehicles don't care, in my experience with German cars you have to get it. My Mercedes dealer uses the Hunter 9700 to balance everything. Only way to get them to run smooth.
We always only occasionally would need tires balanced on our vehicles, and regular balancing always did the trick. But after buying my Passat, it needs to be road-forced balanced about every year or it drives me crazy! The Ford dealership in town is the only place I've found I can go and leaving knowing everything is going to run smooth. Nothing irritates me more then paying a place to balance the tires and a half mile down the road you realize it's still there if not worse.
The Passat is probably harder on tires than most other vehicles. Proper alignment sets ridiculous toe in, and the rears are even set up to be pointed out a bit.
The Passat is probably harder on tires than most other vehicles. Proper alignment sets ridiculous toe in, and the rears are even set up to be pointed out a bit.
Just so we are clear:
Road Force balancing isn't balancing at all.
It's measuring the uniformity of the tire and wheel assembly.
Uniformity? Think "Out of Round" and you'll be very close.
What it does is measure the amount of "Out of Round" and if it is excessive, the machine can measure the wheel and determine if matching the high point of the tire with the low point of the wheel will result in an assembly that is "Rounder".
THEN it does balancing as we think of it.
Road Force balancing isn't balancing at all.
It's measuring the uniformity of the tire and wheel assembly.
Uniformity? Think "Out of Round" and you'll be very close.
What it does is measure the amount of "Out of Round" and if it is excessive, the machine can measure the wheel and determine if matching the high point of the tire with the low point of the wheel will result in an assembly that is "Rounder".
THEN it does balancing as we think of it.
Originally Posted By: mount
We always only occasionally would need tires balanced on our vehicles, and regular balancing always did the trick. But after buying my Passat, it needs to be road-forced balanced about every year or it drives me crazy! The Ford dealership in town is the only place I've found I can go and leaving knowing everything is going to run smooth. Nothing irritates me more then paying a place to balance the tires and a half mile down the road you realize it's still there if not worse.
The Passat is probably harder on tires than most other vehicles. Proper alignment sets ridiculous toe in, and the rears are even set up to be pointed out a bit.
If a car forced me to go through that, I would dump it!
We always only occasionally would need tires balanced on our vehicles, and regular balancing always did the trick. But after buying my Passat, it needs to be road-forced balanced about every year or it drives me crazy! The Ford dealership in town is the only place I've found I can go and leaving knowing everything is going to run smooth. Nothing irritates me more then paying a place to balance the tires and a half mile down the road you realize it's still there if not worse.
The Passat is probably harder on tires than most other vehicles. Proper alignment sets ridiculous toe in, and the rears are even set up to be pointed out a bit.
If a car forced me to go through that, I would dump it!
In your shoes I would go to sams if it's free there. If I have to pay, I'd rather go somewhere with a roadforce machine. For example, a lot of firestone shops around here have a roadforce machine and charge around $70 to do 4 tires, which is comparable and sometimes even cheaper than other shops that don't have a roadforce machine.
Originally Posted By: sxg6
For example, a lot of firestone shops around here have a roadforce machine and charge around $70 to do 4 tires, which is comparable and sometimes even cheaper than other shops that don't have a roadforce machine.
I doubt that having a road force balancer means that the balancing done there normally makes use of that feature.
For example, a lot of firestone shops around here have a roadforce machine and charge around $70 to do 4 tires, which is comparable and sometimes even cheaper than other shops that don't have a roadforce machine.
I doubt that having a road force balancer means that the balancing done there normally makes use of that feature.
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