Are You Kidding Me! Lexus Are You Crooks?

[SW03ES]

and again, why is everyone so in love with this hunter system. i have a high end accuturn balancer that gets them perfect on the first try. a local car dealership near me has the hunter "roadforce" balancer and i have redid a few cars for people who bought tires there.

I agree, the one time I've had mine balanced on the hunter machine they had to redo it 3 times to get them right. Its a lot of hype if you ask me.

[LScott400]

and again, why is everyone so in love with this hunter system. i have a high end accuturn balancer that gets them perfect on the first try. a local car dealership near me has the hunter "roadforce" balancer and i have redid a few cars for people who bought tires there.

I agree, the one time I've had mine balanced on the hunter machine they had to redo it 3 times to get them right. Its a lot of hype if you ask me.

Let me start off with the admission that I have been an authorized Hunter Technical Representative for 13 years.

Tire/wheel vibrations can be caused by two conditions. The first is an out-of-balance tire/wheel assembly. The second is an out-of-round assembly.

Any wheel balancer can address the first condition, but out-of-roundness can only be determined by applying a load and measuring the assembly for lack of uniformity.

A tire sidewall works as a second spring for the car. When an area of the sidewall has a different amount of flex from the rest of the tire this effectively causes the assembly to roll out-of-round. This difference in flex is called force variation. A wheel, whether new or used, may also have an out-of-round condition.

On the assembly line tires and wheels are match-mounted in a way that cancels out the irregularity in each. The high point of tire radial force variation (the stiff spot) is matched to the low spot on the wheel.

The Hunter RoadForce balancer is the only piece of equipment available to automotive service facilities which can emulate the industrial-grade testing machine known as a Tire Uniformity Grader by applying up to 1400 lbs. of pressure on the tire/wheel assembly to test it as it would perform under the load of a moving vehicle.

This piece of precision measuring equipment requires a knowledgeable and profficient operator to properly utilize its capabilities. Unfortunately, the tech that is responsible for tire/balance services is often the lowest guy on the totem pole in most shops. Due to frequent turnover in these positions it is a constant battle to maintain a high degree of competence among the operators of this equipment which may account for undesirable results.

The following high volume tire dealers have their own web pages describing and attesting to the effectiveness of this service.

The Tire Rack

Discount Tire

[anthonyiez]

scott,

i understand all that...so again tell me why i can balance tires better than the local place with this machine??? i'll answer that for you...its as much the person as it is the machine that makes the difference.

[SW03ES]

Well he did tell you why you can balance the tires better with that machine. The question is whether or not thats practically applicable.

[SRK]

I have been getting tires balanced since 1974. Since the mid eighties I have done balancing myself, on various machines. I used to sell tires through my repair business. I have NEVER had a balance job done that is as good as that achieved with the Hunter road force machine. My GS and LS tires will always be done on such a machine. Scott is right regarding the technical aspects of balancing and out of round, and also that the operator needs to be well experienced. Hunter has my business.

[oohryry]

Wow, I finally found a topic with someone in it to have their entire throttle body replaced. 1295.00 is what Lexus wants to charge me also. I have been trying to wait it out. I still keep the A/C on so that the Check Engine/VSC light doesn't come up. But it's been really cold lately in Baltimore, so the A/C sometimes automatically shuts off so I have to remember to make sure it's on when I start up. I'm still looking for a cheaper throttle body on the internet under 1000 dollars. Hopefully I'll find it before mines gives way.