Bum Tires? Crappy Technicians?

Brotherkain · July 22, 2004

I have a question about my new tires. Ever since I got them, they've been out of balance (evidenced by their characteristic vibration at certain speeds). I have had these tires for probably about 15 - 20 thousand miles now. I have also had them balanced 3 times! Each time they are balanced, the vibration changes but never goes away. The tires I bought are Kelly, something another. I bought them from a place called quick tire, which has free rotating and balancing for the life of the car. Anyway, all 3 times I've had them balanced, I had them balanced there. I've heard that there is no such thing as a set of tires that cannot be balanced. So is this just that poor of a balancing job or are these tires no good, or what... thoughts? I've concidered going to a different tire place and getting them balanced, and I've also concidered going to this tire place over and over again until they either run me off, get them balanced, or tell me how I can go about getting them balanced. The vibration is considerable, and its drove me crazy long enough.

Thanks

steviej · July 23, 2004

find a tire store that has the Hunter (brand name) Road Force balancing machine.

This balancer puts a force on the tire while spinning to simulate road pressure.

It may not be the tires, you may have a bent rim or two. The Road Force machine can also instruct the technician to rotate the tire on the rim to the high spots and low spots to aid in balancing.

If you have to pay for it, bring the reciept to the place where you keep going and ask them to reimburse you for your cost since they could not do an adequate job.

Consider this to, it may not be your tires. It could be your alignment, suspension or even a bent axle shaft.

Is the vibration you speak of in the car or in the steering wheel. If in the car, then try this:

Move the rear wheels to the front and the front wheels to the rear. If the vibration then is in the steering wheel you have isolated it to the front two tires. If it is still in the car and not the steering wheel, then start looking bigger.

Keep us posted.

steviej